family

Lighthouses and Other Things

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Before writing this, I had a long discussion with my wife, a woman who I have loved deeply for the last 10+ years. She asked why I had never written anything about our lives together but had written a great deal about my past. I really didn’t have a good answer for this. After much introspection, I think it may because I was doing what was simple rather than what was important. She has had some recent health issues which creates a lot of stress for both of us and she seems to believe that she is burden for me which could not be further from the truth. So here is something that shares both the good times and a little about how life can change.

Early in our relationship we took a trip to Florida. Part of the trip was a visit to Pensacola Naval Air Station. While there we visited a lighthouse on the base. It was a traditional lighthouse, a tower with a spiral stairway leading to the top and a walkway around the outside at the same level as the light. If I remember right, the lighthouse was white with black stripes. It was fun although walking around the outside at the top was a bit scary. Little did I know that lighthouses would come back into our lives later.

A few years down the road, we travelled to the north where our first stop was in Door County along Green Bay. There are several lighthouses of different sizes and shapes there. Most are at least accessible to tourists although you may or may not be able to actually go inside. It was fun looking at them and, at least for landlubbers like me, to see the differences between the buildings. I would not have enjoyed this trip as much had it not been for my travelling companion who is now a big part of my life and my true love.

From there we travelled along the shore of Lake Superior where we were able to actually stay in a lighthouse for several days. Yes, actually stay there. The lighthouse had been converted to a bed and breakfast. My wife and I loved the place and hoped that we would get to visit again. The light was still working although it was controlled automatically meaning we didn’t get to meet an actual lighthouse keeper. I, and I hope she as well, will always cherish those days and can only wish they had lasted longer.

A few years later, we faced a major challenge when she was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, or AFIB. While she did receive treatment for the problem, there have been lasting effects which she fights daily. Most of this has to do with strength. We cannot do all the things we enjoyed or spend time out and about. She tries to fight this daily but has largely been limited to time in bed. This has not been easy for either of us to deal with but it has not diminished my love for my wife. I try to do everything I can for her to let her know my love remains but I often feel my efforts are not enough. Still, I will continue to care for her and do all that is possible.

There is nothing more important to me than my wife and her love. No one will ever replace her and if something were to take us apart I would not even try. I hope she feels the same about me.

While I have enjoyed writing my blog posts, I think they have missed the most important things. So, I’m going to back away from this for a while. Please do not comment or respond to this post. It is really a private thing. I wish each of you the best but please allow us to share our time and stories together. For those of you who may also be experiencing rough times, know that our thoughts will be with you.

Again, please, no comments or likes. Thank you.

Summer

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Summer seems to be rapidly approaching. While one expects showers in April, it seems that this year they are interspersed with days nearing the 90’s. This seems a bit unusual to me but maybe that is only because of childhood memories.

Growing up in a small grain-farming community, I remember summer always beginning in mid-May. This wasn’t because of a date on the calendar or because of a meteorological event but instead because it was the end of the school year. For a few weeks, we no longer needed to worry about lessons or exams but could instead spend our days playing with friends and neighbors. Important things were whether our bicycles had flat tires, or which sandbox we would use, or who we would visit.

In the evenings we might sit on the porch with our parents or grandparents listening to a baseball game on the radio or play in the yard while the “old folks” did that. We also helped in the garden since fresh produce was a part of life. On really special evenings we might have a treat like homemade ice cream over a fresh baked pie. Because our town was so small we didn’t have some of the things that “city kids” could enjoy, like swimming pools or large parks and playgrounds, but summer was still a fun time.

That changed a bit when I was about eleven or twelve and started mowing yards to earn a bit of “spending” money. The time for “kids” play was a bit less but it was still summer, and school was still not important, at least for those few weeks between the school years.

Things changed even more by my mid-teens when summers meant getting a job. In a small town like my home there were few opportunities and most summer work was on the local farms. The two busiest times were right after the school year ended and, unfortunately, a few weeks after the next school year began. Like others, I spent parts of many summers working on the farms – preparing fields for planting, helping plant crops, and other tasks. There were many long days in the hot sun (no air-conditioned tractors in those days) or doing other work. This even continued through my college years.

Even though the summer days seem much hotter now, summer is still a nice season, but I enjoy spring and fall, or autumn, much more. I hope you have good memories of the summers of your youth and enjoy them now and in the future.

Have We Lost Our Way?

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I try to avoid political discussion in any of my posts, whether blog posts, email, or even responses to things on Facebook or elsewhere. Why? Because our country was founded on freedom. We all have a right to make choices, to have positions that may sometimes be in conflict, to express views with only reasonable limitation. Yet, things seem to have changed. And maybe there is a need to sometimes look at how politics affect our daily lives. I can still be friends with those who hold opposing views. When I look at our country today, I ask myself if, as a country, “Have we lost our way?”

As a baby boomer, I suspect my parents, and their generation, asked the same question in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Things were certainly in were far different at that time than they were in the 40’s when all healthy adults were willing to make great sacrifices in the safety and security of our country and the world. As the baby boomers grew into adulthood, dodging the draft became acceptable, the use of drugs became common, and the hippie fashion became the trend. It was far different from what was acceptable as our parents moved into the world of adults.

The questions today are, in large part, not the result of young people rebelling against the past but instead seem centered around so-called adults who have not grown up. People who seem to believe that the things we have learned as a country over the past two hundred years plus are no longer important.

Differences are no longer acceptable. The ability to work and live together no longer have value. Instead of focusing on why our country has been viewed as a model for much of the world, little is of no value other than wealth or riches. Opposing views are not respected and systems which have served us well only exist to be destroyed.

While the downward spin has been slowly creeping into our lives for many years, possibly beginning in the 60’s, the beginning of the media named pandemic. During those years, much information was spread with limited research or analysis. We saw jobs lost, families broken apart, friendships destroyed, and nameless other things that were the result of individual choices – get a test or don’t get a test, take an injection, rushed to the market, or trust your personal resistance to disease, wear a mask or don’t wear a mask. These things and many more drove wedges between individuals, families, even medical professionals. Yes, there were deaths during the pandemic but the simple was to classify any death was to say it was the result of the disease in question.

Today things have spiraled even further. During our last presidential election, we had one candidate who refused, and still refuses, to accept the results of any election where he is not the winner. The opponent was a candidate who had never received a single vote in a primary election. Many chose not to vote or voted on the lesser of two evils rather than a candidate’s qualifications.

The result – much the same as the end of the pandemic. No one seems to accept that there is nothing wrong with differing opinions; that negotiation can provide better results than permanent lines drawn in the sand can never be crossed; that loyalty to a political party is far more important than representing the average person in our country. We have leadership, and I use the term very loosely here, that believes the only way to lead is through dictation, not working with others to achieve success. Leaders who are willing, and have voiced, that disagreement with them should result in censorship, loss of rights, and even banishment or jailing in foreign countries. Leaders who search for ways to ignore our Constitution, our laws, and the courts which were created to resolve differences in interpretation and enforcement of these laws.

So, we now have a leader who uses things like executive orders, bullying, and even threats to achieve his desires and ignore the legislative branch of our government. A billionaire who has been given largely uncontrolled power as a so-called advisor even though there are clearly conflicts of interest in the advice he gives (and someone who was neither elected nor did his role receive any review). All the members of one party have decided they will line up and accept this leader’s actions and decisions regardless of how stupid they may look or how their constituents feel. The other party does just the opposite opposing everything with no real justification.

When I step back and look at things today, it seems that we do not have leaders. Instead, we have people in high positions who are acting like three-year-old children playing in an expensive sandbox who will pick up their toys and run home if they don’t get their way. So, I return to my original question, “Have we lost our way?”

Do You Haiku?

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At work a few days ago a manager challenged staff members to write and share a haiku. These would be shared in a common space used as a lunch/break room. Submissions could be left in the room or could be shared online. They could be submitted anonymously. I have only seen those submitted online and, while limited in number, have been interesting and are fun to read.

What is a haiku, you may ask? I will admit that I would have needed to ask the same question had I not been introduced to haiku in a college English class. While I did not remember the details, after seeing the first haiku shared online, I remembered some of the details.

A haiku is a short poem. In English, a haiku usually has just three lines and only seventeen syllables. There is no need for the three lines to rhyme. This form of poetry originated in Japan but is now common in many countries and languages. The structure may vary slightly but typically consists of five syllables in line 1, seven syllables in line 2, and a final five syllables in line 3. Haiku usually focus on a subject in nature.

An example of a haiku from Wikipedia is:

the first cold shower
even the monkey seems to want
a little coat of straw

There are also some rules that apply to haiku such as words you should not use and other things. Some haiku groups have even suggested that rhyming must occur although this seems rare.

My personal response to our office collection was:

look up to the sky
bright blue, white clouds, golden sun
comes soon summer’s heat

Haiku is not that difficult so if you have some free time perhaps you should try. Or if you have family maybe you could do it together. Even the children could try it. If you do, have fun.

The Comet

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No, not the bright light in the sky with a tail; instead, my first car.

I turned sixteen that year. I had my new driver’s license. I no longer needed to mow yards in the summer to earn money. I had a job working on a local farm.

My father decided it was not safe for me to ride my motorcycle the seven or eight miles from my home to the farm. So, the motorcycle was sold. But the money was put into the bank along with left over money from several years of mowing yards in the spring, summer, and fall. It was to be used to buy a car.

Mowing yards in those days paid from two dollars to eight dollars per yard depending on their size. There was not much money in the bank even with the money from the motorcycle. This was not going to be a new car. Nor was it going to be a hot rod or even a sporty car, not even a pickup with a gun rack in the back window like some of my farm friends had. Think instead of a reliable, greatly used four door sedan. Still, it was going to be my car.

Shopping for the car took several weeks which seemed like years. First, my father talked to auto dealers he had purchased from previously. No luck there – they either had nothing suitable or the price was too high. Then came trips to other dealers, only on Saturdays when Dad was not working.

Finally, as a last result, we went to a nearby Mercury dealer and found the car that met Dad’s standards. A used Mercury Comet. I think it was four or five years old. It was not my first choice, but it was a car. There were at least three models of the Comet. The top of the line was the Caliente – not mine. Then there was the Cyclone, the sports car version – again, not mine. And, at last, there was the basic Comet – yes, mine.

Nothing fancy, no deluxe features, it had four doors, an AM radio, cloth bench seats, and an automatic transmission with the shifter on the column. It also had a six-cylinder inline engine, or a straight six. I probably could not have gotten in trouble with that car even if I tried.

The paint job was good, but describing the color is a bit difficult. It wasn’t blue nor was it green. Nor was it turquoise. Looking back, I suppose it could be best described as a dark aqua with some sort of frosted look.

The car did, however, get me back and forth to the farm where I worked and the six or seven blocks to school during the school year. The car was reliable with one exception. At times, unexpectedly and with no prior warning, the engine would simply quit. The poor thing must have simply been tired. After sitting for an hour or two, the engine could be restarted and would run like there had been no problem. I was lucky. When it did this, I was usually near home and could pull off the road to avoid accidents.

My cousin was not quite as lucky. He was about fourteen years older than me and came for a visit one winter. He borrowed my car to visit another relative for the day. As he was returning the engine decided it needed a rest about five miles from home. He managed to get the car out of the road but could not get it to restart. He also could not get a ride, so he had to walk the last few miles. After my mother arrived home from work, we drove to the Comet and, as expected, it started without problem and drove home with no other issues. He did not ask to borrow the Comet again.

 Even with the occasional engine problems and the strange color, the Comet served me well until I graduated from high school. It was traded for a new car for me to attend college on the other side of the state and held its value, bringing a trade value almost equal to its cost to me. It was not a show car nor a sports car but I will always remember it as my first car – The Comet.

Let’s Communicate

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From the time of our birth, we have always tried to communicate. Sometimes we do it well. At others we need to improve. And, unfortunately, at times we fail, either by choice or by chance.

As babies, we were often able to communicate very effectively with our parents. We could tell them when we were hungry, when we were sad, when we were happy, and when our diaper needed to be changed. We did this by nature. We did not need to use words. Our voices, our expressions, our actions communicated our needs.

As we grew older, we learned how to use simple syllables and words to communicate our needs. We sometimes didn’t understand what we were communicating but by imitation of others or achieving results, our communication skills grew.

In a few years, we learned our alphabet and how to put these letters together to create ever more complex words and to use these words to communicate the same things we expressed more simply as babies. Sometimes we learned words or phrases that caused us to “have our mouths washed out with soap” (not really, but another form of communication).

For those of us who are defined as “baby boomers”, our communication skills were further enhanced by family gatherings, often for dinners on weekends or overnight stays. This seemed to be common since families often lived nearby. This is, perhaps, more difficult today with families spread far and wide.

While the physical separation of families has presented challenges, it has also provided opportunities to introduce new technologies for communicating. One of the early methods for communicating was the telegraph. Using a combination of “dots and dashes” we discovered we could send electrical signals over long distances making written communication possible – something much faster than sending a letter.

This was followed by the introduction and then widespread use of the telephone. With this new technology, we could send our voice across the country over wire. It was truly a miracle. One that could not be easily understood but was appreciated by all.

These two technologies opened many doors for communication. Things like television with a wide selection of channels – the baby boomers probably remember having only three or four channels that were only on air for a limited number of hours each day. Things like today’s cell phones, email, and text messaging. Things that are not limited by borders. Who knows what the future may hold.

But as I said earlier, we are unfortunate that communication also faces some of its biggest challenges today. We could possibly blame this on chance. Technology is changing so rapidly that not all are able to keep abreast of the new ways to communicate. This may be because it is so difficult for us “old folks” to learn how to use new technology. Perhaps it is because it is too costly to own the “latest and greatest” things or even to see the need for these things. It might be something else that holds us back. But I find this difficult to accept because I know of many people of my generation that are just as likely to use the latest technology as are those of today’s generation.

Instead, I look at the world around us and wonder if we no longer communicate well because we do not want to communicate. Perhaps we see communication as a way for others to demand our help in solving their problems. Or maybe we see our time as “too valuable” to waste on sharing with others. Maybe politics is the cause, with communication forcing us to see that others may have valid or valuable opinions that may not match our own.

I see a world where parents are not communicating with their children because one group is more liberal or more conservative than the other. A world where life experiences seem to have no value or where “woke” viewpoints are discounted out-of-hand. A world where so-called media stars and other elites somehow see themselves as smarter than others in our country. A world where the opinions of the majority are lumped into a single, disagreeable group that can be blamed for everyone’s problems. A world where it has been suggested that family holiday gatherings, a prime location for communication, be cancelled because of political differences.

One hopes that we can begin communicating with others again; that we can have a world where families come together and resolve differences; maybe even a world where we can return to the simpler time when communication is a way to achieve our needs while recognizing those of others.

Let’s start to communicate and use our communications to resolve our important differences. If there is one thing that we all should have learned early in our lives is that no one is perfect but that does not prevent our living together. Communication is the key.

How to Train a Cat

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This is a work of fiction, with maybe a little humor thrown in. Any mention of people, places, or things other than my cats and me is purely coincidental and means nothing. It is based on personal experiences and has not been veterinarian approved. As far as I know, it hasn’t even been seen by a vet (Oh, wait. I’m a vet, just not an animal doctor.). Feel free to share, with credit given.

Our friends, household cats, are descendants of great beasts. Beasts like the guy above who is sticking out his tongue and telling you he is called the king for a reason.  Predators by nature. But they have many other traits, both in common and different. Their day-to-day life can really be divided into a few simple things. They eat (“I can see the bottom of my food bowl. I’m starving!”). They sleep (“What do you mean. I need at least sixteen hours of sleep a day!”). They visit the litter box (“It hasn’t been cleaned in the last two hours. Clean it!). They stare out the window (“The world is beautiful. I want to be out there!”). They zoom (“Just try to catch me. I’m faster than a speeding bullet!”). And they are mischievous (“It’s three AM. Let’s see what we can do now!”).

Most of these things come naturally and require no training so let’s concentrate on the last. Mischief is good. We’ve all heard the term, “Curiosity kills …”. We really don’t wan that to happen. So maybe we can do something to control it, or at least control when it happens. Let’s talk about a typical night and what we need to do. It is 2:00 AM. We hear a crashing noise. Who was it? Where was it? What was it? The spouse is still in bed with us, so it must be the cat (first question answered). To answer the others:

  1. Uncover ourselves and sit up (can’t answer the other questions from the bed).
  2. Turn on the lamp (flashlights just don’t work for this.).
  3. Try to find the source of the noise (by the bed, in another room, etc.)
  4. Is anything broken? (No=Good; Yes=Bad, especially if glass. Must be cleaned up now – before the spouse steps on something and gets mad at me)
  5. Is the floor or furniture wet? (No=Good; Yes=Bad. Must dry things immediately. Paper towels, mop, towel – any or all. Just get things dried and fast.
  6. Find what made the noise (put it back where it belongs or in a safe place).
  7. Now, find and catch the culprit (the cat thinks hide-and-seek is the game for now).
  8. Put the culprit in his kennel (both cats if they were both guilty).
  9. Turn off the lamp (the light woke up the spouse).
  10. (Optional) Have a glass of wine (or maybe something stronger) and put the glass away.
  11. Get back into bed.
  12. (Optional) Go back to sleep.
  13. IMPORTANT If the cats are in the kennel remember to get them out the next morning.

After all of this is complete, you may have trained a cat (or maybe you are the one who has been trained) and it won’t happen again (at least until the next night).

So, from my spouse, our cats – both past and present, and me, “Have a great day and try to see how you can train a cat!”

Travels

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I grew up in a small farming community. As a child, travel was limited by both cost and the quality of both cars and roads. While a trip to Memphis was considered a “big” trip, as I grew older the trips became longer yet less frequent. After my sister married, my family, or parts of it, travelled to her home every two or three years. This included one trip to Virginia, near Norfolk, and several trips to Michigan, a short distance north of Detroit. One of these trips also included a daytrip to Canada. Many of my friends had even fewer trips other than to Memphis.

When I was a high school senior, my class took a three- or four-day trip to Houston to visit both the Astrodome and Astroworld. For many this was a first long trip from our hometown or the nearby farms.

After graduating, I entered college, not at the closest university but instead across the state. I think now that this may have been thought of as another trip but one that lasted nearly four years instead of a few days. While there I enrolled in ROTC and was commissioned in the Army. Perhaps the thing that attracted me to the Army instead of a local business was the opportunity for even more travel.

And travel I did, to locations in both the United States and Europe. Some assignments were short and some longer. Some were for training, and some were for regular duty. Some were enjoyable and some a bit less so. But I did get to travel and to bring with me memories of each location and hopes for the next. So here I would like to share a bit about the places, memories, and even some regrets. Many of the places where I was assigned are no longer there, but they are still remembered by those who served there. So, take a trip down memory lane with me and hopefully enjoy a bit about my travels, or maybe travails, as I talk about some of these places.

I will start with college, what was then a small college of about two thousand students. As with any college that small, degree options were limited but they met my needs. While there I was also the manager of the basketball team. This allowed me to travel some more, to places I would not have visited otherwise. I also went to ROTC summer camps at both Fort Knox (no, I didn’t get to see the gold – LOL) and Fort Riley.

After college my first Army assignment was at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. This was for officer training in 1974. Our training class was about forty-one new Lieutenants, some who would continue on active duty after the training and some who would go back to their communities as members of the reserve forces. You make many friends in a thirteen-week course, many of whom I remain in contact today, over fifty years later. I enjoyed this assignment greatly, along with several others at Fort Ben later in my career. The fort is no longer there for new junior officers to enjoy.

From there I was assigned to Fort Polk, Louisiana. The two locations could be no more different. Fort Ben was small and in a metropolitan area. Fort Polk was large and located in a rural area near the Texas-Louisiana border. Fort Ben had more of an administrative feel, like the soldiers stationed there while Fort Polk was going through a transition from an infantry training post to the home of a new Infantry Division. I was at Fort Polk for about three years and there were things I enjoyed and other things that I did not. I made several friends but not nearly as many as at Fort Ben and none that I am in contact with today.

After leaving Fort Polk, it was back to Fort Ben for another short school and then to Europe for my next assignment. When I arrived in Europe, my first assignment was to a data processing unit (a name no longer used or even relevant) in Nellingen, just outside Stuttgart, Germany. Our unit operated three computer centers supporting the Army’s Seventh Corps. I really enjoyed my first trip to Germany; both the military duties and life with the Germans participating in things like Volksmarching, beer and wine festivals, and shopping, skiing, and wonderful meals at local Gasthauses. This assignment also offered the opportunity to visit Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium. The military post is no longer there and has been replaced by a modern German community.

From Germany, I was reassigned to a new unit located near the Mediterranean Sea. Camp Darby and an associated storage depot were shared by Army and Air Force units. It was just outside Tirrenia, a small seaside resort between Pisa and Livorno. There I was assigned to a newly forming logistics unit with fewer than twenty other individuals, both military and civilian. In this job I also had the opportunity of short visits to Army units in both Greece and Turkey. While I enjoyed my time there, it was also filled with challenges and after almost two years I was ready to move on. My one regret about my time in Italy was that I did not get to enjoy more of the culture that Italy offered. I visited Florence, or Firenza, but did not spend any time in Rome, visit Venice, or the Italian Alps.

After my time at Camp Darby, I returned to Fort Benjamin Harrison for a longer school and was there for about eight months, mostly in the winter. The fort had changed little since my earlier assignments there and the level of enjoyment was much the same. The class size was larger, and more new friends were made before moving to my next long assignment and new role.

My next duty station was at Fort Gillem, Georgia. This was on the southern side of Atlanta, and we provided administrative support for Army Reserve and National Guard units located throughout the southeastern United States and in Puerto Rico. Many others assigned there spent many days travelling although my office did little travel other than regular trips to the Washington, DC area. This is another post that no longer exists as it did. While some military units may still have headquarters there, most of the larger units are gone.

Then it was back to Germany for another tour. Initially I was assigned to another data processing unit at Kilbourne Kaserne near Heidelberg, Germany. My time here was spent much the same as during my first visit to Germany. This was a nice place to be assigned; a small Kaserne yet near all of the conveniences necessary to support the Army’s Headquarters for all of Germany which was located in Heidelberg. The Kilbourne Kaserne, like many other kasernes throughout the country may still exist but are no longer used by the US military.

My final years in Germany were spent in Wurzburg as part of the 3rd Infantry Division. The Division was spread over several locations in that part of Germany, and I visited several new cities and towns as a result. Like all of my tours in Europe, this was an enjoyable one with a few challenges thrown in just to keep things interesting. One memory that stays fresh in my mind is falling in deep snow, late at night, wearing full battle equipment during a field exercise. This is definitely an experience that I would not want to repeat. None of the Army posts remain in the Wurzburg area as a result of changing priorities and new missions.

To wrap up my Army career, I spent several years in St. Louis working in a headquarters supporting Army Reserve soldiers across the country. This unit was composed of a large number of civilian employees along with a smaller number of military personnel. Here too, my travel was largely limited to trips to and from Washington, DC or nearby Alexandria, VA. And, even here, the Army organization where I was assigned is no longer in St. Louis and has been absorbed into another organization elsewhere.

After retiring, I have remained in the St. Louis area and will probably not relocate again. But my travels did not end here. Since arriving I have had the opportunity to visit the Gulf Coast, the lighthouses on and around the Great Lakes, the desert Southwest and Rocky Mountains, and the New England area. All have been fun and all have offered an opportunity for learning and enjoyment.

I hope you have enjoyed this brief description of some of my travels and have the opportunity for travels of your own.

Why the Army?

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In the past. I’ve been asked, “Why did you go into the Army?” This is a question I have pondered repeatedly and even today I’m not sure I have a good answer. Perhaps patriotism played a role although I do not consider myself more patriotic than others my age. If I had been a few years older, I could have said it was because of the draft and the Viet Nam War. But this was not true because by the time I graduated from college, the end of the War was near and the draft was, for all intents and purposes, no longer an issue. Or was it something else?

As I was laying in bed this morning this question came to mind again although it has not been asked recently. While I am the son of a World War II veteran, the idea of entering the military was never discussed in our home. Nor was it ever discussed in our school. So why did I even consider it?

Maybe it was something in my childhood. When I was young in most years my family went to the nearby small city of Jonesboro to see their Christmas parade. The parade consisted of a few floats, some marching units, some vehicles, and Santa Claus – a favorite of the children. While I cannot remember many details, there was one unit that I always enjoyed seeing. It was a small military drill team; I believe they were from ROTC unit at the local college and were called the Reng Rifles. They marched proudly in their uniforms, carrying rifles and wearing brightly polished silver helmets. As they went down the street, they twirled their rifles and did other movements that I found fascinating.

Several years later, a young man who I respected graduated from that same college commissioned as a Second Lieutentant after completing ROTC. He was five or six years older than me, and I can’t remember if he went on active duty or became a member of the reserves. I know he never suggested that I follow in his footsteps yet his decision to become an Army officer increased my respect for him.

When I left home and entered college, one of the first classes I asked to enroll was military science, or ROTC. Unfortunately, the only class session that fit my schedule was cancelled because of low enrollment. I could have moved on and no longer considered ROTC or the military as part of my future. Instead, near the end of my sophomore year I learned of a program that allowed those with interest in the military to enter a two-year ROTC program. To do this, you had to attend a summer camp between your sophomore and junior years, enroll in ROTC classes the next two years, then accept a commission. I agreed to do this and thus was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant upon my graduation.

There were several who encouraged me throughout these two years – my roommate who was two years ahead of me in college and in ROTC, others both ahead of me in college and even some following me, our ROTC staff, my parents, and others. One person I especially remember was the head of our ROTC department with whom I shared a first and middle name along with a last initial.

Even with all of this, I’m not sure why I entered the Army. Were I placed in the same position today, I believe I would do the same thing. While there were good times and bad during my Army career, I learned much and travelled to places I would never have seen otherwise. I met people who I remember to this day although I have not seen them in many years. I served our country. I was lucky, I did not have to serve on the battleground. I knew many who did. I have no respect for those who dodged the draft, nor can I respect those who criticize our military today yet have never served.

So, if you ask, give me a few moments to gather my thoughts and try to provide you a good answer. There are too many things that affected my decision both to enter the Army and remain there for a career.

Resolutions

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January 1 has come and gone. Now we look forward to a, hopefully, better 2025.  Did you make any New Year resolutions? If you did, how many of them have you broken already? Do you regret any of them? Are there other resolutions you wish you had made and kept?

What are resolutions? Are they wishes for the future? Are they goals we hope to achieve? Are they simply something we make because our family or others expect from us? Can they be shared with others or are they like birthday wishes which can only come true if kept secret? I’m not sure I have an answer for any of these questions. Perhaps the answers are different for each person or for each resolution. Perhaps there is no need for answers.

When I was a child, each year it was important to make resolutions. Sometimes they were to correct things that had been done wrong the previous year. Sometimes they were new hopes for the new year. Sometimes they were meaningless to anyone except me. And, regardless of what they were, they were often broken within a few days or weeks.

As I look back, I cannot remember any specific resolution that I made. I can’t remember any resolution that was shared by a family member or friend. Yet it always seemed that making resolutions could not be missed.

When I grew older the value of making resolutions at the end of each December or in early January became unnecessary or unimportant. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was I recognized that resolutions were broken almost as quickly as they were made. Perhaps it was because I became more cynical although I probably didn’t even know the meaning of the word. Or could it have been that the time spent was considered wasted.

Even today, I don’t make resolutions. Now my reasons are more easily defined. I do not make resolutions because I don’t really believe I can keep them. Maybe this is a recognition that one of my human weaknesses is the inability to set long term goals. And, for me, a goal for an entire year is long term.

I’ve never asked others, apart from young children, about their views on making resolutions. I suppose some do and that they can succeed in accomplishing whatever they hoped for. I know some who make resolutions that do not last even a few days into the new year. Some may make resolutions as a form of humor. In any case, if you or someone you know makes a resolution, I hope you can achieve your goal whether in a single year or even a longer time.

Who knows? I may make a resolution or two at the beginning of 2026 or I may continue with my tradition of making none. Or maybe I should make a 2025 resolution to make new resolutions in all future years.