Ross And I

I am the youngest of six children - Peggy, Brad, Mark, Bruce and Ross. There is only eleven months separating Ross and I and we pretty much grew up almost like twins. One month out of the year we share the same age which can be fun when we tell someone on October 31 that my brother Ross and I are the same age but not the same birth. He got to go to kindergarten but when he went into First Grade mom decided to "kill two birds with one stone" and put me in grade school with Ross. That was September 1961 and I was 4 years old. Ross was 5 years old and I turned 5 two months later and he turned 6 three months after starting school. So, the mold was set and he and I roamed the halls of education for 12 years. First to Jackson Elementary (six years) then to the old Tomlin (former Plant City High School) for three years before heading off to Plant City High School and the Plant City Planters (don't ask - we were a fierce team). I have all of the class pictures from Jackson Elementary and there is my brother Ross. We had a great time.

After one year in High School they built a new High School and in 1972 we became the first students in the combined schools of Plant City, Turkey Creek and Pinecrest. It was a mess the first year as they tried out some new ideas on us. So much for the bean counters in Tampa and Tallahassee. Ross and I joined the Army JROTC program and we had a great time. He and I did most everything together and we shared in the drill team where I was able to be captain of the drill. It was in February 1974 that Ross and I enlisted in the regular Army on the delayed enlistment program. The Vietnam war was not officially over yet and would not be until April 1975 but for all practical purposes it was only waiting for the ink to dry.

The plan was to enlist on the "Buddy Plan" where he and I would go in the same units and do everything together. And why not? We did everything else together. So the plan was to join the 82nd Airborne as Military Police and rock the world. Fate had a way of changing things. Of all the crazy military intelligence - because I was only 17 I could not be an MP. You had to be 18. Now they send me to boot camp where I was top shot in the unit with an M16; fired M60 machine guns; threw grenades; and I can't wear a 45 cal weapon because I was only 17. So, Ross went on to jump out of perfectly good airplanes with the 82nd Airborne MP's and I went to the Judge Advocate General Corp as a legal beagle (also called a clerk). I was a JAG man.

But the story is not over yet. Ross and I graduate and head off to Jacksonville for induction. He processes through a day earlier than I and flies out (for the first time flying) and I fly out the next day (thinking to myself at 30,000 feet why would I want to join the 82nd and jump???). Arrived at Fort Knox for basic training and was assigned the same Company and same Platoon as Ross. I was Platoon leader and he was one of my squad leaders. So we get to go through Army Basic together - how great is that? Had a great time. But then he goes to Fort Gordon and I go to Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis for JAG training. After Indy I am assigned to HQ in Atlanta but they do not have a slot for me so I volunteer to go down to Savannah/Hinesville, Georgia where they are in the process of activating the 24th Infantry Division. I join the JAG office with a great staff. My boss was the Army defense counsel for William Calley (Mi Lai massacre story).

Joined the Army as a E2 - made E5 in two years. With about a year left on my enlistment I decided to do a tour of duty in South Korea and as a going away present the Colonel (and others) pushed my promotion to E5 through and told me to get off base as soon as I could. I found our a few years later they pulled a real job on that one. Had a great tour in Korea. Six months in TDC (abbreviation for a town I cannot spell - north of Seoul) and then transferred to Munson near the DMZ for my final six months serving as NCOIC of the JAG office. I had an 8 - 4:30 job and on Friday afternoon took the bus to Seoul where I spent the weekend with Malcolm Parsley who was a church missionary there. Loved him and his wonderful family and have so many fond memories. Came home in 1977. They snookered me into to signing up for a year of National Guard out of Lakeland which I did. Finally hung up my uniform in 1978 (where it now hangs in my closet - and no I can no longer fit in it.)

Ross got out of the Army in 1977 when I did. I look back sometimes and wonder how much fun it would have been to be 82nd Airborne MP's with my brother Ross. Not sure the world would have been ready for that. Still, Ross is my buddy and my twin (at least for one month of the year). Love you Ross (or as we called him "Horse").