SHIPPING OUT

I was at what used to be the Army finance Center. Part of it is now a disembarking station for the armed forces. Why was I there, well it wasn't me going back in! Tim joined the Army and hopes to become a Combat Medic. He was sworn in this morning and will ship out this afternonn arriving at Ft Still Oklahoma tonight. He then will spend 3 mos in basic trainig and probably another 3 most in tech school learning to bwe a medic. A lot of feelings came out this morning. First was support of Tim who at 31 years of age is late blooming. We support and care for him and I told him how proud of him we are. I have 4 sons and I had hoped not would have to serve in the military. Two others are studying to become police officers another stressful career. Next it brought back a flood of memories of one of the darkest times of my life. In 1968 I joined the USAF and was sent to Lackland AFB in Texas. I earned the national service defense medal for joining in time of war. I was in for 6 weeks before being sent home with a variety of problems one of which was blood pressure. It was probably the worst time of my life and I do not enjoy thinking of those times. Another thing that is hard is one of my kids broke up with a girlfried of 3years and that too is tough. Figure in a few medical things and one can see why my colonitis has kicked in. Oh and my fantasy FB team lost this week to. today's remedy is 14 pieces of candy corn and a diet coke. Oh that reminds me. Today I heard a lot of military terms that actually make no sense. One "having chow", why can't a soldier just eat like every one else. Another is "having every thing squared away". What does that mean, is everything put in a square box? Why can't things just be done. The last one I agree with "hurry up and wait"