250th Birthday of the Army – Happy Birthday!

In a previous essay on The Days Forward about what West Point meant to me, I stated that not counting obvious things like the birth of my kids, there were three events in my life that I count as being both profound and life-changing.  I went on to say that in chronological order the first was attending and graduating from West Point.  The second was meeting my wife, Avril, my Firstie Year at West Point, and the third was coming to know Jesus Christ as my Savior.  But there was also a fourth event that was quite significant that preceded everything else in my life; and that was being born an Army brat on December 26, 1946, in a Quonset Hut which was part of the hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia.  So, in some respects, the Army is more a part of who I am than just about anything else in my life.  I was born into the Army, I was schooled by the Army, I met my wife on an Army base, I have 21 years of Army service, and even today the bulk of my retirement is funded by the Army.  For me, almost everything that it means to be an American was first learned in the Army.  I learned respect for the flag every evening at 5:30pm when everything stopped for a couple of minutes while the flag was taken down.  I’m sure I probably learned the Pledge of Allegiance and the Stars Spangled Banner in an Army grade school.  My Cub Scout and Boy Scout and Explorer leaders were all either an Army wife or an enlisted man or NCO or Officer in the Army.  Even my clergy growing up were all Army Chaplains, and almost all my childhood memories of a religious nature happened in a chapel on an Army base somewhere in the world.  My conservative values were certainly forged in the Army.  Before I ever set foot on West Point the Army had already given me a sense of duty, honor and country.  And when I die and the final words at my funeral are said, Taps will be played, a 21-gun salute will be given, the flag that covered my coffin will be presented to a loved one, and a military cemetery will become my final resting place.  What does the Army mean to me?  Everything!  So, of course, I would like to be a part of saying “Happy 250^th Birthday” to the United States Army!