Was a freshwater fish guy from grade school age on. Then one day in the late 1980s I went to my LFS just to see what's new and whoa! .... what are those critters? A week later I had a 180g, sump, skimmer, pumps, etc.... on order. That was pre-internet so I was looking everywhere for books on the subject and building a library as fast as I could. I even called Albert Thiel (one of the early reef gurus and authors) and we probably talked for an hour. It was a very very small community back then. Fast forward... Now I'm retired and have downsized to a 25g nano and move it back and forth to Florida with me every 6 months. That's nuts right? Love this hobby as much as I did on day one. The hobby is always advancing so I'm always learning... and having a huge friendly community like R2R to share the journey with makes it even more enjoyable!
As for you vets - Thank you for your service and sacrifice. Most of us appreciate it more than you know. Every American and the rest of the free world owe you a great debt of gratitude. God bless!