Reflections of An Uncommon Common Man

We finally got a few days to see Germany before we left for home. Germany is a beautiful country and the terrain reminded me a lot of Tennessee. There are forests and hills everywhere and the towns and cities are beautiful. We had managed to go into Frankfort a few times before the air show and on the 21st I visited Mainz. It is a Medieval city where American forces crossed the Rhine river in WW2. There was a really neat flea market there by the river where I managed to find a Nazi Labor Day Medal and a WW1 medal. For historical reasons only, I wanted something with the swastika on it. It was against the law, apparently, to openly sell anything related to the Nazi's or Hitler in modern Germany. The clerk reached under the table and pulled out his WW2 memorabilia. After the air show we spent a whole day on a Rhine River tour where we floated down the river on a tour boat viewing German castles and towns along the river. The Rhine is the busiest waterway that I have ever been on in m...

    In May of 1983 a spot opened up and I was finally allowed to rejoin my Air National Guard unit. Things were finally falling into place but I was still not able to buy a car. Since my transmission went out in Florida I was not able to trade my car because I was upside down on it because I owed more on the car than it was worth. I was forced to have it repaired in order to keep driving. Before I was finally able to trade the car in 1987 I put three rebuilt transmissions in it, an engine, and several starters. I was either walking, running, or hitching rides to work more than I was driving. My first Guard drill was spent preparing for a two week camp at Rhein Main AFB near Frankfort Germany and we were scheduled to leave toward the end of the month. We were being deployed to Rhein Main to work an air show there. Because of terrorism across Europe in the 1970's and 80's the base was basically closed to the German public. Other than the locals who worked on the base. or vendors...

By the time I was hired at Cumberland-Swan Drug Company in March of 1983 the economy was in a noticeable recovery. Inflation was on the way down. The real estate market and the automobile industry were recovering. The job market was also getting better and by this time I was a believer in Ronald Reagan and I was a proud Conservative. Before Ronald Reagan a Conservative was bad, and a liberal was good. After my conversion to conservatism the term liberal represented all that was wrong with America to me. Today I realize that a true liberal is actually a good thing. You can have a civil debate with a liberal. The leftists are the crazy people and either the real Communists or the "useful idiots". I am a classical liberal as were the Founding Fathers. Before Reagan I was a conservative and just didn't know it. I believed that if you were a liberal it meant that you were open-minded on everything. That you were for the working man, against the evil rich and open-minded on the...

  During this time Debbie's cousin's husband Mike worked as a bread salesman at Bunny Bread in Nashville. He put in a good word for me because of my past bakery experience and his supervisor wanted me to come in that day to complete the necessary paperwork. I was ecstatic because a bread salesman job was good money and meant great benefits. It was very hard work and had long hours but that didn't matter to me. I wasn't scared of hard work. Officially I was still in the Army Reserve but I hadn't joined a local Reserve unit because I wanted to rejoin my old Air National Guard unit. I like to level with people from the start so I told him that I was still on the rolls of the Army Reserve which was a big mistake. The man's whole attitude toward me changed instantaneously. Within seconds I realized that I had lost all chance of getting the job because I was in the Reserves. His attitude went from your hired to don't call us we'll call you, just like that. I t...

After moving to Florida I tried to find an Air National Guard or an Air Force Reserve unit to join. The closest was in Jacksonville and that was just too far to drive so I joined an Army Reserve MP unit in Melborne Florida. I had to take a reduction in rank from an E-5 to an E-4. After delivering papers one morning I drove to the Miami induction center. I was so sleepy I thought that I wasn't going to make it on time because every few miles I had to pull over and walk around. When I finally got there it reminded me of when I was inducted into the Air Force. We stood around in our underwear waiting in long lines for various medical tests. I began a conversation with a man next to me in line and when we reached the x-ray room a nurse, that looked old enough to be my grandmother, and about five feet tall, motioned for the next man in line. Thinking that it was me I stepped forward but the man I had been talking to also stepped forward. I said oh, excuse me, and stepped back to let him...

    In the early 1980's my sister Donna began talking to me about moving to Florida and going to work for her husband Richard. He was part owner in a company called B&B Utilities that operated water and sewer plants around Ft. Pierce and the east coast from about Melbourne down to West Palm Beach Florida. She made several promises. They would pay me the same as I was making at the bakery and provide health insurance. Until I was able to get on my feet she would also give me her paper route. Donna claimed that she made good money off of the route. I thought that I was ready for a change. My union job was stressing me out and in March 1982 we took a vacation in Ft. Pierce along with the Travis family. I wanted to make this move but my gut was telling me no. It seemed like I was being pushed by an invisible hand, however. I knew that I shouldn't put my trust in her but I was determined to make the move anyway. Debbie felt the same way but she left the final decision up to me....