I was born at 3:44 AM on April 20th, 1977 in the Russian town (now Ukraine) of BOIARKA and was raised on a street named YURKIVSKA. BOIARKA is just outside of KYIV (Keiv) and would be considered a suburb. Many of the factory laborers lived in BOIARKA and travelled the short distance to KYIV either by bus or by foot, depending on the time of year and the resources available at the time.
My father worked at the plant as a day laborer. He also worked on the side as a “dentist.” Now, it should be mentioned that a dentist in Russia was not a medical profession as it is here in the United States of America. Dentists happened to be whomever had the tools, which resulted in a lot of inheretted dentists with little or no skill at all. My father was one of these dentists with no skills.
My mother worked late at night. She would not tell my brother or I what she did, but I can make infrences based on the times she worked, old photos of her and other evidence and will do so. I believe she worked in the oldest profession in the world and did so to earn the little extra money we needed so my brother and I could eat, have a roof over our heads, be warm, be dressed and have medical attention when needed.
I remember as a child being called to dinner by my mother. My brother, Peter, and I would come down to the ground floor of the shack we lived in and would be given a choice, most nights, of what to eat. We would take turns chosing our dinner, should we eat the banana or the apple? Or maybe the choice was the buttered bread or the greasy hunk of meat (which was always more grease then meat!)
Anyway, I digress. The home was actually pretty nice, considering our family status in the Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics. We had two floors, the top floor had two rooms and the bottom floor had a stove with a long pipe on top, a table with 4 chairs (none of which matched) and curtains on the windows (which half were wax paper) that reminds me of pictures I’ve seen of 1920’s American fashion.
As a child we were always told that America was worse off. They lived in caves and chanted to their gods. But that American military might, along with Western Europe was perched on our doorstep and might invade any day. We all knew that NATO would not nuke us, because they wanted our women for sex slaves and our farmlands to feed their impoverished masses.
Of course, when the iron curtain fell in 1991 due to the leadership of the insane cowboy, Ronald Reagan and his minion, George Bush Sr. we were introduced to a whole new world.
In 1991 my family moved from Russia to the United States. My father died before finding work in this country, my Mother ended up having to accept government hand outs, despite her demands not too because she was too sick to find permanent employment, rellying on the generosity of churches, house cleaning work and the government to get by.
My Brother went back to Europe with his American wife and currently lives in Denmark.
I enlisted into the United States Air Force and used government programs to earn an associates degree in 1996, an associates degree in 2006, a bachelor’s degree in 1998, a bachelor’s degree in 2003 and two master’s degrees in 2002. (Yes, that is not chronological order, it’s in order of importance.) Meanwhile, I opened a business installing cabling and fixing technology which took off, so after my first tour of duty was completed (3 years AFROTC cadet, 4 Years Air Force Officer) I left hte service to make a go of it in the private industry.
September 11th did massive damage to my business, however and in 2005 I decided enough was enough, profits were at all time lows, a major contractor had jilted us on pay, I had to fire almost my entire staff, so I sold the firm to CompUSA - who paid more then it was worth, in my opinion, and re-enlisted but in the US Army this time.
I had to spend 6 weeks in Army Basic Combat Training for Officers at Fort Benning, GA which was akin to camping and hiking and basically having fun while you learned the Army way of life for those officers comming from other branches and then I was off to New Orleans for 4 weeks and then Iraq.
I spent 3 Months, 2 Days in Iraq before I was blown off the top of a building (roughly 18-20 feet) and shattered 3 vertebrea, did damage to the thecal sack and have a permanent bulging disk. However, on the plus side, I proved the doctors at the Socialist medical center wrong, I was not stuck in a wheel chair for the rest of my life, because I am currently able - with pain - to limp around on a cane. A vast improvement seeings as it’s a pain to get into and out of a wheelchair so you can drive yourself!
I am now on Chapter 31, which is a government program for broken soldiers to retrain them to enter the private working world again, but in a new career field.
In August 2006, I received “emergency” certification to be a teacher of secondary education in the field of mathematics for the Chicago Public Schools while I attend Northern Illinois University and the University of Illinois at Chicago (simultaniously) to earn my full time certifications.
I am planning to take the Illinois Basic Skills Test which will give me my probationary certification this summer, so wish me luck!