Old Army Buddies: the lasting bonds of the last draftees

Crabtownboy · May 24, 2009

I do not know what the feeling is these days between Army buddies. But the article I quote from is correct. I feel there is a special bond between people who served in the military services when I was young. I have a special feeling for the fellows I served with, 1960-62. Though I have been able to keep up with only a few of these fellows, I have thought of others often and would really like to know how they are and how their lives unfolded. I am sorry that I was not smart enough, at that time, to get information from them on how I could keep up with their lives. Oh well, there are different priorities at different stages of our lives.

The company I served in Co. A, 97th Signal Batallion, Germany, was a group from every corner of the country and every economic level. Like every other company it was a unique collection of draftees and volunteers. But we were a 'band of brothers' and as strange as it seems in our modern culture, we liked each other. We worked hard, played hard, argued hard, laughed hard and had great times together.

By Michael R. Auslin
Sunday, May 24, 2009

A few years ago, my father suddenly announced that he wanted to give a substantial sum of money to someone who had fallen on hard times. The intended recipient of this charity, which was not insignificant for our family, was not a relative, a neighbor or a work colleague. It was one of my dad's old buddies from his Army service in the 1950s, who was ill and in need of help. I still remember being amazed that my father could feel such empathy for someone with whom he had served in peacetime nearly half a century earlier. Yet for him, helping a former comrade in arms was a sacred charge.

Today, as a new Greatest Generation emerges in Iraq and Afghanistan, a unique Ameri can species is beginning to disappear: the Old Army Buddy, the men who served in the U.S. armed forces in the 1950s and early '60s. They were the soldiers who protected American interests at the height of the Cold War, yet for the most part never fired a shot in combat. Most of those remaining are now past 70, and when they go, so will the last links to an era of mandatory national service that helped shape mid-20th-century America.

From the 1940s through the early 1970s, a generation of Americans accepted compulsory military service as a responsibility of citizenship. In war and in peace, Americans of different economic classes and ethnicities served together, forming relationships that lasted a lifetime, even when the vets had little else in common. With today's all-volunteer force, our military is more professional, but the mixing of different groups has diminished, and American society has lost the sense of the virtue of national service.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy.../05/22/AR2009052202023.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

BigBossman · May 25, 2009

My brother went through basic training in 2001. When I went to see him prior to his graduation, he introduced me to what they refer to as a "war buddy". I don't know if he has maintained contact with him since graduating basic training or not.

I though it was kind of unusual that he was paired up with a "war buddy". He almost made it sound like they were assigned to each other. Sort of as a way of them looking out for each other while in basic training.

Crabtownboy · May 25, 2009

BigBossman said: ↑

My brother went through basic training in 2001. When I went to see him prior to his graduation, he introduced me to what they refer to as a "war buddy". I don't know if he has maintained contact with him since graduating basic training or not.

I though it was kind of unusual that he was paired up with a "war buddy". He almost made it sound like they were assigned to each other. Sort of as a way of them looking out for each other while in basic training.
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That is interesting. Ask him if his "war buddy" was assigned to be like a "Big Brother," or did it just happen by chance.

We were a bunch of young fellow from all over the country, from all econimic classes, from poor to pretty rich homes, country boys and city boys and various racial groups thrown together by chance. We were draftees and volunteers. That is not possible now in an all volunteer military. Back then almost all males served time in the military and that is no longer true. I believe the country, or at least our culture is harmed by this lack of contract between groups, especially geographically and economically diverse groups. It is something I am thinking about and have started notes to write an editorial about.

I believe this was good for us. It was the first time that many Southerns met Yankees, many Whites to meet Blacks, many city kids to meet countlry kids, etc. I believe it helped us all see each other as people and not "them."

LadyEagle · May 25, 2009

Thank you for your service, CTB.

LE

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