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Study Hall Epiphany - Date with Fate post 87
This entry was posted on 1/5/2012 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies.
It was now 1993. And to this point in my life I had been a farmer in Wisconsin. Then, an Army Engineer in an "outpost-of-paradise" overseas. I had driven heavy trucks, scooploaders, and forklifts for that Army while still only 19 years old. I had served in said military with hardened combat engineers who honed their demeanor in Vietnam. I had already been to a dozen countries by the time I was 20.
I had been a school bus driver; and, had refinished those buses, and repaired them too. I worked in a feed mill in a small town, and been a furniture mover in a state-line city. I had been a bartender, bounced in a discotheque, and welded and undercoated in a factory from hell. I had sprayed weeds in parks in one of the biggest cities in America, and trimmed their trees as well. And then, became a supervisor for that same big city park department in Dallas, Texas, with 21 people under my direction. From there I had my own landscape business.
Now in early 1993 as the Wisconsin wind and snow blew outside, here in this dusty old University library in the middle of the night, I emptied trash cans from professors' offices. I wondered sometimes if I had gone crazy and this was the waiting room. Maybe I really was, "Go'n-to-hell..., and would soon..., see white." The building I worked in was named, "Helen C. White."
One night about 2:30 a.m. I was sweeping around the conference desks in the study room. The place closed to students way after 3:00 a.m. Students often studied through the night as they crammed in "all-nighters." This particular night I actually paid attention to what a group was talking about at one particular study table. It caught my ear.
One student asked, "Was that Vietnam War thing before or after World War II?"
Another asked, "Was Nixon the President during Vietnam or was that Kissinger guy the President then? Who the hell was Robert McNamara?"
Another student said, "Look, you guys are so stupid; the Vietnam War was a war in Korea. It is a country in South America."
That was enough!
I stopped in my tracks with my broom in hand and stared at them all. They never noticed.
"College," I thought to myself, "...could not be that fucking hard."
It was at that moment that a goal was put in motion. It was like a big giant wheel on some machine - it took a few moments for it to actually get rolling, but then it would run and lumber along by centrifugal force.
It would be another couple years before I actually started classes. But, that night the genie was let out of the bottle - I would go back to college if I had to live in a card board box to do it. I would never except conventional wisdom again that used terms like, "Well, they say;" or, "Well, I suppose;" or, "Well, I don't know;" or, "Aren't you a little old to go to college?;" or, "You missed your chance and better just stay at that safe janitor job." I would listen to no such discouragement on my desires. I would go back to school, slowly and for sure.
A few weeks later, one weekday morning, as Heide came out to make herself some coffee and breakfast before her job, she found me sitting in the easy chair at 6:00 a.m. drinking a beer. Back then we lived in our little duplex with the comfortable and cozy living room with the neat hardwood floors.
"You're home early, or else you did not go to work at all...," she said to me. Then she stopped in mid-sentence and said, "Wait, I know that look. You went to work last night; I remember you leaving. But, I bet you quit. I know you inside and out, Mister.
What will you do now?" she finally asked.
"Go back to college," I said.
She smiled that small smile that included a slight nod of hopeless recognition, turned, and went to get ready for work.
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)
Army National Guard Master Sergeant Brian Keith Naseman, 36, Racine, Wisconsin, died on Friday, May 22, 2009 in Taji, Iraq. Naseman's death is listed as a non-combat related incident. Master Sergeant Naseman was assigned to the 108th Forward Support Company, attached to the 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry, 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Wisconsin Army National Guard, out of Sussex, Wisconsin.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned that Brian Naseman was a native of New Bremen, Ohio. At the time of his death his home was in Racine, Wisconsin, were he lived with his wife and children. He had previously been deployed to Kuwait from November 2005 to November 2006. Before his current mobilization, he functioned as a full-time National Guard soldier.
The Web site militarytimes.com using information from the Associated Press notes that Naseman was remembered for his comic personality. The Web site went on to say, "Brian Naseman grew up in Ohio and met his future wife at a barn dance, where he taught her to line dance." They had been married for 10 years. He had originally been in the Ohio National Guard and later transferred to a Wisconsin unit. The Web site also mentioned that the Taji region of Iraq where Naseman died is about 20 miles north of Baghdad.
The Sidney Daily News out of West Central Ohio in the area Naseman grew up, mentioned that Brian was a 1990 graduate of New Bremen High School. He had been in the Boy Scouts and earned several awards. In high school he had been in the Spanish club and also was a member of Future Farmers of America. He played baseball, basketball, track, and ran cross country. Brian also played on the American Legion League Baseball team for a few years after high school. He attended Wright State University and The Ohio State University studying a degree in Education. In his younger years, he had worked on dairy farms and later for a forklift manufacturer and also metal fabrication company. The Sidney Daily News also noted Brian Naseman was born on July 13, 1972. He was married to his wife Peggy in 1999.
An article in the Racine Journal Times said that Naseman and his future wife had a three years of long-distance courtship traveling between Wisconsin and Ohio. They eventually settled in Racine where Peggy grew up.
An obituary from the Racine Journal Times posted on legacy.com says Naseman enjoyed fishing, camping, golfing, and shooting archery with his sons. He was remember as having, "an outgoing, compassionate character...and being a true family man."
At the time of his death Master Sergeant Brian K. Naseman was survived by his wife Peggy; his sons Cole and Carter; his parents Richard and Diane Naseman; his sisters Lori Buroker, Christy (Jason) Eilerman, and Sandra (Scott) Wendeln; Peggy's parents Shirley and Carl Chmielewski; brother-in-law Jeff (Kandie) Chmielewski; sisters-in-law Cindy Becker and Kristine (David) Ricchio; nieces and nephews Jennifer, Lisa, and Andrea McGregor, David Buroker, Danielle and Hannah Wendeln, and Alayna Eilerman; uncles and aunts Jerry (Tex) and Nick (Pickles) Schmitmeyer, Judy (Wayne) Krebs, Karl (Sally) Naseman, Maurice (Doris) Naseman, Pauline Otting, and Rosemary and Jim Gianguzzo; and, friends Scott Krebs, Scott Toutant, Danny Toutant, Scott Seymour, Colin Hackney, Patrick Ball, and Nick Hamilton. Master Sergeant Brian Naseman was laid to rest with Full Military Honors at West Lawn Memorial Park in Racine, Wisconsin.
Army National Guard Brian K. Naseman is the 104th military service person that has been identified by Cool Dadio Media as having Wisconsin connections and that has died in Iraq since the Spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
104,547 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.
4,487 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1863 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
984 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011.
32,226 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.
15,157 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.
151 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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