Hq, 9th Infantry Division and Retirement — Fort Lewis, Washington
I arrived at Fort Lewis with mixed feelings. I was glad to be back home but was sad that this was to be my last assignment before retiring.
I was assigned to the special intelligence facility of the Division G2, a vault located in the basement of the division headquarters building.
We were tasked to create and maintain detailed intelligence on the ground forces of a country to support contingency planning for the division.
Although working in the special intelligence facility, I was still under the supervision of the division G2. When the division was tasked to participate in an exercise in Germany. I convinced the G2 that as I was pending retirement, I shouldn’t have to go, even though I had just returned from Germany and was very familiar with the Soviet and East German forces they’d be war gaming against. When they returned the G2 told me I’d put one over him.
I had deliberately allowed my hair to grow a bit more than was appropriate as I intended to have it “styled” when it was long enough. A few weeks later, I had my hair “styled” only to find I’d spent 20 dollars and wound up with my hair no different than my regular hair style.
Following the retirement ceremony, my wife, children, mother-in-law and I went to a hamburger joint and celebrated my retirement.
A few years later I was helping teach a class at The Evergreen State College (Olympia, Washington). I wore my uniform for the last time to the class. The object was to demonstrate that they couldn’t really know a person by what they see. They had seen me only in civilian clothes teaching. They were shocked when I appeared in my uniform. They had no idea I was a retired Army officer.