More from: "My Time In Service:"
The broken hearts, Dear John, and" Jodie got your girl" effect on Enlisting and Re- Enlisting.
I was chatting with my brother and found out he joined the Navy back in 1963 because his girl left him for his Best Friend. He asked to be sent far away. They sent him to Okinawa for four years. His best friend and his girl, are still married to each other. And he is still buddies with them both.
He had to get Dad to sign a release since my brother was only 16 at the time.
So that led to my broken heart story. My girl stuck it out with me for a year after I got home. But then, well, that was that.
I tried to stay at home but, really no reason too. So I went back on Active Duty just a few months after finishing my Reserve Component. Just another broken hearted guy thinking running away would help.
When I was in Germany in January of 1971, two guys in my Platoon got Dear John's. One guy was all of 18 years old. The other just turned 19. Both of them, within a week of their "Dear johns" Re-upped to go to Vietnam. We tried to talk them out of it, but that's where they wanted to go. I don't know what they were thinking. And I don't know what happened. But I know they both felt it would hurt their ex-girlfriends...and make them feel bad. But by the end of the Month, they were on their way to Vietnam with a little ten day leave first. I drove one of them to the Airport in our Company Jeep. And he wanted to prove something to his ex.
When I was in Hawaii, one of the Buck Sergeants marriages broke up. He was just eight weeks shy of ETS. He did his full six years. She filed for Divorce, and he filed for Re- Enlisting. Eight years. Again, his attitude was: "Just get me as far away from her as possible. It worked because he got sent to Italy. And I didn't even know we had Unites over there.
I guess a lot of us ended up either enlisting, or reenlisting because of a girl. Just young kids with roaring emotions and broken hearts. Not sure if I would have gone the "send me to Nam" route. But I sure did go the "send me far away" route. It ain't easy to get to Hawaii from Cleveland. Especially back then when that trip was for rich folks.
My girl did just fine. Married her Boss and made it 48 years. Didn't miss me at all. LOL
And, I got to meet my Kathy when I got to Texas five years later. And if she had broken up with me, I wonder if I would have made twenty years.
It is hard to run away from a wounded heart.