Too Much Info

How many people know absolutely everything about you and your life? I don't think I want to know! After enduring the hiring process and finding our way along the highway and company procedures we were handed applications for Department of Defense clearances, one for each of us. One application is about the size and thickness of a magazine. They wanted a history of jobs, addresses, a listing of friends, total list of relatives, you name it. So while we were home for a weekend we set about filling them out-Ron on his laptop and me on my desktop. After a day and a half we finished. Now we had to go online and repeat the entire process from the paper ones. Once each section was finished the site let us know if all was in order before moving on to the next. If we were to print them out mine would be 47 pages and Ron's 68. We then waited! My clearance came through in 2 weeks but Ron's took 6-7. Then we had to get TWIC cards (transportation worker identification card) in order to be able to do government loads in and out of ports and military bases. If we have to get any more cards I will have to get a bigger wallet to carry them. Add to this ID cards made at individual company sites so that we can load and unload. These cards are good for one year so we have to keep them also. Ron said that now the feds know more about us than we do. Scary isn't it!

After all of this we were able to go back to the company base in Green, Ohio for a 2-day class in the next level of the job--White Glove. Included in this was training on explosives and radioactive materials. We are now certified to "blow and glow"! This is a promotion of sorts. We learned how to deal with art loads, escorted loads, government surveillance loads, etc. A job is a job with all the ups and downs but we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves. Isn't that what life is all about? Thanks for sharing with me.