It is a great song but it’s way more than that. When you’re in the military you make friends for life. I was in peace time Army and I have some of the best memories and consider some of the people my best friends. Even though I’ve been out of the Army for 26 year I still think of the friendships that I made. I guess when you’re with people 24/7 you become very personal with them. You talk about family, friends, women, the future, and everything else. I’ve seen places that I would have never seen if it had not been for my time in the military. I saw a lot of Kansas, Missouri, Germany, The Netherlands, and Austria.  I was at 2 Oktoberfest in Munich, and went to Dachau Concentration Camp. I went white water rafting in the Swiss Alps and saw David Bowie in Paris. We road trains all over the place from city to city. We made a bunch of friends and ate many different foods.

The thing about it was I hated the Army. I hated getting up at 5:30 everyday, and hated running in PT. I always thought myself way smarter than 90% of the ranking NCO’s. I counted the days from the time I was in basic training of how much longer do I have before I get out. If it had not been for my stupid sense of loyalty I would have smoked some dope and got thrown out. But, because I a commitment for 4 years I honored that commitment. I was EXTREMELY happy when they announced a 60 early release in Jan 1988. If you were not going to reenlist they were letting you out 60 earlier than you original ETS date. It was truly a prayer that had been answered. Now 26 years later I look back on those times as some of the best days of my life. If I could do it over again, I would never join… it’s a love/hate thing.

Realistically I went in because of a girl, Jennifer Gerloch. I’d join and get through basic and when that was over she’d be 18 and then we could get married and move to Kansas to live. But under a month into basic training she told me it was off and that she had found another dick. She truly broke my heart and I was stuck in the U.S. Army for a long 4 years of my life. Maybe if I had went in on my own or for other reason things may have been different. Who knows, it’s all hindsight now and I’ll never know. May 22, 1984 – Sept 1, 1984 was the longest 3 months of my life. Going through basic training with a broken heart is nothing I’d wish upon anyone…