One of the requirements of obtaining a government security clearance is filling out reams of paperwork giving names and addresses of people who can vouch that you’re not a commie spy, addresses of former employers, addresses of every place you’ve lived, etc.
The first time I did this, I was a 22-year-old cadet who’d never had a real job and only had to go back a very short time because they don’t check before a certain age. This time, though, I literally don’t remember the addresses of all the places I have lived in the past decade, let alone the work addresses and phone numbers. Since getting out of the Army in 1992, I’ve lived at eight different addresses in seven different cities, some places for only a year at a time. Fortunately, I have all my old tax records filed away and was able to dig them up. I’m not sure what people who are less organized are supposed to do.
