Life's excitement heats up!

Yesterday started out as a pretty basic, boring day.

I have been busy trying to stitch up the "bargain" fleece and satin trim I bought in Mexico into my "traditional" veteran's blankets (nice if I got them distributed while the weather is still cold!). The sewing machine humms along and (in between walks with the dog) progress is slow but steady.

Took time off in the morning to paint a couple hours on a trailer Gary has been building in his garage workshop. His back does not do well with such tasks and so I was glad to help out...but then back to the sewing machine again.

I took time off later for my usual favorite "Extreme Home Makeover" but otherwise kept at the sewing. At about 10:30 it was time to shut down the computer but I longed for the "thrill of the hunt" which is how I look at my online dog tag research activities. There sat the small stack of replies I have gotten lately from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC).

I had been sending inquiries to NPRC just a couple a day for the past couple months and then finally sent them a box of 500 inquiries and am bracing for the onslaught of replies I am expecting...another reason to get my blankets done.

Well, I picked one file with NPRC reply, totally at random...and actually based on the fact that the information provided by NPR was very short. Good one to just "check out" before I got to bed. Well once I got started I was "hooked" on the track of what ended up being a very high profile veteran that I believe we have the dog tag on (confidentiality keeps me from giving too many details) but it is exciting and also interesting reading about the other facets of this gentleman's life prior to his death in 1990. I finally turned the computer off at 1:28 AM...only after sending details of the "find" to Jess Devaney at TOP in Tucson.

This morning I got up early to walk the dog before heading out for my usual water aerobics class. At precisely 7 AM the phone started ringing. It seems that the box of 500 requests at NPRC have been distributed to their 65 "research technicians" and they all have questions of me at the same time.

Most of the questions are...do you have any more information?...from there I explain that we are working from dog tags that have limited information and have been subjected to a number of traumas plus the "elements" for the past 35 plus years since they were "lost" by their owners in Vietnam. It seems once I explain, they get into the spirit of the "cause" and want to help as much as they possibly can in our quest to return the tags. It is heart warming and I tell them each "thank you" for the extra effort they are putting into the research.

In the middle of fielding these multiple calls (never made it to water aerobics), I just got an e-mail that indicates that ABC news may still do a special program on the retrieval and return of dog tags to veterans. This would include me being interviewed with dog tags and them featuring the efforts of TOP and stories of many of the dog tags that TOP has returned.

WOW...life can go so quickly from basic to exciting to exhilarating! Hang on...there is surely more to come once all those responses come back from NPRC...ummm think I better try to get the blankets done today...wish me luck!