Since it’s a weekend to be proud, I wanted to share this photo and article that a classmate just found and sent to me.

A little backstory first. Some of you know my story about joining the Army right out of high school. But what you may or may not know is the fight I had before that to join the Navy. My dad had served in the Navy, that and my desire to travel and see the world while becoming a physical therapist was all I’d dreamed of ever since the recruiting office sent recruiters to my high school government class to tell us about their programs. This article illustrates part of that fight.

This is one of the articles written about me and my fight. My government teacher, Mrs Montgomery, helped me draft letters to the government officials, and I still have all of their responses somewhere in storage. I was also on the local radio station-WBAP- but like I told my brother, I was more excited to meet George Hamilton as he was coming into the radio station for an interview. 😁

My classmate wanted permission to put it on my high school’s website, and gave it to him. I said that it was ok because it’s my only claim to fame, lol. Had I known then what I found out later, my life would have taken a very different turn. See, three weeks after I joined to Army (they only required a one inch waiver) my parents got the letter of acceptance from the Navy. They refused to tell me about it thinking I was already on a good path, I should leave it alone. That was not their decision to make. I’m not bitter though. I would not be or have gone through everything I have had I known. They finally told me when I came home on leave for the first time. Oh, I seethed about it for years, because I felt I was robbed of my chance to see Italy, but I finally had to let it go. They did what they thought was right.

I’m proud to have served at all. I’m lucky I got in any branch at all. The reason I was so mad about not getting in the Navy was not just the size requirement, but the news that a man got in who was 4ft 7”!! So now it’s sexual discrimination also? Ooooh, I was hopping mad. I view it as an achievement that I served four and a half years in the Army and still got to travel more places, including Korea, than most people get to go their entire military career. I was stationed in Alabama, Colorado, California, Texas, (twice) and Korea. In the end, I did not become a physical therapist, they had no open slots for that, but a lab technician. In the real world, I worked as a phlebotomist and medical assistant. I was in the field for 22 years, which led to other jobs like my job with Stephanie Kilgore, and assistant activities director at an assisted living facility.

And now, as Paul used to say, “You know the rest of the story.”