I know what triggered my mind's thoughts this morning. Last night I downloaded a form to get some of my military records from the department of the government that does those sorts of things, and so I began thinking about my military service in the Army.
Back in 1955 or so, when I was in college, there was a lot of talk about drafting men for the Army. One of the ways to get a deferment for the rest of my college years was to join the National Guard or the Army Reserves. There was a plan that a man could join up, signing in for a 8 year commitment, six years in the Reserves and two years on active duty. Even basic training was to be held off until graduation.
So I took this plan, joined a Reserve unit in Chattanooga, attended weekend drills once a month and two weeks of summer camp. When Mayre and I were married in 1958, I transferred to a unit in Knoxville, where I worked, and kept up the same schedule. Later on, we moved back to Chattanooga and I switched once again, until I was discharged in 1962.
Every man in the Army had what is called an MOS, which I think means Military Occupational Specialty. Basically, for me, it was a slot on the roster where they needed a name and a warm body to fill the position. At various times over the 7 years or so, I was a medical orderly in a hospital unit, a road grader operator in an Engineer outfit, a machine gunner in a basic infantry unit, and a clerk in a Headquarters company.
My only hospital experience in that particular medical unit was helping the staff of a large facility at Ft. Bragg, NC as they moved from a small hospital to a new larger one. For two weeks at one summer camp, we carried stuff out of one, loaded it on trucks, unloaded it later and then carried it in to the new one.
My engineering experience on the road grader consisted of making a passable dirt road out in the sticks of NC into an impassable one, but it was fun driving that monster around.
I never did get to fire a machine gun, in fact, the only weapon that I qualified on was the 30 caliber carbine, which was a lot of fun.
Not until my last assignment in the Headquarters company did I do anything that my out-of-the-army experiences qualified me for. Since I had graduated in accounting at UT, my post in the finance section of that army company was something that I could actually do.
I don't think, in all the time I was in the Army Reserve, that I worried about actually having to serve in a wartime situation. It was about putting in my time and then getting on with my real life. My eight year commitment was reduced to six under a new law, and my active duty time was reduced from two years to six months, and then forgotten altogether. Except for the two week summer camp, I never had to serve on active duty. If the Berlin Wall crises had not come along in 1961, when they extended everyone's time of service until the situation stabilized, I would have gotten out in 1961, having not done very much for my country in this regard.
I guess that is why, when they have programs like Memorial Day or Fourth of July, and they ask all those who have served in our military to stand, I am reluctant to put myself alongside those who have actually been in harms way. When I read of veterans of D Day or Pearl Harbor and what they went through, as well as those of Korea, Vietnam or the middle east, I know I have done nothing much at all, but play at it.
We, as citizens of this great land, owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to all those who have served on the battle lines of the world. Those who have returned home to stand and be honored at parades and ceremonies on special days, and those who have give their all for us, are each and every one, deserving heroes.
If anyone ever asks me what I did, I'll have to refer back to the lines of John Milton, when he writes in his sonnet:
"They also serve who only stand and wait.”
I know everyone who serves is important, a cog in a big machine that helps it all to run, but my thankfulness is especially given to those men and women who put their lives on the line for all of the rest of us.
God Bless Each and Every One, no matter how or where they serve.
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