Now it is a month later and I am back in the Army. I enjoyed another thirty days of leave and am looking forward to getting out of the way. Now I am not sure how this works but the army gave me my records to bring with me to the next duty station so they might not get lost. Well of course I took the liberty of using steam to open the folder and see what was inside. After all I had 30 days to work on this process. I decided to modify a few things just to see what would happen. First there was the matter of the 30 days leave I took after basic training. Well there was a separate order that simply stated my name and that I was granted the leave and when I took it.
Now orders are printed on a normal 8 ½ x 11 inch plain piece of paper. Every thing that pertains to, happens to or changes for a military service person is documented by an order. That is to say that nothing changes until the order is given. The exception is death. All orders are printed with 6 copies. 1 copy goes to personnel, 1 to finance, 1 to the company clerk, 1 to the Commanding Officer and 2 are archived in different storage facilities for review and reference. One is some place in Maryland and the other is someplace in Kentucky. I know that the orders for Fort Devens were archived shortly after they became inactive. At the finance and personnel office inactive files were stashed in file cabinets in the basement of those buildings and there were enough file cabinets down there in storage to arrange as a shelter from all but a direct hit from a nuclear attack. their is a 201 file which is a 2 page folder that contains a brief summery of your records at a glance.
As I was saying I decided to remove the order for the 30 days of leave and the reference to that leave which was on the 201 folder. Of course I took away the order for the article 15 and its demotion back to E2. I also removed the reference to that demotion which was on the 201 folder. The dirty deed was done while I was in Jersey and there was no turning back now So I'll just have to see what happens.
I drove my Ford station wagon out to California and the ride was always interesting and at time the sights were breathtaking. My wife came with me and we took our time. You might say it was the vacation of a lifetime. I was not big on traveling and Boston was as far away from home as I had been. My westerly limit was the Delaware water gap and I was looking forward to my new adventure. We spent about 20 days on the road and I enjoyed every one of them. I went from not interested in traveling to wanting to see the country I was defending the freedom of. I knew now that a week or a month would tell me little about any state. I would need at least a year to see the turn of the seasons and check out a few locations. With a new 50 year mission in mind I continued across this beautiful country of ours with mountains of curiosity.
The first order of business in California was to find a nice apartment close the base. I went to the military base and asked around. I looked at few apartments and my choice was the one closest to the base. I bought a few essentials and waited a few weeks for someone to be shipping out. There was a posting board in the PX for just that reason. I bought everything I needed and I had plenty of choices. The price was not only good but some of the stuff was given to me for free.
The base looked non military from a distance with just some signs about government property that is until you pass the farm house and see the gates. At that point it's all military with double fences, barbed wire and MPs at the gate. It looked more like a prison actually.
Back at home I arranged for some free cable using some of my basic electronic skills and three weeks later I hooked myself up to some free laundry machine usage. I never could sit still and while waiting for the laundry to dry I took an impression of the keyway so I could continue my efforts on the second trip with a blank key. The laundry room was open 24 7 and with my newly fashioned key in hand I borrowed enough change to do my laundry and gave it back. I didn't get paid much back then and I had to improvise.
I worked my MOS repairing radios for 3 months. As a solider I was performing some mundane work with radios. Preventive maintenance was about it. I followed a simple procedure and the thing was quite boring and required an hour or two of the 8 hour shift. I would amuse myself buy detuning the radios and get them to receive other than intended bands and thereby have the ability to pick up some music or things of interest to me. This whole business required fewer skills than I acquired in my high school shop class. As time went on I was becoming more and more accustomed to wasting the tax payer's money and regretful that I was not benefiting buy it all.
Well blow me down. Just when I am depressed about this entire waist of money and not getting any I get this really big pay check. It seems that finance was only paying me for the rank of E2 and with no documentation of my article 15 they decided to give me some back pay. Of course I am just as scared as I am happy. Somehow I didn't expect that my antics would payoff. Well I have been wearing the three stripes on my uniform since I got there and what the hell now I am going for broke. I totally forgot about the whole paperwork thing and now I was shaking my head and can not tell you what I was feeling. The emotions were swirling around and changing rapidly. One thing I did know was that there was no way out now and if push came to shove I would have to plea the 5th amendment if that applied to the military. I started this bold rebellious route thought the military with one stripe and the prospect of dying in Vietnam. I had nothing to lose and enjoyed playing the game. Now the stakes were much higher. I was married, had a son, and was further away from home. I was now aware of the possibility of being sentenced to the stockade and yet unlike Vietnam the odds were better for staying alive.
My son Billy was born in California as an army brat just when I got the bonus check. They pay you more money if you are married and even more if you have other dependents. My son was born on December 31 and for one day I clamed him as a dependent for the entire year.
I was indeed a proud father and totally besides myself. Oh joy to the world. I took pictures and sent them to all the family members. I had already furnished his room with all kinds of goodies, toys and clothing. I just could not wait to get him home.
Now just when you think things couldn't get any better, they didn't. My new boss sergeant Johnson was a lifer of the worst kind. He lived up to his name and was just that, a dick. This guy wore starched fatigues with a crease down the leg that could cut you like a knife. His boots were spit shined like glass and even the boot laces were shinny. With his, basic training only fuzz left hair cut, he walked around like he was one of those guard duty soldiers at Arlington Cemetery. Well the first time he comes into the shop, I took one look at him and I burst out into laughter. At first the other guys tried to contain themselves but you know how that is. They had there hands over there mouths and tried there best. Like it or not this was my new boss. He was my exact opposite in every military way and worst of all had the upper hand.
Suddenly and mysteriously after my 3rd month I was assigned to the supply room and was handing out towels and sheets. Not all service personnel were military men. My new boss was a civilian. Things improved considerable and I was learning about racing cars, boats and motorcycles. This supply guy and I instantly became good friends and he lived 5 minuets away from the base. He had an entire machine shop in his garage and after work he taught me how to weld with an acetylene torch and with an electric welder. I learned how to use most of the machines used in today's automotive machine shops. This guy's specialty was racing cars and he sported around in a few of them. He liked to start from scratch and build them from the frame up.
3 months working in supply and I was transferred back to Devins. That made sense, I had the top scores in my military electronics classes and there were no openings for me in my present MOS so it's back to school for me. Jim Raab
http://jimraab.blogspot.com/
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