My brother, Rob, is a chaplain candidate in the US Army. He's been working with a Psychological Operations Unit down at Jefferson Barracks here in St. Louis, and from all accounts doing a fine job. Every now and then a unit or battalion, or company or whatever it is will have a dinner hosted by the Company Leader and other commanding officers. There are "Dinning In" meals for the soldiers themselves, usually when they are away from home and living in a camp together, and "Dining Out" meals for the soldiers and their families. Rob's Psy Ops Unit had a "Dining Out" last Friday and his wife, Jordan, was unable to accompany him...
...so I got to go. Charlie stayed home with the baby, and Rob and I had a blast!
One of the highlights of the evening was meeting a man, a Polish Jew, who survived the holocaust. He was an early adolescent when he was liberated from a concentration camp (I sadly don't remember which one. It was in Germany, and it was not Dachau.) by American soldiers. The more I talked to him, the more he shared of his life. Since his liberation he has only wanted one thing: to be an American citizen. It took him years to achieve that, since he was suspected of being a communist ("Communist?! I don't know what that means! I can't even spell it!") and denied a visa. Very interesting man.
He is regularly invited to army events such as these, though he is not in the armed forces, for mutual gratification--he to express his on-going appreciation for the US Army, and the US Army to be affirmed in their duties.
The other highlight was the grog ceremony. But I won't go into details. If you're interested, you can read about it here.
That's so fun that you went with him!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun thing to do; wish I could have gone too--Rob and your Charlie are, I'm sure, the closest to military things that I'll ever get. There can be real dignity in it. You look so cute together!--a completely unbiased opinion.
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