“Very new…and very old”
By Jim Culp
October 28, 2022
In 2000, my military career changed abruptly to another component
of the U.S. Army. I was discharged from the Kansas National Guard and joined
the U.S. Army Reserve. I was able to discharge early because my move was “in
the interest of and favorable to the good of the U.S. Army.” My contract ended
in less that two days and I headed to MEPS* for my physical and all that silly
crap. Civilian bosses were not happy about it, but I didn’t care. It was a $14
dollar raise on the civilian side, and I would soon be in charge of a Movement
Control Detachment. I stopped by the National Guard and said goodbye to my old
tank… I would miss her…Not. That bucket of bolts put fifty health years on my
body in seven calendar years. I finished school for that MOS** and reported
back to my unit.
“Welcome, SSG*** Culp,” said the Commander, “Report to
Captain Weaver for your first assignment, and as soon as you get back, you’ll
be in charge of the 378th HRT*!
I went and reported to Captain Darrel Weaver, a guy that I
would live to become great friends with. Darrel was a black dude from Chicago,
and not in the nicest part. He was one of the most intelligible people I ever
met. We shook hands and he said “We’re headed to Italy, Sarge; and I want to
watch over the kids, so I don’t have to…capiche? (Do you understand?)
“Roger Sir, when are we headed out?”
“Friday morning, 0300.”
Upon arriving in Italy, we were picked up by a Specialist
in a 15-passenger van. It was easy to spread out because we only had six
people. Some folks in that unit did several missions per year. We drove through
the cities and finally ended up at Vicenza, a village style town that had been
there since the Second Century AD. It had survived an earthquake (1349) and the
German bombings of World War II (1942-1945).
My Captain, a buddy Jim Warner, and I were all history buffs,
and for the next 11 days we would see over half of Italy. The only work they
wanted us to do was fill out surveys of the mess hall’s meals. This wasn’t a
problem; their “mess hall” was like an Italian Bistro, but better. Every meal
had a huge salad bar, and the breads were bought on the local market.
I could tell you more, but I don’t have the bandwidth to do
all of that today.
A day later, I asked the Sergeant Major what he wanted us
to do. He replied that he wanted me to go to Aviano Airbase and give a report
of the Team Training that was going there (the Army had a detachment there).
We all loaded up and headed there. This base is huge… and
has a plethora of aircraft and armaments. We located the Army Detachment there,
and I went out and graded their Team Training. They were doing chemical warfare
drills, and I gave them a talk afterwards. So… I did about 25 minutes of work
that day. When we left there, we went to the Coliseum, but the crews were
working on a structural failure, and said “sorry, two weeks.”
We headed back to Vicenza and visited a grape farmer. He
and his cousin were in the wine business, and had done so since 560 AD. The
wine was really awesome, and we bought some more bottle to take home and such.
History was right in front of me here, and I wanted to stay for a year. We
visited Venice for a whole day and enjoyed all the sites and shops. We had
pizza there that you can’t match anywhere in the rest of the world. One thing
you don’t want to do in Venice is to fall in the water. If you’re an American,
the Department of State orders you to stay four weeks for vaccinations.
All in all, it was a great trip. The grand finale was when
the airline screwed out tickets up. So, three of us had to ride First Class. Oh,
the horror! We could eat or drink anything we wanted, and the flight attendants
all looked like porn stars.
A final caveat. Very strange but true. On April 10th
of 2004, I was in Iraq, and we were mortared for seven hours. The only fatality
on our side was Antoine Holt, from Aviano Airbase.
I am going back to see that Coliseum up close and personal.
I will be hoping they screw up my airline tickets again.
{{I am including a small glossary with this blog; some of
my readers have told me that they have no clue what “this” and “that” are. My
apologies; when you are a soldier as long as I was, you think everyone knows
that stuff.}}
*: MEPS: Military Entrance Processing Station
**: MOS: Military Occupational Specialty
***: SSG: Staff Sergeant (the second rank in the Army’s
Non- Commissioned Officer
ranks
-Jim
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