By Curt Heaviland, Association President

It sure seems that time really flies when you are having fun. (At least that's how the saying goes.)
It also flies when you're busy.  I'm certain that all of you can attest to that.  I'm told that I'm retired but it seems this year I am working 40 hours a week as a security guard at the Independence Center in Independence.  I call it a volunteer job, because for the amount of wages I get it seems like it is volunteering.  Seriously though, I really enjoy it.

I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of really neat people, and being Independence a lot of them are church people, as well as merchants and those who work for the merchants.  I hope that I can make a little difference at the mall.

Where Are Our Sustaining Members?

The one sad note that I have found is that our base of support from sustaining members is dwindling.  It may be that they have just forgotten or overlooked their dues but the fact remains that there are a goodly number that have not come through this year.  Just remember all that are not active  —  we need your support.

More Articles, Please!

I still need articles for the newsletter!

If any of you have had an experience—whether it has been military related or just an experience you would like to share with the rest of us—PLEASE send it to me.

Also send any changes of address or e-mail changes to me.

Missing E-mail Addresses

Not too long ago I had my hard drive crash, and I lost all kinds of materials, including many e-mail addresses.  I have tried to correct them the best I could soooo… if you're not getting your mail either snail or e-mail, please get in contact with me.   My addresses are army05@aol.com or 1228 Scott, Independence, MO 64052-3818.  If that doesn't do it, check in to the Web page at the church's home page.  In any event, let me or Kim or Tim know.

October Newsletter?

I will be leaving for Arizona on the 15th of October and I hope I can get the next newsletter put together before I leave.  If not I'll get the November issue out for sure.  I go in for heart surgery the first full week in November so I should have plenty of time to get things together.

All of you be careful and stay out of Harm's way.  GOD BLESS

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On the Road for the Committee on Ministry to the Armed Forces

By Carl Mesle

I think of three incidents which happened while I was on the road for the Committee on Ministry to Armed Forces Personnel—in the 60's wasn't it?

As official denominational representative I was certified to visit military posts by the office of the Chief of Chaplains with courtesies due a Major General—which opened all doors.  I would clear my travel agenda, with dates listed, for each base with the OCC and with a copy to the Chief Chaplain at each installation.

On one air base, the chief Chaplain took me on a courtesy visit to the C.O. Usually such is brief, (but having met him I was free upon leaving to write the C.O. and comment on the reception given by his Chaplain—which usually pleased the Chaplain).

On this occasion, however, the General was in the mood to talk and raised questions about my understanding of the movement of the Holy Spirit.  It was a subject warm to both of our hearts, and we had an excellent discussion in which the Chaplain pretty much remained silent, and I never did learn how he felt about the Holy Scriptures.
On another base, the Chaplain helped me, as usual, to locate RLDS members where membership was indicated.  I finally located one GI in his housing unit with his wife.  He seemed a little embarrassed to see me (which was not all that unusual), but I entered the home, and we talked about his work and his career and then about the church.  Finally, his wife said, "Would you please tell me what the RLDS believes?  My husband won't discuss it."  I had a great time informing both of his beliefs and left with them as friends.

On another base I came upon the wife of a GI working at a desk job.  She was smoking, of which I made mention, and we had a brief but pleasant visit.  At the next conference, the young lady sought me out to tell me that she was so embarrassed to be found smoking that she quit then and there.

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Perhaps you all have seen this article—It's an exchange between Senator John Glenn and Senator Howard Metzenbaum.  Not only is it a pretty impressive impromptu speech, but it's a good example of one man's explanation of why men and women in the Uniformed Service do and what they do for a living.  Also an example of what those think who have never served think of the military.-CH

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“Real Job”

Senator Metzenbaum to Senator Glenn: "How can you run for the Senate when you've never had a real job?”
Senator Glenn: "I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps.  I served through two wars.  I flew 14 missions.  My plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire on 12 different occasions.  I was in the space program.  It wasn't my checkbook; it was my life on the line.  It was not a 9 to 5 job where I took time off to take daily cash receipts to the bank".

"I ask you to go with me…as I went the other day…to a Veteran's Hospital and look at those men with their mangled bodies in the eyes and tell them they didn't hold a job.  You go with me to the space program and go as I have gone to the widows and orphans of Ed White and Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee you look those kids in the eye and tell them that their dad didn't hold a job."

"You go there with me on Memorial Day and you stand in Arlington National Cemetery, where I have more friends than I'd like to remember—and you watch those waving flags, and you stand there, and you think about this nation, and you tell me that those people didn't have a job."

"I'll tell you, Howard Metzenbaum, you should be on your knees every day of your life thanking God that there were some men—SOME MEN—who held a job.  And they required a dedication to purpose and a love of country and a dedication to duty that was more important than life itself.  And their self-sacrifice is what made this country possible".
"I HAVE HELD A JOB, HOWARD—WHAT ABOUT YOU?"

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I believe that Senator Glenn has pretty well summarized what the military is about.  Unfortunately those that serve have to do some very unpleasant things as required by their job.

When we look at occupations, we find very few that require the loyalty and devotion to duty as exemplified by the military.  Too many look at the military only as warmongers and do not see them as saviors.  You tell the survivors of the holocaust that the military was not important and you'll get a different answer.  Ask someone who was rescued during a flood by the military and see their answer.

Yes, the primary occupation of the military is the defense of our nation but the times have required different missions to which the military has responded quickly and decisively.  We are PEACEKEEPERS in the time of unrest and difficulty.

Keep up the good work!!!!!! -CH

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Remember Our Veterans

By Bruce Sargent—Laramie,Wyo.

South Pacific.  Not the SP of book/stage/movie fame.  The surreal one of the lands of Guam, Korea, Philippines, Viet Nam, etc.  There was no glamour, love nor any rule of law that necessarily made any sense.  Now, you know what South Pacific I am thinking of….

I know God or an appointee of God was by my side most of my life.  There were simply too many opportunities for bad things to happen to me or those around me for there not to be an umbrella of safety at all times.  I was one of the generation that, when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, would say. "If I grow up, I want to be (whatever was on my mind at that particular time)". After all, I turned six years old one month after VJ Day, was in first grade and knew more about what was going on around me than what the adults thought I could, even when I was only two years old.  Unusual, perhaps, but I did not know that.  That is why I try to keep from saying something that would adversely effect someone else, no matter their age, gender language or awareness.  Even a person who is in a coma may be still be able to not only hear, but see, too!!!!!!

I know, for I was in an automobile accident on Christmas Eve 1996 and in a coma—supposedly, per the doctors.  I knew everything that was going on and who was there, plus what they were saying.  And, yes, I could see them through my eyelashes, even though I could not open my eyes, speak, or move for several hours. In my mind, I knew I had to get motivating because I had a bunch of toys to put together that night.

The accident was at 2:00 PM, and I finally got to where I could operate my body again at about 10:00 PM that same day.  Boy, the nurses would have just assumed I did not, since I was after the doctor to come and release me immediately.  Anyone heard of sedation?  That is what I got added to my IV.  I did get out before noon the next day.  I still have relapses from the head trauma— dizziness, nausea—but they are occurring less than once a year, on average, these last ten years.

Like that excursion?  Just setting the background of my life, for my personal military life was really different from my pre-military civilian life.  The accident I noted above was my third (and, hopefully, last) brain concussion in my life.  Dropped on my head on the front sidewalk at home from my sister’s arms (no malice intended) when I was a baby was number one.  A car accident, in which I was not the driver, put me into the windshield top post in a head-on collision, not long after I returned from the USAF tour of active duty in 1961 (I think that was when it was, anyway).

So, I made it through my 30 day wunderkind basic training, completed the eighteen-month technical school in ten weeks, and was sent to Davis Monthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona.  The Air Force was very short of manpower. (Can you say COLD WAR?)  By the time I was due for E3, promotions were frozen—too many people!  When I reached a year and a half time in service, they stayed frozen, but they started giving two year early outs!  O boy!  Well, they kept shortening the amount of time of the early outs, keeping promotions frozen, until, when I was in my second week of processing for my ETS, they came and got me and sent me back to work!  Yep, you guessed it.  Extended!  I was the daily operational crew chief of my crew for three years, even though there was an E5/SSGT on my crew.  He was not trained in our career field, and was transferred to us as due to the stop loss of mid career personnel in effect.  Somehow, I could not get excited about either the extension, or the promotion all the way to E3 they offered me to re-enlist.  UH, no thanks!!!!!

Eighteen years an nine months later (June 1979), I joined the U.S. Army Medical Corps Reserves on a "Try it, see if you like it" program that was available for prior service people.  No Basic, got E4, and they sent me to Bio-Medical Equipment Maintenance School at Fitzsimmons AMC, Denver (Aurora), Colorado.

I was a Master Sergeant by April of 1990, since I kept working for more and better things to do at drills for everyone.  That unit was earmarked for elimination at the start of massive cutbacks of the eighties, but as a unit we went from 58% manned to 100% plus and was blowing all the other units away in head to head/hand in hand operations.  They were still ranked number one in the Total Army of their unit type in 1997, when I transferred to retired reserve.

Now, I am fully retired.  The Army Personnel said I had 41 years total Federal Service in my letter granting me transfer to retired reserve.  Two years more in the Retired Reserve gave me 43—can you believe it—total years.  I was of the opinion that (when I was 16) I would not make it past 30!!  All five of our children, yes I am married, are past thirty (three past forty!!), and we have a grandchild that is twenty-five: gulp!  No great grandchildren, yet.

My Original Enlistment Dream Sheet showed Germany, England, and Australia as my preferred PCS duty assignments.  I got PCS'd to DMAFB, Tucson, AZ.  With an opportunity to go TDY for what became 91 days in Guam. Mariannas, Island.  That is where it really felt weird.  No, I was not sick.  Military lifestyle at a USA facility is strange enough, what with all the alerts, no sleep for up to three days (where I was), 100% quality at all times, can't say what you do or are doing, Klaxon Horns to alert you of an alert, security all the time, carrying weapons at all times, shoot first and ask questions later type of lifestyle, Guam; weather/jungle.  I did not like either one.  Humidity of at least 80%.  Very little difference between dry and wet either.

Upon arrival in Guam, the pilot circled Anderson AFB, said “Look out the left windows.”  It was shimmering wet, albeit not raining at the moment.  He then said, "Be dead sure that you make all smoking materials and fire materials that you may use or see are dead out before disposing of them.”

When the monsoon season hit, we went from being just plain wet all of the time to soaked clear through for days at a time.  I do not know how that Island stayed above the water.  I think an Aircraft Carrier would have sunk in that weather.  Far as I know, Guam and all the Aircraft Carriers are still afloat.  The saying was; "Wet weather: it rains twenty four hours a day, Dry Weather: it rains for an hour at a time, up to twenty four times a day".  “They” tell me it is a Resort Paradise now!!!.  Crazy Japanese tourists!

I got to know a native of Guam who was about two years older than I was.  He told some stories about the WWII Japanese occupation of Guam that alternately curled and straightened our hair.  He claimed to have killed some himself.  I don't doubt it.  He could bury a knife in a tree from twenty feet or more, and it would be perfectly straight into the tree.  The Marine Detachment on Guam even caught three Japanese while I was there.  They were spotted in the area that we (don't quote me, I will say it was grandiose talking) frequented in the Off Limits jungles of Guam.  The Japanese did not know that the war was over until a high representative and family members came to pick them up!  What a waste of what were probably okay peoples' lives, wandering around on a small island, avoiding all contact, for fear of losing their lives!

We found a rusted-out US Army half-track vehicle: Planes; an American soldier's body, laying face down, head toward the cliffs, smack dab in the middle of a large clearing, with what appeared to be all his gear still there.  He had to have been there for many years; how come he was not found?  Can you say court-martial if you reported his location?  There was a cave opening visible from the clearing, just above the trees. We found what was probably 20-30 skeleton's of Japanese in there.  The cave had signs of heavy smoke/fire.  Remember the flamethrowers of WWII?  Do you suppose an official finding was ever made of them, too?

All this did was to make Guam all the harder, and the jungle trips came to a complete stop very soon after these discoveries.  We three and those three Japanese soldiers were probably very lucky to have not met up.  For one thing, we took no weapons with us, other than pocketknives, and I seem to remember that their guns were non-functioning, also.  We had no real combat experience, and I knew the war was over, but spoke no Japanese.  We all six led charmed lives, I guess.

So far away from all Sanity and Sanctity, with no love, trust, or rule of law that made much sense.  Giving and receiving of trust was a commodity that was in extremely short supply in my youth and in the military.  Only your very best buddy(s) had any idea what you were thinking or feeling.  The jungle does nothing to improve in that, since it precluded even getting physically close if you could prevent it.  Perhaps that is why the term “jungle” is applied to schools and streets of the world during this current, nearly-over century.  It is very hard to get to know someone and be close friends with them, even when we speak the same language and grow up in the same place, isn't it?

We can and must learn from the past.  Thus educate. We are charged with showing God's love to all mankind. This means we cannot keep it to ourselves.  Thus shine. We must let it pass through us and not selfishly keep to ourselves. The greatest gift is the gift of giving to others, is it not?  Thus give of yourself.  However, be aware of patting yourself on the back and giving your peers accolades/awards for the sake of giving them, for that is not true giving. No certificate/degree/award ever gave God's love to anyone. Only God, and you/mankind, as a vessel, can do that.  Thus, freely give.

Bruce T. Sargent MSG/USA Ret, Laramie, Wyoming

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