A Weekend With The Military

This past weekend my wife participated as a vendor in a craft show at Ft. Bliss, Texas. The show was a fund-raiser for some charitable activities by Army wives at the base.

I'll admit to being biased - I did a short stretch in the Army in 1946 and 1947 - and found much to admire.

The Army has changed a lot in 60 years, but some things never change. We still found the soldiers (male and female) to be clean, neat and ever so courteous and friendly. The show was held in a big gymnasium which was kept spotless at all times.

Anyone who has not recently had a close encounter with the Army should try to learn if there are any public events at your nearest post. If found, make plans to attend.

The whole idea of "Support Our Troops" takes on a new meaning when you spend a few hours around these guys. My wife's first impression was, "They're just babies!". Indeed, they do seem young, but I was just 17 when I joined the Army and I certainly did not consider myself a baby. Nor did the Army. We were always called "men", though we were really only boys.

I asked one of the soldiers about the scenes in the movies where a nom-com gets right in someone's face and yells at him. He said it does happen, buy does not anger him.

I am afraid it would anger me. My immediate C.O. was a First Lieutenant. He treated his men so well, we would have gone to the end of the earth for him.

Among my souvenirs, I still have a note from him, addressed to the men in our department, wishing us a Merry Christmas (1946) and expressing his understanding that for most of us it was our first Christmas so far from home (Tacloban, Leyte, P.I.)

Would I have saved, for 60 years, any communication from a guy who had screamed in my face? Unlikely.

The gender thing was a bit new for me. There were women in the Women's Army Corps, the WACS, when I was in the Army, but they were widely separated from the male soldiers.

Also, in the mid-1940s, races were kept in separate encampments. Now soldiers of all races and both genders freely work together and it makes you question Army policies toward race and gender during World War Two.

Many off-duty soldiers attended last weeks event in civilian clothing. I asked a soldier from Puerto Rico about dress rules. Yes, they are permitted to wear civilian clothing on base. In fact, he said, there are some jobs where soldiers actually wear civilian clothes on duty. (That never happened in the 1940s. Once I was issued a uniform I saw no more civilian clothing until I was discharged.

But, uniform or no, it was never a problem identifying the soldiers. Even in civvies, their good health and neat appearance had Army written all over it. That was particularly evident when contrasted with a civilian teen with long, dirty hair, pants that barely stayed above his hips, while the pant legs dragged the ground and were dirty and badly frayed.

And, there was a bit of a sad side. One craftsman, who happened to be a soldier himself, sold some Army posters which he neatly matted and framed. One showed a painting of a group of soldiers approaching a building, wearing today's style Army uniforms, rifles at ready - obviously painted from a scene in Iraq.

Two women stopped at his display and the younger of the two studied the poster for a moment, then started to cry. The older woman, probably her mother, comforted her. When the younger woman walked away, the older woman whispered, "she lost her husband in Iraq."

That made you want to embrace the young soldiers - and try somehow to convey your love and appreciation for them. But, alas, it is not proper to cuddle a warrior - even if it is a very young warrior, and you are a very old man.