I & I

I talk a lot about having been in the Army. I'm not a "veteran," according to the official definition, because I was in the reserve, for six months active duty only. I did six years, almost, of enrollment in the reserve, and I was not called up to active duty that whole time. The luck of the draw: my brother Bud was called up during "the Berlin crisis," during the Cold War, "mobilized" for a hot war we might be getting into with the USSR. (No hot war: else you wouldn't be reading this.) For that, he was made officially a "veteran," eligible for VA benefits and all of that.

I'm not. Moreover, I spent most of those years, from 1958-1964, not going to drills or summer camp. (I was never AWOL. That is only the prerogative of Presidents.) Of course I spent two of those years in the Peace Corps. I was nevertheless honorably discharged from the United States Armed Service on 29 January 1964 with the rank of Private First Class. I recall seeing that document many years ago and to my dismay it seems to have disappeared from the earth. My dismay is compounded by the fact that my Army records were destroyed in a fire at their repository in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Oh well.

I recall this and that from my Army days. I just wanted to share with you one little witticism from a drill sergeant (Korean veteran , he) -- the military has all kinds of little acronyms and abbreviations. One is for a short leave: R & R = "rest and recreation." Sergeant Delaney from Brooklyn (who was always going to put a "boot in your ass") said an alternative name for that leave was I & I: "intoxication and intercourse."