Close of Service

25. January 2011 by Fortunato Velasquez.

I’m proud of this ordinary-looking diploma.  With six years prior military service when I was but a kid, I have now served my country with two years in the U.S. Peace Corps as an old dude.  And I’m staying for another year.  We remaining 26 of 50 initial H-14 trainees who started this adventure back in 2009 met as a group for the final time in Valle de Angeles for our COS Conference last week.  Every six months a new 50-strong group enters service.  They alternate: Business; Water and Sanitation; and Health comprise three projects.  Next cycle comes Youth Development; Community Development; and Resources Management.  Most make it, some don’t.  Ours was a 50% success rate.  We were the survivors.  As you can imagine, our last conference, which focused on administrative separation duties, was filled with nostalgia and excellent memories.  And a little bit of booze (or maybe a lot, I forget).  But it was fun.  Three of my PCV companeras and I will be extending for another year.  The rest will scatter to the far corners of the States and the world, forever friends and companeros and very special folk.  We have experienced an adventure that will remain in our collective memories forever.  Adios amigos!

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