Way back when I was in high school I toyed around with going directly into the Army. Being the overachiever that I was, I wanted to look into Special Forces.
I talked briefly to my dad about this. He said, “You should talk to Ken, he was Special Forces in Vietnam”.
“What? Are you serious?” Dad didn’t joke around much.
“Yes, I’m serious”
Ken was one of my dad’s good friends for a very long time. I’ve known him since I was a little kid. He was about five foot ten inches with a regular build and a good sense of humor. He was an insurance salesman.
** He reminds me of this guy in the white shirt. He was a Delta Operator and one of Schwarzkopf’s personal bodyguards during the Gulf War. Just a regular looking guy.
He was SF? It didn’t register in my brain. It was kind of like finding out that your nerdy science teacher was once a Navy SEAL.
At that time I knew nothing about the military. I thought all Army Special Forces were well over six feet tall and built like bodybuilders. I imagined them doing stuff like opening beer bottles with their teeth then downing the brew in one swig. Maybe then they’d smash the bottle off of their head just for good measure.
I sat down and talked to Ken a couple of times. He was very down to Earth. He didn’t talk about his time in Vietnam but did talk about SF in general and how it wasn’t for everyone, but it was a good fit for him.
That was the first time I was really interested in the Army.