After my 2 year U.S. Army committment, I returned back to Wisconsin to my old job of working at the Gulf gas station that I had before entering the service. I then worked at International Harvester truck company for 10 years, then I worked at another truck company Wisconsin Kenworth for 18 years. My wife and I moved to Arizona in June of 1996. I got a job working in a prison as a Corrections Officer in Tucson, AZ. Then my wife and I went to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department 7 week training academy and became Detention Officers working in their jails. After two years, I went from there to the City of Tempe AZ Jail as a Detention Officer and retired from there after 15 years. After battling cancer, I am happily retired going on 7 years. I got divorced in 2002 and am happily married to a wonderful woman for the last 15 years. Living every day to it's fullest.
1969, 10th Battalion, 3rd Training Brigade (BCT) (Fort Knox, KY)
School 10th Battalion, 3rd Training Brigade (BCT) (Fort Knox, KY)
Best Friends I did not have or make any lasting friendships while at Fort Knox. I was named the Platoon Sgt. for the barracks I was staying in, so I had my own little room inside the end of the barracks. I found that about 90% of these soldiers were just like me and just putting in their last 6 months of service before they got out of the Army like I was doing.
Best Moment The Best Moment at Fort Knox was when I got my Honorable Discharge papers presented to me at a graduation ceremony. Finally, I get to go home!
Worst Moment My worst moment was almost every day that I was there at Fort Knox. I was in Headquarters platoon, so that meant that we always had to be the very best shining example of what beautiful tanks, jeeps and trucks the United States Army had. That meant that whenever there was an inspection (which there were plenty of) I had to order all of my men in my barracks to account for all of the vehicles, then wash and polish (yes, that's right, I said wax) all of the vehicles to a high gloss shine. Now that also goes for the tanks that we had! What a joke that was!
Other Memories One of the funniest things that I saw happen was that on graduation day, there were a couple of Private E1's that were retiring from the Army that had over 20 years of service in the Army! We later found that these guys were hardened alcoholics and the bottle seemed to always get in the way of any advancement in rank. I remember that with only two days before I was to be honorably discharged from the Army, I checked my paperwork and found that I did not have any orders for a Good Conduct Medal. I ran into the CQ's office and I demanded to know why. I told him that I had kept my nose clean for 24 months and that included a year in Vietnam. The very next day I had my orders for that medal.
