Now For Something Different

 

An aerial view of NSA Headquarters at Ft. George G Meade, Maryland 1960
I was stationed there from October 1960 to January 1963. I was in the next to last barracks above to the right of the NSA Building. The NSA headquarters was opened in 1957. Only three years old when I arrived there in October of 1960. I used to walk to work everyday. You can see the winding sidewalk to the left of the barracks buildings. I made that walk for two and a half years. Some of the best years of my life. I will always remember my time there.

Good morning folks! 

I'm going to try something different this morning with my blog post. I'm taking a break from sharing my caregiving adventures (last night was a doozy) and share with you some of my past personal history.

At this time of my life (nearing the end), I often think of my past experiences of the past eighty-two years of my life's journey on this earthly plane.

Of course when I graduated from high school I wanted to go to college. Or at least an art school to train to be a commercial artist. Alas it was not to be because my family neither had the money for college nor was I smart enough for a scholarship. Perhaps the main reason was that I lacked the self confidence to work my way through college. 

I wanted to get a job in the commercial business field but back in the Fifties most of the office jobs in the newspaper were for females. Remember those ads? Male and female? The jobs I wanted were almost always in the Female column. Gay from Day One, that was me. What was I to do? Join the Army. Get that obligation out of the way. And yes, I did feel that I owed my country at least three years of my life in service to my country. Unlike The Orange Jesus who has voiced that anyone who served their country were "suckers and losers." But I digress. 

As regular followers of this blog know, I was in the Army from January of 1960 to January 1963. I joined the Army because I felt it was my obligation as a citizen of this country and also to avoid the draft. I knew I would eventually get drafted and I figured if I joined I would at least have a choice in what branch of the Army I would serve my duty to our country. I definitely didn't want to be in a combat unit. I didn't want to shoot anybody and I definitely didn't want anybody shooting at me. 

I originally wanted to join the Navy ("see the world") but through a serendipity set of circumstances I was persuaded by the Army recruiter at my local U.S. Post Office to join the Army and I could "still see the world" but only had to serve "three years instead of four."  Well, he talked me into switching my enlistment papers from Navy to Army. 

The Army recruiter suggested that I join the Army Security Agency. That would six months at Ft. Devens Massachusetts (after an eight week Basic Training at Ft. Dix, New Jersey)

Me after completing Army Basic Training 1960, before I went to Ft. Devens, Mass.

they assignment, almost always overseas. He said "Ninety percent of ASA school graduates got over seas assignments." 

As my luck would have it by the time my class of twenty-seven graduated only a few of the assignments were overseas. We choose our assignments based on our class standing. I was #6 in my class of twenty-seven. There were two England assignments (they went FAST!), a couple in Turkey (a mountain top near Russia) and the rest were in mainland United States. Two Rock Ranch, Arizona, Ft. Bragg North Carolina, and a couple of others that I forgot. There was one for Ft. Meade Maryland, only two hours from my home in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. I could go home every weekend (which I did most of the time). I choose Ft. Meade. This I spent all three years of my enlistment in the Army on the East Coast. Funny thing, both of my younger brothers followed me in joining the Army their big brother joined. Both went to Germany. They wanted to stay stateside. Didn't happen. In fact my youngest brother's oldest daughter was born in Germany. I have yet to visit a foreign county. Oh wait, I do visit Canada. Does Canada count as a foreign country?

Me at Ft. Devens, Mass (tall guy second from the left) with Duane Osten and Russ Hagerman. I soldier on my right was our platoon sergeant whose name I've forgotten. He wasn't in our clique.

My stay at Ft. Meade was great though. I was only there a few months when I was asked to be the assistant platoon sergeant, Cliff Taylor

. Mainly because I was the only soldier in the barracks who cared about keeping the barracks ready for weekly inspection. The platoon sergeant lived off base with his girlfriend and he didn't want to be bothered with the weekly Thursday night GI parties. Didn't bother me. A big plus was I got a private room. Actually I shared a room with him but he was rarely there, spending all his time at his girlfriend's place. Cliff was from Georgia. A great guy.

One of the rare times my roommate Cliff was in his bunk. 

Even loaned me his car once for one of my disaster dates. That's another story which I may (or may not) share later). I've always wondered what happened to Cliff. Maybe someone will read this blog after an Internet search for Cliff's name and tell me. Cliff was one of those guys in my lifetime who was very kind to me and changed my life. Thank you Cliff.

Me in the main barracks at Ft. Meade before I moved in the private room with Cliff Taylor - 1960 (back in my cigarette smoking days)

I just got a call from Delaware Hospice. Bill is being readmitted. The nurse is coming over this afternoon. I have to get ready. I have some errands to run this morning. I will continue this personal history of mine in a later blog post. 

I'll end with this latest picture of the NSA headquarters at Ft. Meade. Wow, they have grown!

NSA Headquarters, Ft. Meade, Maryland. You can see my old barracks in the upper right. The row of red brick buildings.