LIFE LESSONS LEARNED AS A SOLDIER
A Great Army Adventure
Some of the best adventures I had in my life were in the Army. Considering that I spent 28 years there, you would kind of expect that, wouldn’t you?
When I was headed to Germany from Fort Dix, NJ in April of 1976, the guy driving me to JFK airport had a flat tire and no spare. It took us a while to get to the garage, get the tire repaired, and head north again.
All the while, I was a bundle of nerves worrying about I would miss my flight and be considered absent without leave (AWOL).
By the time I got to the airport, I had missed my flight. I went to the military liaison immediately to turn myself into military authorities. I knew that if I was under military jurisdiction, I wouldn’t be considered AWOL.
They turned me over to the military police (MP), who took me to Fort Hamilton to spend the night. The next day, I sat in the terminal, waiting for a stand-by flight hoping someone didn’t make it on time.
I wound up getting four seats in first class because an Army General had decided to take his family on vacation rather than fly back to Germany after giving a speech at West Point.
