Happy New Year to all!!
Today is the day I go on the Retired list for the Army. It feels strange to not be in the Army in some capacity. My friend Dave Amerson assures me that I will quickly get used to it:). Linda and I went to Ft. Polk yesterday and got our Retired ID cards (yes, I am a blue ID cardholder now!!). It was appropriate that I be at Ft. Polk on my final day in the Army because I was at Ft. Polk on my first day in the Army!!!
I enlisted in Shreveport on 26 January 1973 and we were bussed to Ft. Polk. I took Basic Combat Training there (3rd Platoon of Company D, Third Battalion, 1st Basic Combat Training Brigade). I was the Platoon Guide, sort of an acting sergeant who was semi in charge of keeping track of the platoon and helping the Drill Sergeants. After Basic I went to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma for AIT as a Field Radio Mechanic. That course went from March until early June 1973. I was assistant class leader, which was cool because the class leader and I got our own two-man room and everybody else was in an open bay on double bunks. RHIP:) My first regular duty station was with First Staff and Faculty Company at Ft. Eustis, VA where I worked in an electronics shop and took care of the radios and telephones in a classroom at the Transportation School. While I was stationed at Eustis I got a sweet TDY assignment for 6 months - I got to be a station-of-choice canvasser (recruiter's assistant) at home. That was great duty, and I put 31 people into the Army. My first recruit was my younger brother Mike:). After the recruiting I went back to Eustis for a few months, then got transferred to Germany, where I ended up in the 519th Transportation Company (Car) in Heidelberg.
More will follow about Heidelberg in another post.
