Back during the ten years we lived in the New Glarus, Wisconsin area, from time to time I placed a job application at one local business or another. Being a Swiss/German community with a strong sense to that heritage, poetically about the time we moved to the area, a local husband and wife created a brewery. By the mid 1990s the place had a bit of a successful following. It was the era of micro-breweries and they flowed with the trend; one could even make a good argument they actually led the trend.
The brewery was right on the edge of town and the first house we lived in after we moved to the community was actually in sight of the place. I could stand in my back yard and should I have had the fancy to do so, a 9-Iron could easily chip a golf ball right up on the big brewery roof - should I have had the notion to do so.
Back then, the village had a small weekly newspaper. One day, deep in the classified section was a small posting pleading for part-time help at the brewery. So I gave them a call to get the skinny on the gig.
The fellow that answered the phone I believe was...the brewery boss. They only had a few employees at that time. The beer would come ready to transport at random times. If I was chosen to work for them, I would get a call to come in and help load - usually late at night. It sounded like maybe a once a week task. So...I stopped in the place and filled out an application. To my surprise, the owner dude chatted with me for a bit - an interview of sorts.
"We'll give you a call," owner dude said with a smile. I took my leave of the place and tucked the encounter in the back of my mind so as to be marginally prepared if and when I would get the call to come in.
A week went by, and then another. A month went by, and then another. I eventually put the whole idea of loading beer trucks out of my mind - I forgot it was ever even considered. In the mean time I had ensconced myself in college. I had also added a second and even third part-time job in my life. We even moved to a different house a bit further out of town. As time has a way of passing, before we knew it we had been in the area for two and a half to three years.
One evening I was doing some home work and the phone rang. "Some guy for you," Heide said and handed me the phone.
"Hello, Bob speaking," I said.
"Hey Bob, come on in tonight and help please," a voice said on the other end of the phone line.
I paused for a moment and wondered who I was talking to. Could it have been the "Y" or perhaps Sports Medicine? It did not sound like anyone from the Emergency Medical Service.
"Who the hell is this?" I asked.
"This is The Loading Dock; you are on my list to load trucks," the voice said.
I paused for a moment in befuddlement.
I hollered to Heide, "You know anything about loading trucks?"
Without skipping a beat she hollered back, "Didn't you have some arrangement with the brewery at some point a while ago?"
I shook my head in amazement and said to the voice on the phone, "Dude, I applied a couple years ago; I live in another house now and have three part-time jobs nowadays."
"Need a fourth?" the voice incredulously asked.
I sighed and said, "Dude, I am trying to tell you I have moved on, and I have a full schedule."
"...Shame," the voice on the phone said. "Well, let me know if you change your mind."
In retrospect that brewery has become a local, even a regional urban legend. You will see their beer all over the state. Recently, they built a new facility up the road on the other side of the village. They have persevered through this miserable economy that has besieged us over the last few years. And considering the depth of this "Great Recession," it ain't ending any time soon.
Perhaps, just perhaps... I should have not been so flippant with my dismissing of "The-voice-on-the-end-of-the-phone-line."
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Army Corporal Jason Floyd Lemke, 30, West Allis, Wisconsin, died on Saturday, January 5th, 2008 in Ibrahim Al Adham, Iraq. His vehicle was struck an improvised explosive device (roadside bomb). He was assigned to Company A, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis, Washington. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted that Corporal Lemke's death took place in Diyala province which is northeast of Baghdad. He had enlisted in the Army on December 18, 2004, in Milwaukee and started his military training in Fort Benning, Georgia. Jason reported to Fort Lewis, Washington in May of 2005. His brigade was deployed to Iraq in April of 2007. It was Lemke's first tour in Iraq. The Journal Sentinel mentioned that Lemke was the 34th soldier from his brigade to be killed since it left for Iraq in April of 2007. Lemke graduated from high school in 1996. His Military Occupational Specialty was 11C (Indirect Fire Infantryman).
The Web site iraq.pigstye.net a data base for military casualties noted via information from the Chippewa Herald that Lemke had trained in the Arabic language for a year before being deployed. Jason was also known to speak Spanish. The Web site mentioned Jason graduated in 1996 from Wisconsin Lutheran High School. As a civilian Jason had worked for a company that made stainless steel kitchen appliances. He had two children that were living with their mother at the time of his death. Jason's grandfather's and an uncle had been in the military. Corporal Lemke was a recipient of the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on terrorism Service Medal, and the Army Service Ribbon.
The News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington noted Lemke's fellow soldiers remember his as a source of comedic relief with his sense of humor; someone who could be counted on to finish a task; and, he was also know as a linguist. He was also known for keeping track of the status of wounded and injured fellow squad members. He had originally planned to sign up right for the military after graduating from high school, but he got married and worked odd jobs to support his family.
The Web site legacy.com via information from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel obituary pages noted that at the time of his death Jason was survived by his children Amber, Liz, and Casey; mother and father Colleen and Greg Lemke; brother Jerrie Lemke; sister Jill Lemke; and, grandmother Rosemary Lemke. Corporal Jason Lemke was the 84th Wisconsin military service person to be killed in Iraq since the spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
99,702 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,830 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,439 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1476 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
848 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
32,038 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
10,308 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
103 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
27 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
145 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org.
