TK-23108 reporting for duty

[BAZINGA[TK]]

I wanted to save this for after my first troop.  It didn't seem real before that.  Perhaps still surreal.

 

In 2012 at the Calgary Expo I first encountered the 501st "live" and of course I got in line for a photo.  At the time I was in love with their costumes and the detail and thought that it must be so much fun for them and maybe one day I could do the same.

 

I had a couple false starts when I was ready to pull the trigger.  I was given some contact information for a local TK which was exciting as where I live there is not a lot of members and it is a very large garrison so vast distance between most of us.  Well, long story short, he shut me down before I even got out the gate.  I'm told he is no longer a member, but at the time he did manage to sour me on the idea.

 

I had a hard time trying to make further contacts and life events always got in the way.  I didn't know at the time that I was suffering from depression and anxiety and that was putting the brakes on a lot of things that I wanted to do but just couldn't.  Once I got help with those I made advancements in my life and the 501st still was coming up in my mind.  In the summer of 2022 I woke up one morning and told myself that now was the time to either do this or forget about it for good.

 

This time it was much easier to connect with the right people and finally get the information I needed.  @wook1138 must have answered a thousand questions and with each answer I got closer to the final decision which was, of course, to just do it!

 

There were still a couple stumbling blocks along the way.  I knew I didn't have the skills or resources to do the build myself so I did go for the commissioned build then just worked with the strapping and fitting adjustments to tune it for me.  While that was still stressful it was still much easier to tackle those kinds of jobs over a scratch build.  @revlimiter and @justjoseph63 got me through some stressful times which may have ended up in bailing if they hadn't stepped in and sorted me out. Revlimiter still puts up with me when I need to evaluate what I'm doing.

 

I got things fitting well within acceptable parameters and submitted my final photos on January 8, 2023 (TK23108) then sweated it out for at least 3 years (well maybe 10 days) until the approval email came down the pipe and the Garrison public FB page posted this:

 

 

Then there was another big event.  Only a couple days after approval I had a sudden retina detachment in my left eye and emergency surgery to save the eye.  That laid me up for a number of weeks and it didn't heal as well as hoped so I ended up with complications, which are ongoing, and very imbalanced vision between the eyes.  I couldn't do any close up work without hours of struggling but there were things I wanted to do to advance the armor further so I worked in short stints and by feel a lot of the time and wondered the whole time if my journey was going to be over before it started.

 

After struggling getting darker lenses in the bucket and fans I couldn't fit my head in with my glasses so trooping would have to be almost done blind.  That was a stressful reality as sight lines are already bad enough without that added complication.  I was finally able to get new glasses which helped correct some of the every day vision problems but I wasn't  all the there yet with the sight clarity and the first opportunity to troop was getting closer and closer.

 

I flip-flopped on the first troop a dozen times in the week leading up but forced myself to go.  It was a three day event and much larger than I thought I'd want to do for the first one.  Luckily @GilesWoodward saw that there might be a way I could still wear my glasses with the bucket and YES, it worked with some bucket juggling so after the first troop, basically blind, on the first night I was able to see for the remainder of the event!

 

The nerves were going strong on night one and I almost had to be forced into the armor and by day 3 I could hardly wait to get into that armor and troop!  The deep end of the pool was exactly what I needed and so was the welcome and all the fuzzy feels that negated that very negative shut-down years ago.

 

Now I still feel like a guy with a plastic pail on my head and it amazes me that others see a Stormtrooper but damn it sure felt right and good!  I think that now after a troop that I really earned my TK number and really am a 501st member.  Thank you again to all those that got me here!

 

 

As for the side story from that photo taken in 2012 (left above).  I didn't know it at the time but the trooper in that photo was @Starscream3247and I met him last November at a 501st meet and greet but I didn't know that it was him in the photo.  Turns out my trip to Calgary got me a photo with one of the troopers who I'll now regularly troop with out of Saskatoon!  So at my first troop it seemed fitting to do a full circle and another picture with him but this time I'm in the armor!

 

Bart

Edited May 10, 2023 by BAZINGA

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Congratulations trooper and welcome to the ranks, one of many more troops to come no doubt

[Nairy[Staff]]

Wow Bart, this story is amazing! Coming full circle in the end dispite the hardships and fighting mental health problems is incredible! Good job Bart, you look amazing!

 

That last part really nails the feelings I too had in the beginning, feeling insecure like I wasn't "really" a Stormtrooper - but everyone else (including other Stormtroopers) sees a real Stormtrooper! All of a sudden we go from "Star Wars fan" to being a real Stormtrooper and from that moment on we are a part of George Lucas legacy and become "caretakers" of the mighty Stormtroopers that once made you smile and want to take a photo, now you do that to others. (Stormtroopers still makes me smile and want to take a photo of course ) Being a part of one of the organizations responsible for people's experiences of Star Wars in real life is the best feeling in the world to me.

 

Really glad to have you with us Bart!  And thank you for showing a great example on why troopers should be helping troopers!

[Morgi[Staff]]

Wow, thank you for sharing your story and pictures! It's been a long journey for you, but you did it, so welcome to the 501st and congrats on your first troops! 

 

And no worries, I think it feels a little surreal every now and then for all of us, that this is real, that we're Stormtroopers. It's as Nairy said, it's the best feeling in the world, being able to run around as a Stormtrooper and make other people so very happy when they get to meet a Stormtrooper. I'm glad you get to experience that now as well! 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Congratulations Bart and welcome to the 501st and an official Stormtrooper member of FISD.

Thank you for sharing your story and those awesome photos.

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Congratulations !!! Welcome to the ranks and awesome story Trooper.  

[themaninthesuitcase[Admin]]

Welcome to the FISD!

[giskard8[Staff]]

Congratulations trooper and welcome.

 

Do proceed and check out our EIB program:

 

https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/forum/95-expert-infantry-program/

[BAZINGA[TK]]

Thanks everyone!  I'm still glowing from that first troop a week ago.  Regarding some of the comments.  It is nice to know I am not the only one who felt it was all surreal.  Yes, to me I love seeing large numbers of the shinny white.  I'm automatically attracted to those photos and quite jealous if I ended up having to man a booth while some of my fellow TKs were out and about without me. That opening scene in ANH always stood out in my mind.  I'm hoping in future troops here we can get more of us together for those theme type photo shoots and to troop around a con as the biggest group we can muster and harass interact with some of the attendees. 

 

Regarding EIB.  Well, there is a big problem with my TD so I'm hoping I can find someone who I can commission to build me a new one to Centurion requirements then I can try for EIB again.

 

Bart

Edited May 12, 2023 by BAZINGA
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[Doggydoc[Staff]]

Congratulations Bart. So glad you made it through and are out and trooping now.