ARMY BRAND DD214 WON’T WASH OFF

Not sure when it begins, but a lot of men feel remorse about not having an Honorable Discharge and a DD214. What did they miss?

Listen to guys in their late 30’s and early 40’s reflect on the sort of soldier they would have been, or their opinion on what makes a good soldier.

The last part is the best because the fellas who see soldier qualities in others see officer qualities in themselves.

Leaders of men lead, but if they skipped the chance to lead in uniform, they live an unfulfilled life. Ask about a DD214 before you take any Army opinions to heart.

With that out of the way, Army volunteer here, 1974-76. Got in, got out, carried on. Currently carrying on.

I read a tweet by Bob Kerry, a man with a load of former titles like former governor, former senator, and most important to the topic, former Seal.

What is not former about Bob Kerry? He’s a lifelong badass with a Medal of Honor, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart for proof. And no doubt a DD214.

He chimed in on a conversation about Mr. Trump’s feet.

The challenge followed Trump’s latest disparaging remarks about the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who was held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than five years. McCain, who had been diagnosed with brain cancer, died in August.

“While John McCain was flying combat operations in Vietnam, you were, I think, falsifying that you had bone spurs in order not to go to Vietnam,” said Kerrey, a 1992 presidential candidate who retired from the Senate in 2000. “Now, I know lots of people who avoided the draft, but this isn’t what he’s saying. He said ‘I physically couldn’t go.’ Well, Mr. President, get your feet X-rayed and let’s see those bone spurs. I don’t think he has them.”

Kerrey said he also believed Trump “sees all of us who went to Vietnam as fools. We were the suckers. We were the stupid ones. We were the ones that didn’t have the resources to be able to get out of the draft.”

Smart on service, smart on taxes?

If Mr. Trump had been in the same army I was in he would have been bullied, humiliated, had fellow trainees say mean things to him and about him.

He would have failed the rope crossing, the confidence course, the regular obstacle course, the PT test, the jungle gym stuff that ripped the skin off young hands while waiting in line for breakfast.

Mr. Trump would have been re-cycled to the ‘conditioning platoon’ and joined another company in the middle of their training cycle and have all the bad stuff happen again.

The recycled guy in my platoon knew everything there was to know about the Army, which was the strong point he led with. He was also a bully after he’d been bullied in his original platoon and in the fat platoon. So he showed up with an ‘I’ll show these rookies’ attitude.

One of my guys had been a boxer. New guy said he didn’t believe the guy could hit and challenged to hit him in the shoulder. The boxer hit him so hard the new guy’s head bounced off the wall and he fell, knocked out cold.

Some guys drug him down the stairway and left him in front of the 1st Sgt’s door. Before the 1st found him, someone had passed by and stolen his watch.

New guy complained.

The platoon endured the punishment for the new guy leaving the barracks floor after hours, for complaining about his stolen watch, and for being such a useless dick.

One of the drills explained it like this: “We had the brown boot Army, the black boot Army, and now you worthless pieces of shit.”

We were just happy to be included as the new ‘motherflippers.’ That’s what Sgt Daybell called us because his religion prohibited bad language. The other drills taunted us with, “Here comes Sgt Daybell’s little motherflippers.”

One thing the Army does well is make you look just like everyone else. Same haircut, same uniform, same stunned expression.

Would Mr. Trump have made a good motherflipper? Most evidence points to a Section 8 like the guys who cried themselves to sleep, who refused to comply, who asserted their ‘rights’ in boot camp because their mom knew someone important.

The key is finding comfort in the company of the guys, finding common ground, expanding horizons stuff. Be a face in the crowd, and this was my crowd.

In ’74 we were the new army, kinder and gentler, and when a guy tried to test the kindness and gentleness by refusing to fall in by the order of the senior drill because he had ‘rights.’ So he got the piss slapped out of him in front of the platoon, then fell in.

I was impressed by the show of manliness on both sides, the career side and the learning side. The NCO risked his job to make a better soldier; the slapped up kid became a better soldier.

Would Mr. Trump have been a fast learner?

Would he take a slap down in front of peers?

If you can take it when you ask for it, you get an Army DD214 later.