• Welcome
    • Purpose
    • Statement of Faith
  • My Apology
  • TESTIMONY
    • English
    • Chinese Translation
    • Dutch Translation
    • French Translation
    • German Translation
    • Italian Translation
    • Portuguese Translation
    • Russian Translation
    • Spanish Translation
    • Turkish Translation
  • If You Died Tonight...
  • My Story - Videos
    • In His Own Words
    • Video Interviews
    • Written Interviews
    • Son of Hope Gospel Tract
  • Journal
    • 2021 >
      • *January 2021
    • 2020 >
      • January 2020
      • February 2020
      • March 2020
      • April 2020
      • May 2020
      • June 2020
      • July 2020
      • August 2020
      • September 2020
      • October 2020
      • November 2020
      • December 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2014-2005
  • Updates
  • Ministry Tools
  • A Letter to a Satanist
    • Satan's Bible
  • A Letter to a Soldier
  • Advice to Parents and Teens
    • School Projects
  • Insights and Miscellaneous
    • What is Prison All About?
    • A Letter to North Shore Baptist Church
    • Suicide is Everyone's Business
    • A Letter to David from Youth Minister Dan Bailey
    • Jesus Christ, the True Treasure and Pearl of Great Price!
    • He Knows Your Name
  • Parole Hearing Transcript 2016
  • Friends
  • Inspirational Testimonies
  • Contact
  • Welcome
    • Purpose
    • Statement of Faith
  • My Apology
  • TESTIMONY
    • English
    • Chinese Translation
    • Dutch Translation
    • French Translation
    • German Translation
    • Italian Translation
    • Portuguese Translation
    • Russian Translation
    • Spanish Translation
    • Turkish Translation
  • If You Died Tonight...
  • My Story - Videos
    • In His Own Words
    • Video Interviews
    • Written Interviews
    • Son of Hope Gospel Tract
  • Journal
    • 2021 >
      • *January 2021
    • 2020 >
      • January 2020
      • February 2020
      • March 2020
      • April 2020
      • May 2020
      • June 2020
      • July 2020
      • August 2020
      • September 2020
      • October 2020
      • November 2020
      • December 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2014-2005
  • Updates
  • Ministry Tools
  • A Letter to a Satanist
    • Satan's Bible
  • A Letter to a Soldier
  • Advice to Parents and Teens
    • School Projects
  • Insights and Miscellaneous
    • What is Prison All About?
    • A Letter to North Shore Baptist Church
    • Suicide is Everyone's Business
    • A Letter to David from Youth Minister Dan Bailey
    • Jesus Christ, the True Treasure and Pearl of Great Price!
    • He Knows Your Name
  • Parole Hearing Transcript 2016
  • Friends
  • Inspirational Testimonies
  • Contact
AriseandShine.org

November 2016

Veterans Day

11/11/2016

 
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.
Picture
Picture
Picture
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

Comments are closed.

    Author

    ​​David Berkowitz
    Copyright © AriseandShine.Org

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly