Veterans Day

Today is when America honors her veterans... 

I served in the United States Army from June 1971 to June 1974, and was honorably discharged after my three-year term of enlistment was over. I took my basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey. I then reported for infantry training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Afterwards, I was assigned to a mechanized infantry unit in South Korea, not far from what is known as the 38th parallel. This is where South Korea officially divides from its hostile neighbor in the north.

​Then, upon my return to the States, I was reassigned to Fort Knox, Kentucky. Here, my Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) was ​​changed from infantryman to clerk typist, as there was little need for an infantry soldier back home. So I worked as a clerk in a basic training unit's battalion headquarters until my discharge.

​I'm thankful for having been afforded the opportunity to serve my country, even though my time in the military was mostly uneventful. However, looking back, I believe that at the time I was in the service, I was too immature to have more fully appreciated it. I enlisted when I was eighteen, and right after graduation from high school. And I think that overall my joining the Army was a good experience, as I learned a lot about life.

Nevertheless, while I learned and experienced many good things in the Army, I lost valued treasures as well. Friends whom I had been very close to and used to hang out with, moved on with their lives during the years I'd been gone. At the age of twenty-one, I returned to the Bronx eager to connect with everyone, only to discover they'd left the neighborhood for parts unknown.

I came back to New York City, a veteran, and alone. My circle of companions had broken apart, each one busy with his or her own life, leaving me to search in desperation for new friends. It was like having to start life all over again. It was depressing, and stressful. I recall feeling very lonely.

Being Veterans Day, I've been reflecting on these things. Back in 1974 I left the Army with big hopes and dreams. But it all fell apart. Even all these years later, I still cannot fathom how it came about that within a couple of years after my discharge, I would end up in prison. It all seems so unreal.

D.B.