AnnChristy_Z

I absolutely would, but I would probably handle that slightly differently. I was actually offered a spot at the Naval Academy, but turned it down in favor of being enlisted. Why would I do that? Well, because I grew up listening to my Grandpa talk about the Navy and WWII. I wanted the experience and I knew just enough about myself to know I was too headstrong back then to be a good leader. I needed to learn how to follow first.

Today, I would probably do the same, but I might not stay for a whole career. The Navy has changed a great deal, along with our world and politics in general. Then, it was a much easier decision.

And yes, it changed me in ways I never thought would happen. I learned to embrace everything. Seems like a strange thing to learn to do in the military, but that's what happened. The world is amazing and beautiful and full of interesting people who are different than I am. I embrace them all.

Well, this is a good question and one that many a bridge officer will shy away from. But yes, there was one time something totally weird happened that we never fully explained. Middle of the night, bridge watch. I was OOD and we were on a break from some exercise I can't remember now. Anyway, we saw what looked like a green flare, but it didn't go up and then fall. It just sort of flared and went away. Everyone on any watch topside saw it. We thought it was an accident from another ship, or maybe a flare from a boat too small for radar. We looked, recorded it in the official log book, and spent hours trying to locate the source because we would never leave a boat or ship in trouble. Never figured it out.

Honestly, I have no idea. It seems incredibly unlikely that anyone else would physically come here. Human minds are wonderful and complex, and I can't say what goes on in any other mind. I'm not entirely sure I know what's going on in mine!

However, if you're asking what I think, then I'll tell you. I'm a scientist and I know math. The timeline of our universe and the galaxies that comprise it is vast, and yet it does have its ups and downs. While this period might be called a sort of downswing in terms of stellar life and the potential for stable life development, that doesn't mean it isn't happening all over the place. And probably happening a lot.

But, and this is a big but, the Earth is a rare sort of planet. The sheer number of things that had to happen in exactly the right way, against all odds, is staggering. And yet, it did happen. The kind of rapidly evolving, constantly jockeying, dynamic, and therefore, intelligent, life that this planet produces is probably the rarest form of life.

There are others out there. Math says there has to be, but if they are, and if they are smart, and if they have their own dynamic Earth style planet, they would probably never come here. They would know the danger of bringing their physical bodies to anyplace as dynamic as their own. Microorganisms evolve incredibly fast, and it wouldn't take long for them to find a way to feed on something, even if entirely alien. So...no. I don't think aliens come here...but I do wonder if someone isn't searching their sky for proof of us, just as we search for them.

That's what we eventually guessed, but it was a super weird one. Must have been low angle to appear so static for so long.

Since I write science fiction that was well outside the bounds of anything of DoD interest, I simply went down to the office of the folks in charge of that (I was stationed in D.C. at the time) and told them about my book, explained what it was. They asked a few questions and boom, they said no review was required.

The hiccup comes if you have anything real world in it. With mine so far beyond anything real, it wasn't a problem. Others have moaned that it takes forever. So, be prepared to wait or do what I do, and go hog wild and far beyond our world.