Re: [gardeners] Military service
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 11 Oct 1998 20:21:28
At 07:21 PM 10/11/98 +0000, you wrote:
>As George mentioned, there are handicaps to growing older -- one of
>which is the more rapid decay of short term memory.
>
>Long term memory, however, does persist -- although we antiques may
>tend to embellish those older memories (covering over some of the
>more painful aspects and maximizing the happier ones).
>
>So -- trading on my short-term and long-term memories -- both of
>which may have certain imperfections, I seem to recall that George
>has told us at one time or another that he was in the Army, in the
>Navy, the Marines, and the Air Force (or was it Air Corps for you
>back then?).
I was in the flying Navy and then the shipboard Navy and then the Army
(National Guard) all told for 20 years, 4 years active and 16 years
reserves with some active duty tossed in. Never in the Marine Corps or the
Air Force and have never said I was. Therefore you do have some faulty
memory but, then, don't we all. Too young for the Air Corps as they became
the US Air Force in 1947 and I was way to young then.
>
>Dear George, do you have trouble passing by a recruiting office? Did
>you really enlist in all four? Serially, that is. I think there
>would be significant confusions if you were to be in the four
>services simultaneously. What a tremendous service you have performed
>for your country!
>
>Pat
>
As I said only in two branches but I know a fellow locally who served four
years each in the Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard,
retiring from the Air Force if I remember correctly. Since he carried his
rank with him each time it gave him more adventure I guess. I got out of
the Navy because that's the only way Miz Anne would marry me. She grew up
next door to a Navy base and saw to many service families go down the
tubes. Folks where I come from used to go in the military as a matter of
course as did most of my generation. In the late Fifties and early Sixties
it was hard to get a job in SE Texas if you hadn't finished your military
service, to much chance of getting drafted. What was the old saying that
personnel people used to use, "Want a 21-year old man with a high school
education, no service obligation remaining, married, with a kid or two."
Supposed to make you a better employee I guess.
Remember the draft? Lots of young men used to volunteer for the draft so
they would only have to serve two years. Now no one has to go unless they
want to.
There would have been much confusion if anyone had ever served in all the
branches of the Armed Forces simultaneously, think the President as
Commander in Chief of all services is the only one who does that.
George