I remember getting my angle head moonbeam in basic while i was in the coast guard. Because it was training we were assigned a training officer on deck watch. He taught me the difference between a wave and a shark fin at 3:00 in the morning at 100 yards out without binoculars! I played with that thing for hours until I discovered it had lens filters hidden in the tail cap. But it was a passing fancy.
Every time I googled lights for work it brought me to CPF. I lurked for years in the early 2000's since my maglites and streamlights which i was modding from advice here, were too big for me when I moved to special assignments. I had to move away feom my energizer aa light which the guys remarked it looked like their wives personal massagers. Membership to CPF kept falling through for some reason and it took years to finally join. During this time i saw the huntlight ft-01, the fenix lod, arc aaa, photons int'l cr2 ion, ra twisty, and I think a novatac 85 lumen model, which I purchased all. I don't know which came first but one of them gave me the bug. It had to be one of them because I still have all of them but the huntlight which i gave to TJ at one of the early gatherings at his estate. I still have the tailcap for the one that broke on me, and I remember the wonderful package it came in.