CHAPTER FIVE - LIVING THE DREAM

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 pass. The old woman grabbed my arm in a vice grip and angrily pulled me into the room shouting "oh come on, there is no time for that".

When I joined my Army Reserve unit they were getting ready to deploy to Ft. A.P. Hill in Virginia for their annual two week summer camp. Because I was new I couldn't go with them and I only attended about five weekend drills since I was only in Florida for about seven months altogether. My uniforms were issued just before I resigned from the unit but I never was able to wear my Army uniforms to drill. I attended drills in civilian clothes but officially I can say that I was in the Air Force and the Army. I have a total of four honorable discharges. One from the Air Force, two from the Tennessee Air National Guard, and one from the U.S Army Reserve. I was also issued three full sets of Air Force uniforms and one full set of Army uniforms during my 21 years of service. This was before the military began deducting the cost of uniforms from the paychecks of recruits. Although I wasn't in the Army long I am still proud of the fact that I was willing to serve and if things had worked out in Florida I would have retired from the Army and not the Air Force.

As time passed it became more and more obvious that Florida wasn't going to work out for me. I was growing more and more angry at my situation. Promises weren't being fulfilled but I thought that if I could just get a part time job, and give up the paper route, I could make it until I could find something better. At least Debbie and the kids seemed to be happy in Florida. Even in the best of times good paying quality jobs are scarce in that part of Florida. The area is dominated by retirees from up north living on pensions and acquired wealth. The locals call them "Snowbirds". They winter in Florida during the cold months and return north for the summer when the heat becomes oppressive. I applied for a LP or (Loss Prevention) job at a department store in the local mall. They hired a female over me because they were wanting someone who would blend in better as a shopper. About the time that I lost out on that job I found out that my landlord was raising our rent. The straw that broke the camels back came when Debbie hurt her own back doing the laundry. She was bedridden and could barely move. I was barely able to get her to the emergency room and after this incident I found out that I had no medical insurance. This was promised to me before I ever took the job.

Debbie's cousin Gloria, along with her husband Steve, and their children, came down on vacation and stayed with us while they were in Florida. We were great friends and I confided in them about my frustrations and anger over how I had been treatment and all the broken promises. Steve, was the type of guy who never seemed to worry about anything and he told me that I should just leave. He said that if I could get the money to rent a truck he would help me load everything and we could all go back home together. The whole idea was daunting to me but I began weighing the pros and cons. There were far more cons than pros. The one big pro was that we still had a house in Tennessee but beyond that the odds were stacked against us. When we arrived home I had to give the people renting our house thirty days notice to move out. This would mean that I would have to store our furniture somewhere and the six of us would have to have somewhere to live until our house became available.

America was going through the worst recession since the great depression. I knew in my gut that because of my union activities I would never get my job back at Colonial, but I made a futile attempt nevertheless. Jobs in general were very scarce. I had been making almost nine dollars an hour when I left Colonial which was a very good wage in 1982. Finding a job with wages as high as Colonial was slim to none, and Slim left town. The minimum wage was 3.35 an hour in 1982 and I would have to have a higher wage than that to make it with four children. If I found a job it would have to be in walking or running distance because I did not have transportation. Being broke I did not have the money to move back home and besides not having a car I would not have the deposit money for a phone. This was long before cell phones were in general use. Without a phone potential employers would have a difficult time contacting me.

Maybe it is because I was orphaned at a young age, and Debbie and I had it so rough starting out in life, that I didn't hesitate to take Steve up on his offer. I had no clue how we were going to make it but I had faith in the Lord and faith in myself to survive. On top of that I was very angry and determined to salvage what was left of my pride. Debbie wasn't as eager as I was to go. She cried a lot over my decision but I tried to convince her that we had no other option. I could have searched the world over and never found a woman that would have put up with the things that I have put her through. She has stood by me every step of the way and life has not always been easy for her. To her credit she warned me not to make the move to Florida but I was bound and determined to do it. Yet she stood by my side anyway. God blessed me when I found her and it is funny how things seem to always fall into place. When there is a will there is a way. My sister -in-law Judy loaned me the 300 dollars I needed to rent a truck so I could move my furniture and belongings back to Tennessee. I rented a tow bar and attached the car to the back of the truck. We loaded the truck in a day and early the next morning, October 22, 1982 we set out for Tennessee.

Steve and Gloria offered to let us live with them until we could move into our house. I was so angry at Donna and Richard that I just left without telling them I was leaving Florida and I would not speak to her or see her again for two years. As a Christian I knew that eventually I would have to forgive her and Richard. I have discovered, however; that when someone hurts you deeply, especially someone you love, there has to be time to heal. Forgiveness is more for yourself than for the offender. Hatred will just eat away at you. The trip home was very depressing, especially leaving the warmth of Florida and going back to the colder temperatures of Tennessee. Just the day before we left I had been sweating in the Florida heat as I worked my water route. It was Fall and colder weather was becoming the norm for that time of year. The leaves were changing to beautiful Fall colors but somehow this, and the cooler temperatures, just added to the gloom for me.

Luckily, our good friends Kathy and Wayne Bolton let us use their garage to store our furniture and belongings. Steve and Gloria have not only been our family but our best friends over the years. When two large families are living in a fairly small house for any length of time it can put a strain on any relationship. Benjamin Franklin expressed it best when he said that "Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days". We all managed to get through the ordeal with our friendship intact and again Steve helped us move back into our house on Diane street. I will always be indebted to Steve and Gloria for helping us through this very trying time in our lives.

We thought that the people who rented our house would have taken better care of it but there was more damage than I expected. They weren't happy campers when I notified them that they had to move. Whether the damage was intentional or not I can't say. We were finally back in our own home but I had no job, no car, no telephone, no food in the house and no money. We moved in on a Saturday and on Sunday night we were surprised to see Debbie's family pull up in a caravan of cars in our driveway. They brought us much needed groceries and we were very grateful. I don't know what we would have done otherwise. We never saw this coming.

Immediately, I set about applying for jobs. I was having to give potential employers my neighbors phone number. As expected I received a cold shoulder from my old job at Colonial. I was one of their best and hardest working employees but my union activities sealed my fate there. They rehired former employees during that time but I was black balled. I went through a grieving process, because I really wanted my old job back. On top of all of this my old Security Police unit in the 118th Tactical Airlift Wing had no room for me. They wanted me back and promised to make me their first choice as soon as a spot opened up. Technically I was still in the Army Reserve and because I had taken a reduction in rank to E-4 they could only take me back at that rank. They assured me, however; that I would acquire my old rank pretty quickly.

I wasn't having much luck getting a job. There were quite a few minimum wage jobs available but with a wife and four kids that wasn't much of an option. Then one day Debbie's cousin, Joetta Kemp, knew someone at Lee Refrigeration Company in Nashville and he could help me get on there. Construction on the new Nissan manufacturing plant in Smyrna was getting into high gear and Lee Co. had been granted a contract to install heating and air duct in the two employee cafeterias. They were also working on a few other places at the new plant. I would be paid 4.50 an hour starting out and I would acquire raises as my level of expertise increased. One big reason that I took the job was that the Nissan plant was less than three miles from my house and I either walked or ran to work.

From the start I was like a fish out of water because I had never worked at any kind of construction work before and I knew that there was no future for me with this company because I absolutely hated the job. When I started working in early November the walls were just being built and I froze to death. They were running portable heaters but most of the time these were inadequate. While the walls and ceilings were being constructed we were assembling much of the duct work on the ground. As a new employee I was a gofer, running errands throughout the plant. Mostly taking raw materials and tools from one job site to another. There was going to be at least a mile of territory under one roof once the building was completed and I got plenty of exercise. As someone who averaged running seven miles a day this was probably the thing about my job that I was most prepared for. The thing I wasn't prepared for was working on tall ladders, and installing heating and air duct high up in the ceiling. I am terrified of heights and I was always amazed watching the steel workers comfortably walking beams as if they were walking comfortably on a city sidewalk.

I had never been on food stamps in my life and never thought that I would ever have to be on them. When Debbie applied for Food Stamps the lady who took her application was impressed that I would take a job so unsuited for me just to have a job. She said that it was rare for most people who applied for Food Stamps to do something like that. We were only on Food Stamps for about a year until I could get on my feet but I see no shame in getting assistance when it is truly needed for a short period. Far too many people are too dependent on the government, however. I worked for Lee Refrigeration from November 1982 until March 1983 and this was a long five months because I was absolutely unsuited for the work. I was desperately hunting for a better job situation.