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Date with fate post 59 - Missed the reenlistment bus
This entry was posted on 9/28/2011 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies.
In 1980, the economy in Wisconsin was in a shambles. In all fairness, the whole country had pockets of despair, hence monikers like, "Rust Belt," and "Misery Recession" entered the language of that era. None-the-less, there were a few pockets of hope. Parts of Texas for example, rumored the possibility of some jobs. By that 1980 of which we speak, I had been out of the Army just short of three years. Poetically, I had stayed busy at shitty, low-paying, benefitless jobs. Hey, not so much unlike the "Great Recession" that started for some of us as early as 2005 and continues as I write this vignette now in late 2011.
By mid-1980, I was working as a bouncer and bartender at the bowling alley. God bless the deity of your choice that people still drank alcohol, started fights, and...., bowled, even in the bad economy. And, there was plenty of pretty girls that perused the joint I worked in.
In the mean time, I toyed with the troubling possibility of reenlisting in the Army. Personal inner conflicts abounded in my mind. The banal binary lurked in my psyche. Should I go back to some patriotic task - albeit driven by money and security - or, should I stay in Wisconsin near my home of birth, and hustle chicks, drink beer, bounce, bartend, and engage in general debauchery? In all reality, my parents were getting older and it was becoming apparent, I would be the sole go-to person as they progressed closer and closer to..., old age. Being in the Army in Italy, Germany, or god knows where, would make it impossible to keep an eye on them.
I had met some girls while working in that bartender/bouncer role; only a couple stuck in my mind more often than not. One such chick, went to college in Chicago. She had a lead on a job in Texas. Said chick seemed to be hinting she might need an accomplice in any move south. Perhaps I was just reading more into it than was there - guys are more than capable of making a wild assumption from just a pretty smile and a wink.
I talked to the Army recruiter in Janesville, the same place I had joined at. I even took the written reentry exam there. But, living much of the time in Lake Geneva, I drifted over to Burlington to do some followup on information, should I actually raise my right hand again. But ol' Bob was too cleaver to make any hasty decisions.
I remember some jousting back and forth between the Burlington Recruiter and the Janesville Recruiter. There was obviously some credit that would go to the winner. Even in the bad economy, the Army still was not appealing to many - the specter of 'Nam still loomed like a huge open sore on our society.
The day came that I would take the small 'cruit bus into Milwaukee to reenlist officially. I had set a date later on down the road to actually go on active duty - I would would dawn the olive drab about six months after taking the oath yet again, as I recall. I had told no one. My plan was to go into an airborne unit, and seek duty in Italy. That would require a four-year obligation. Many pesky hurdles would be waved as I would be designated, "Prior-Service."
That fall morning I headed out for Burlington in Ol' Uncle Art's delapitated 1966 Ford farm truck - he was now in the nursing home. I took my time on the winding drive. There is no good way to get to Burlington from Whitewater or Lake Geneva. I rolled all the variables of what I was about to do through my mind as I drove the old clunker ever closer to the odious point where I would be climbing on the bus to Milwaukee.
I kept the old truck meandering down the curvy road - I kept thinking about the consequences of my pending actions. It was different this time. I knew the drill; I knew the Army; I knew over-seas duty; I knew what I would be leaving behind. I kept thinking - kept driving.
That chick popped into my head briefly, the one going to college in Chicago. My mind drifted to other things. I was not like the first time I joined the Army with all that angst about leaving the farm, my home, my parents...., my beautiful state, all the cats, my beloved dog Sandy.
I noted the time and the miles left to get to Burlington were beginning to conflict. I had left way early, but now I was just doting along. I picked up the pace. Those that know Burlington, Wisconsin, know it is a maze of criss-crossing winding streets and annoying stop lights. The time was getting away from me - or was I letting it get away?
I began to drive like a commuter late for work. To know avail. I hit one stop light after another. As I turned the corner to head down to the Recruiter's office, my watch struck the top of the hour, the moment designated for the small bus to leave. Rounding the corner, I saw the faded bus pull away from the curve. It was way before the cell phone era. I sped up to catch the bus, but it blew a yellow-on-red light and was down the boulevard in a puff of exhaust smoke. I watched it round one of Burlington's ubiquitous corners.
There was a bar at the light I was stopped at. I smiled a bit of a smirk, parked the old truck, and went in for an early morning adult beverage, and another, and then another. It was still before 9:00 a.m.
How did this vignette turn out? Read my book Jobs of Bob and see if I ever got around to reenlisting.
But I will say this, that chick that went to college in Chicago - we will be having our 30th wedding anniversary in just a few weeks.
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" Category does not list the brushes with fate chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older event. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Marine Corporal Michael Conrad Nolen, 22, Spring Valley, Wisconsin, was killed on Monday, June 27, 2011 in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Corporal Nolen was participating in combat operations when his unit was attacked by a roadside bomb. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
The Web site wqow.com out of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, noted Nolen grew up in Spring Valley, then his family moved to River Falls when he was in elementary school; they moved back to Spring Valley and he attended his senior year of high school in that community. The Web site went on to say Michael participated in cross country and also the school play. Nolen graduated from Spring Valley High School in 2007. For a time Michael worked at Crystal Cave in Spring Valley giving guided tours of the cave.
According to mygatewaynews.com Nolen had been in the Marines for three and a half years; he had another year and a half left in his enlistment.
An obituary regarding Nolen posted on legacy.com and another posted on mygatewaynews.com indicate that at the time of his death Mairne Corporal Michael C. Nolen was survived by his parents Timothy and Judith Nolen; sisters Christina Jensen and Melanie; brother Alexander; and, aunts and uncles Nettie Nolen, Michelle (Randy) Nolen-Karras, Tom (Cindy) Nolen, Ted (Ann) Nolen, Susan (Jay) Henning, and Stephen Conrad. He was preceded in death by his brother Sam and his grandparents. Nolen was laid to rest at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Marine Corporal Michael C. Nolen was the 34th Wisconsin military service person killed in the war in Afghanistan since October of 2001.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
102,654 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003 (actually documented).
10,125 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,480 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1784 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
951 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011.
32,194 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
592 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Iraq since Spring 2003.
14,094 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
192 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
36 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
3 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in the U.S. related to "The War on Terror" since September, 2001.
150 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
22 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since September, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
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 .
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