Posted on 09/19/2020 5:00:09 PM PDT by AggregateThreat
At 59, Staff Sgt. Monte Gould is the oldest-ever graduate of the Army's current Basic Combat Training Course, finishing Aug. 27 in the top 10% of his class. Now, a decade or two older than retirement age for most career soldiers, he's starting a new journey -- with plans to join his son, Spc. Jarrod Gould, in the 405th Civil Affairs Battalion's Las Vegas detachment.
In an Army news release, Staff Sgt. Gould spoke about the challenge of making it through the rigorous BCT, the Army's entry-level training course. A veteran of the Marine Corps and Army National Guard, Gould went through boot camp in 1978 -- more than four decades earlier.
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
I’m confused. Isn’t there a no-exceptions age limit for the Army?
I think this is like infantry training that comes after boot camp and not basic training.
Good on you, old man!
He did have praise for the 10-week BCT, which he went through at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, with 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment.
When I was in Basic in 79 @ Ft Gordon I had a guy in my platoon who served IN the Korean War - he came back for the same reason, to get his 20 via the NG but I remember he had more to go than this soldier. Good on him though, I’m sure he was a great example for the younger recruits - HOORAH!
I’m 68 and my challenge in the morning is getting everything going toward my bathroom. The stairs in the house are a trial. Wasn’t true on the boats but it’s fact now.
“Isn’t there a no-exceptions age limit for the Army?”
405th Civil Affairs Battalion’s Las Vegas detachment is not an army unit, it is reserves. To enlist, you must be a U.S. citizen or a resident alien. Age requirements differ between branches of service, but in general you must be between the ages of 17-35 with no prior service. The Army reserves are 35 max. They did experiment with 42, but that was not extended.
After serving until 2009, he once again hung up his uniform, prior Army and Marines. He came back this year, according to the release, because he’s two years shy of earning a military retirement pension.
The only thing I can possibly think could get him back in at his age would be an emergency career shortage in that MOS. But I’m sure they could have used palace balance to get that fixed without “bending” rules to get someone back so they could get the last 2+ years in to get their retirement. More like he knew someone. So unless there is something in the regs I don’t know about, this article from Military.com is a little embarrassing.
rwood
I’m his age. No way.
As you can imagine, they came from all sorts of backgrounds, and had various levels of proficiency (which I, as the #1 S/C speaker in uniform at the time, unofficially mentally rated them on). They were paid something like $120K a year under their contract, plus were exempt from US income tax if they stayed the entire year. Quite a bit more than I was making as a Company Grader.
Some of them were old ladies, others immigrants' kids who learned to speak from their families. And some were former US military.
Which brings me to the point of this anecdote. One of them was a former Marine of either Serb or Croat ancestry. He was fit, lean, and full of vim and vigor as he contemplated deploying attached to a remote Army unit to some godawful place in the middle of nowhere on some cold Bosnian mountain as their translator. I recall how he slung on his heavy backpack with relish, and bounded, with a jump in his step, as we went on a training march in the frozen mountains of Germany.
And now - the rest of the story. This fellow who had eagerly signed up for what would be most unusual duty for a mere civilian was, as I mentioned earlier, a former Marine. Who fought the Japanese. In the Pacific. In 1945. 51 YEARS earlier. He was either 70 or 71, and still able, eager and ready for action.
Just damn. I'm still in awe all these years later.
[The only thing I can possibly think could get him back in at his age would be an emergency career shortage in that MOS. But I’m sure they could have used palace balance to get that fixed without “bending” rules to get someone back so they could get the last 2+ years in to get their retirement. More like he knew someone. So unless there is something in the regs I don’t know about, this article from Military.com is a little embarrassing.]
[And now - the rest of the story. This fellow who had eagerly signed up for what would be most unusual duty for a mere civilian was, as I mentioned earlier, a former Marine. Who fought the Japanese. In the Pacific. In 1945. 51 YEARS earlier. He was either 70 or 71, and still able, eager and ready for action.
Just damn. I’m still in awe all these years later. ]
I had a good friend go through jump school at 45. When he talked to the unit commander, my friend said, I think I’m older that you. The commander said, “I think you are the oldest guy on the base.”
My friend said it wasn’t that bad, but the annual qualification jumps sucked.
I was a newly commissioned officer reporting to the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, South Carolina in 1964. As I was walking down the flight line to get to my F-4B squadron, I passed by a couple of A-4’s taxiing out to the duty runway. Leading the flight was a Flying Gunny, an enlisted pilot. I learned later that he had flown transports in Korea.
I know right! Thing that kills me is there is a guy who completed a full iron man, 2 mile swim, 104 mile bike ride and 26 mile run with a tie limit. Several have completed on in their 70’s.
He is not a Staff Sergeant if he just finished basic training. Either something is missing in the article or it is flat wrong.
He is not a Staff Sergeant if he just finished basic training. Either something is missing in the article or it is flat wrong. I see now he was coming back to the Army, understand now.
Honest Injun.
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