The Beginning: with Veterans

[October 11, 2025] In my first book, “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” I made an effort to show how I developed to a point where I would achieve something important in my life. The discovery was my connection to combat Veterans and how they played an outsized role in my upbringing. ‘The Beginning’ is trying to lay this out so that my grandchildren can see one possible path forward in life, and choose for themselves how they might proceed.

My earliest memories are of listening to war veterans tell their stories and hearing the sounds of baseball games. Before starting First Grade, I could name the top generals of World War II and Korea and knew the players’ names on the New York Yankees.

Local combat veterans would share tales of their wartime experiences and scare us kids half to death. Some bore scars on their bodies from injuries sustained in battle. It was their “Red Badge of Courage,” and I know all of us were in awe of their experiences.

We grew to admire those men who stood against enemies of freedom by risking their lives. I learned that war is not glamorous, fun, or something you’d want to go through. If you had to fight in a war, being brave was the most honorable thing a man could do for his country.

As kids, we knew we would never become heroes, but we wanted to show everyone we were brave. Being brave was difficult, really difficult. From veterans, I also learned about the human side of war. War affects us in different ways and unpredictably. It also brings out both the best and worst in people, and the destruction caused by combat is almost unfathomable.

Those men who served in the war were highly respected in our communities, and all of us boys in town wanted to be just like them — brave and strong.

Every Saturday, my friends and I would watch the TV series Combat! Our hero was Sergeant Chip Saunders, a platoon sergeant in Company K of the U.S. Infantry. We wanted to be like him—tough, brave, and leading men in a fight for good over evil. His rank was “buck sergeant,” the lowest of the Non-Commissioned Officer ranks

It was my proudest moment when the Army promoted me years later to the rank of buck sergeant in the U.S. Infantry.  Today, shows about war seem to shy away from the human element in war, and when the show does cover it, the impact is often harmful.

Shows from the 1960s, however, gave us both the good and the bad.  The message from those shows was that if we are strong enough, brave enough, and willing to act honorably, then good could win over evil.

My friends and I played “army” in the backyard of our neighbors’ homes, and we “promoted” ourselves to sergeant if we acted bravely in a fight.  There would be a dozen of us, with wooden sticks as “rifles”, running through the yards of our neighbors, screaming and hollering.  When we weren’t playing army, we were playing baseball.

We all wanted to be men—yeah, and have some fun, too. To be a man, we understood, meant you had to prove yourself to others before you could label yourself as such.

How? You could be a firefighter (I wanted to be one of them, too), an astronaut, or you could be an “army man.” The preacher at our church, where we all attended every Sunday, was a devout man who offered sound advice. I asked him how to become a man. He talked to me about the path to manhood, but it never quite matched my immature way of thinking. Okay, I tried

He advised me to graduate from school, stay out of trouble with the law, get married and have children, be a good Christian, and not be afraid of life. To me, this didn’t sound very interesting, and I was determined to do things my way. Only many years later did I realize he was right.

Growing up, I was an American patriot and wanted to join the Army. I still am a patriot. I became a patriot because of these young men who served in combat. Being around so many heroes made it pretty hard not to be proud of my country.

When it came down to it, I also wanted good people in my foxhole next to me; men like these men. Those would be my friends I could trust and rely on. These early years laid the groundwork and gently pushed me toward joining the U.S. Army.

These veterans, along with our families, friends, and community, supported and stood by them. I saw it, and despite my youth, I knew that was where I wanted to be.

Even today, my friends, if I call, they will come. That might be why I joined the U.S. Army in the first place. If I had a choice and my body could handle it, I’d still be in the Army.

————

Please read my books:

1. “55 Rules for a Good Life,” on Amazon (link here).
2. “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” on Amazon (link here).