Even though the work was rewarding to me in itself, my reward from the Army for serving in the Burn Unit was being pretty much able to name my next assignment. I chose Ft. Ord and Silas B. Hayes Army Community Hospital. Although Letterman Army Medical Center in SF would have been closer to family, I didn't want to go back into a Med Center. Hayes ACH was large enough to be interesting, and small enough to offer opportunities for responsibility and professional growth. We arrived in June, 1980.

It was a great assignment (fog, and all), which had a lot of impact on our lives and my career. It brought the Phippen Family into our lives when Mark and the Gang arrived. Mark (who was senior to me and bumped me out of the Head Nurse job) and I not only worked closely together in the OR, but we and our families bonded and we did nearly everything together.

My career got a big hand-up when our batshit-crazy department chief, a LTC, self-destructed and was relieved of his position just as Mark was leaving for San Antonio in Fall, '82. The Chief Nurse, with no senior officers available, decided to bump me up into the position of Chief, OR and Sterile Processing, despite the fact that I was only a CPT and it was a LTC slot. Although senior officers became available in a few months, COL Harvey supported me by refusing a replacement and leaving me in that position until I left for Grad School in San Antonio in Aug. '83. Going from Staff Nurse to Head Nurse, back to Staff Nurse, and then leap-frogging to Chief made it a bumpy, but memorable ride.

The worst thing that happened during our tour at Ft. Ord was my Mom's becoming ill and passing away just a few months after we got there. Our youngest kids never had a chance to meet her.

The best thing that happened there was the birth of our son Robbie in Sept. '82.