Dismissed

I hope this journal of my basic training was enjoyable--or at least interesting. I have more plans for it.

On July 8, 1988, I woke up in the civilian world again. I would go back in uniform the next summer to complete my training. In the meantime, I'd get married, return to my job, continue to go to my unit weekend drills as a partially trained soldier, complete grad school, have my leg and knees heal, and gain about 10 pounds and lose just about whatever benefits I'd had from basic training.

I'll always be glad that I enlisted. I was getting older and it was do it then or not at all. I never had to go to war (although it was a close call), but I did take my turn in uniform just in case the lamps went out. Not long after I finished training, the Warsaw Pact collapsed. Then the Soviet Union itself collapsed.

By the time my first enlistment period was up, our reserves were being called on to do more in ongoing operations. And I started a career job that I didn't want to screw up by being a part-time soldier. True, just the drills and summer training aren't too bad, but for leadership it takes more work than that. I was going to go to NCO school but I told my unit I couldn't go after it looked like it would interfere with my new job. So if I stayed in, I'd be an E-4 for the rest of my days. And I probably had a higher chance of being sent off somewhere on some minor Balkans operation or something. And I'd already experienced the turmoil of expecting that I'd be pulled away from family to be mobilized and sent overseas.

So when my enlistment was up, I did not re-enlist.

Which in the end kept me out of Iraq, since my old unit was sent there during the counter-insurgency. Not that I would have been in particular danger sitting in the middle of a well-defended base.  But being dragged away from home would not have been enjoyable. That alone gives me a far greater appreciation for what our military personnel do every year. And their families have to cope with that. Every year.

Unexpectedly, simply serving in uniform gave my military writing a little more credibility. My membership in the American Historical Association may have been a general waste, but it did give me a bit of a shock to see a major name in military issues give a short apology for not having served in uniform as a preface to his talk. Not that serving would have affected what he said. But he seemed genuinely abashed at speaking about military matters without having served. I don't have that issue, at least. I do think having served has helped me understand some concepts. Just having served and being a soldier has been a nice foundation. Although I'll never claim I've gotten more than a faint glimpse of what soldiers who serve full time experience--let alone what those sent overseas must sacrifice. And obviously, I have no way to understand what being a combat veteran means. I don't think about what I learned in my limited service when I write of larger issues, but I think it helps nonetheless.

My plan is to go through my letters to spark memories to flesh out the posts; perhaps move some impressions of events to the proper day if I can nail down times better; add some scanned pictures from basic training; and some other odds and ends. Then I'll put it in book form and self-publish it on Amazon for Kindles, and place it in the "Buy The Dignified Rant" tab at the top of the page.

Oh, and I have a journal for signal school at Fort Gordon the next summer. Unless I lost it. I confess I haven't seen it lately ...