I'm pleased in a bittersweet kind of way to announce my retirement from the Arkansas National Guard and the United States Army next weekend on August 6. TomSpdMstr will be in attendance to watch my final formation and retirement ceremony at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock, and my naval officer nephew is coming in from his assignment in JAX to receive my last salute in uniform as I gave him his first salute on his commissioning last August. I first joined the US Army in 1969 and have maintained either active or reserve status since those many years ago. I've been deployed in two wars, a lesser conflict, and following several natural disasters and I've outlasted the M-151 Jeep and the M-14 rifle (as a basic standard weapon). C rations have long been replaced by MRE's, and my beloved UH-1 "Huey" was retired from army inventory this past May. My memories in uniform include watching the grainy images of man first stepping on the moon on a black and white TV set up in a dayroom on Ft. Rucker, AL and watching the explosion of the Challenger on a color TV in the pilot lounge of base ops in Hunter Army Airfield, GA. I've stood in line at 2 AM for a 3-minute MARS call back home when I was in Vietnam, and I've chatted in real time using a laptop with members of this very board during my last deployment to Iraq in 2004. I have many memories - good, not so good, and bloody awful, and I've been blessed to have been able to maintain a level of health, fitness, and presence of mind to make it all the way to this occasion. I've served with, led, and reported to soldiers I would trust with my life, and I've served with soldiers I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw them. My final assignment has been one which I could not have dreamed of having been any better, and I am fully confident in the dedicated young warriors who will remain after I have faded from their memories. I am satisfied that I have set the best example I could, and I have always led from the front going in and covered the rear when in retreat.
It's been a privilege to have served first as player, then as coach, and then as manager, but it's now time to leave the field and take my place in the cheap seats section of the bleachers. I'll be watching the "game" and wishing I were back in it.
Having said all that, the retirement check every month is going to be SWEET and my trips to Amsterdam will be a lot more fun now that I don't have to do random drug testing (not that I'd do anything wrong...)!!!
