Not quite a veteran

 

The Richmond organist asked those who had been in the military to stand when their service’s theme song was called. As a former Army reservist, I never stand when this happens. A veteran is considered anyone who served 180 days or more on active duty, which I did not.

 

But this time, at the reenactment of Patrick Henry’s famous speech, reservists were asked to stand as well. I got up reluctantly and found that only about five men, all of them old, stood in an audience of 150 to 200. Then there was one Marine, two from the Navy and no one from the Air Force or Coast Guard.

 

So was the organist scraping the bottom of the barreL? Maybe things have changed. With the draft dormant, the military doesn’t reach as deeply into society as it used to.

 

 I was never called up for active duty after my six months in 1964, but many reservists today are. In fact, it was amazing that I wasn’t pulled into the Army full time. In the next six years. The Vietnam war was raging, but I don’t believe most of my fellow reservists and I were in any shape for battle. I think we were mostly a paper force to deter the Communists.

 

Many two and three-year soldiers served abroad or in useful duties in this country. I never did. I had two months of basic training at Fort Gordon in Georgia and four months of advance training as a supply clerk at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. Then I was sent home for weekly meetings and yearly summer camps for 5 ½ years. (I got pretty impatient as a thriving journalist when I had to clean out stoves and wash pots on weekends.)

 

I was certainly not eligible for veterans’ benefits. I never saw the Army move so fast as when I got up to about 177 days on active duty. They rushed to get me out before the 180-day trigger for the Gi Bill and VA hospital eligibility took hold.

 

At the final physical exam, the doctor asked me, “With your asthma, how did you get into the Army anyway?”  Well, I probably could have gotten out of it, but I did not want to skirt my patriotic duty in that way. I might have felt differently a few years later. For one thing, the Vietnam jungle probably would have finished me off before any bullets did. The Florida Everglades were bad enough!

 

So maybe I was right in standing up at that ceremony, though I probably won’t do that again. I entered the military voluntarily, and I appreciate the recognition given me. But I still admire the people who risked their lives and whose routines were disrupted even more than mine

 

Happy Veterans Day!