So I learned something about my old man.
Dear old dad is pushing 65 and has spent the majority of his life in the army and the army reserves. Despite having spent so many years in the army he hardly spoke of any of his experiences while he served, other then the odd story about a friend he served with. Now until recently all I knew about my pop's service years is this: He joined when he was 18, he served in the special forces and reached corporal rank, was active in Vietnam, and was trained as a paratrooper in the reserve.
Well now that he is older, he shares a bit more about his army days. I was more then surprised about some of the things he told me!
At 24 he was to be shipped out with a bunch of friends to Nam but at the last minute he was called back for a special assignment. Apparently he was reassigned to hunt down "Undesirables" in the army because, thanks to the draft in Nam, a lot of people were getting sent to the front lines who didn't belong there. When I asked him what that meant, he just said he was a glorified MP, which he hated because he had to do a lot of paper work and dig into the backgrounds of enlisted and drafted soldiers.
Turns out he was rather lucky because of the ten friends who left for Nam, only five of those came back and all of them were maimed in some way. From stepping on landmines to getting gunned down in a helicopter, all of his buddies were pretty much wiped out. My mom told me later that my dad feels really guilt about not being there with his buddies, as if he might have been able to save them. He still writes letter to one of his friend Reeve's widow, who was a mother of four when her husband was shot down.
Well anyway, I asked him what it really meant to be a glorified MP. As it turned out, it meant that he was kinda like a bounty hunter in the Army. Undesirables were people who were drug addicts, alcoholics, unfit, psychos who wanted to kill, people who had a prison rap sheet, and gays (Homophobic USA). During his years in the service he tracked down two rapists, one who got stationed in France and fled, plenty of druggies (not only recreational users but people who helped smuggled drugs across the borders using soldier status) and a couple gays. The only thing he felt bad about was discharging the gays because he said "One of them had more patriotism in his left thumb then most Americans had in their entire bodies."
But anyway, this was just an interesting story I wanted to share with you all. I guess its really true that you need to get to know your parents before your gone (like I said, my old man is getting up there in the years and who knows when he might pass on?). What's learned might surprise you and give you a little more respect for your folks.
