Nowadays when someone finds out that I served in the Army so many years ago, I will get a “Thank you for your service,” in response. It stirs up a lot of memories.
Wow, what a difference from when I actually served. There was this little conflict called the VietNam war going on when I was in the service. If you haven’t heard, it wasn’t very popular. Fortunately, due to a hearing loss I acquired when I was young, I was combat ineligible. No one told me I had a combat deferment. I didn’t find out until my exit physical from the service that my hearing loss kept me out of combat. I spent my two years constantly worrying about being shipped to “Nam.” When a re-forger list for VietNam went up, my name was on it. When it came time for orders, everyone else went; I was sent east instead. Never could figure out why.
While serving and traveling in uniform (it was required at the time) I was called a lot of names by people unhappy with the dirty little war our country was fighting. The one I disliked the most was “baby killer.” That made me very sad. I was also never thanked for my service.
All the courtesies afforded the military today were not the same 50 years ago. When I travel today, if there is a stand-by seat on a plane, waiting military personnel are invited first. In my day, I was removed from several flights while flying stand-by so some business man could get the seat. I spent one night trying to sleep in the most uncomfortable chairs in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport hoping to catch the next day’s early flight so I could get back to base and not be classified AWOL (The Army’s way of saying you’re late).
I did not volunteer to join the Army. I won a lottery (the only lottery I ever won) that resulted in me being drafted. When I reported to the AFEES Center (Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Station) in downtown Chicago I was hoping to find a giant check with my name on it and a huge sum written on the front. Instead, they made me strip down to my undershorts and parade in front of a lot of doctors and examiners with several hundred other lottery winners. We were poked, prodded and tested to find out if we were fit enough to become an elite fighting force. Instead of weeding out those too weak to serve, if you didn’t collapse by the end of the day, you were fit enough to be a soldier. Never mind that one guy was on a set of crutches, another’s head was permanently tilted the wrong way from breaking his neck, another had a net sewn into his abdomen because of multiple hernias and one guy was missing some bone in his leg due to a bout with cancer. With no exceptions, we were all sent into a room to take our oath. We were warned that if we refused to participate, we would be immediately arrested and prosecuted. Now there’s an incentive to fight hard for your country.
I want to make perfectly clear that I do appreciate and support those who have served our country. I could have avoided the draft but I chose not to. There are many prominent politicians who came up with a variety of lame excuses why they couldn’t serve during that war.
My first duty assignment, better known as basic training, was at Fort Lewis in Washington State. I guess they sent me as far away from my Chicagoland home to prevent me and the others from running back to momma. My barracks was filled with 60 young men. There were a mix of different reasons for why each person was in the Army. Most of us were unwilling draftees. There was also a large contingent of people who chose to join instead of going to jail, usually for a drug charge. What there wasn’t was anyone who volunteered for patriotic reasons.
There was also a majority of high school dropouts. Some were snot-nose, spoiled rich kids and others from the dregs of poverty. Only two of our barracks members had any college. A teacher who forgot to keep his deferment up-to-date and me. The current requirement to join the military is more stringent. Having a GED is the minimum to join. My barracks would have had about 5 people left if that was the requirement when I was in.
I served my two years right at the end of the VietNam War. About a month after I was discharged, an “alleged” peace agreement was signed and not very long after that the military draft was ended. As a result, I think our military got much better. I do believe that our fighting forces should be all volunteer. If our leaders are hot to get into a shooting war, they should have to make a solid argument to the young people they expect to fight their war. Having an educated, volunteer fighting force makes for a much more intelligent and well trained fighting force. I truly respect those who are willing to put their life on hold to serve their country. I have the highest respect for all those who have served our country, especially those who paid the ultimate price throughout our history. Those are true patriots.
I was one of the lucky ones while in the service. I never saw combat and was stationed in Germany for a year. It was still a difficult two years. The service didn’t have the espirt de corp it has today. In simple terms, my time in the Army was like living out the movie “MASH.”
The next time someone thanks me for my service, I think I will put the bitter memories of my time in the service aside and just say, “You’re welcome.”
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