Posted on 03/29/2006 5:01:03 PM PST by SandRat
FORT HUACHUCA — While many 40-year-old soldiers are looking to end a 20-year career in the Army, Brian Esip is just starting his.
Some call him the old man, grandpa and other endearing elderly terms because many of them are young enough to be his kids.
“Most of the soldiers my age are closer to retirement. It’s a paradox. I’m just beginning my Army career,” Esip said Tuesday.
He took advantage of the increase in the age limit for people to enlist. The age limit was changed to 39 in the Reserves in March 2005, and President George W. Bush’s signature on the National Defense Authorization Act in January of this year elevating the same age for active duty provided the avenue for Esip to start his march as an Army Reservist.
The specialist is assigned to Company A, 305th Military Intelligence Battalion, where he is training to become an imagery analyst.
Esip knows that although he is a Reservist he may well be called to head to the “box” — Iraq, Afghanistan or some other potential soldiering hot spots.
He is no stranger to some of the military lifestyle.
His parents were teachers in the Department of Defense school system in Europe for 20 years. He was born in Berlin and traveled to different military installations in Germany and Italy where they taught.
When he considered entering the Army, he didn’t have much time, since his 40th birthday was fast-approaching. And he had other issues to consider.
He had to consider his civilian career — he has been a flight attendant for United Airlines for 14 years.
He had a wife to consider. He and Tammy — she’s a United flight attendant, too — met during an airline flight as workers a dozen years ago and married three years later. They have no children.
And he had friends to consider. Some, including his mother, thought he should see a psychiatrist, Esip said with a laugh.
But support from family and friends was strong, he said.
Looking back, the GI said he had personal and patriotic reasons for enlisting.
The afternoon terrorists crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania, he and Tammy were to fly out of Dulles International Airport, one of the airfields that serve the nation’s capital.
It was from Dulles that American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001, and crashed into the Pentagon at 9:35 a.m.
Another American aircraft, Flight 11, took off from Boston, was hijacked and was crashed into the south tower at the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m.
Two United flights, 175 and 93, also were hijacked.
United 175, which took off from Boston went into the trade center’s south tower at 9:03 a.m. and flight 93, that departed Newark, N.J., ended up in a field near Shanksville, Pa, at 10:10 a.m. after passengers attempted to take control of the plane back from the hijackers.
During his job as a flight attendant prior to the terrorist attacks, he met military members who fought in the first war with Iraq.
One time he met parents who were flying to Frankfurt, Germany. Their son had been killed in Desert Storm.
The dignity of the parents going to bring their son’s body home stuck with him.
After Sept. 11, military members who had fought in Afghanistan and Iraq were passengers, and talking with them he gained a respect for their sacrifices.
“This is the best country in the world,” Esip said, “I want to do something.”
When Army recruiting went into a slump and the age limited raised for enlistments, he said there was an opportunity available that he could not ignore.
Saying his United supervisor was supportive and took care of a temporary leave of absence, he left his home in Washington, D.C., and headed to an Army recruiting station.
“I signed up one week and shipped out the next,” Esip said, noting he took some time before putting his signature on the contract’s line.
Describing the nine-hour van ride with 14 other recruits with rap music blaring and lots of smoking going on, Esip had one of his many “What am I doing here?” epiphanies.
He likes classical and old rock ’n’ roll music at a lower volume, and he occasional smokes.
At 1:30 a.m. they rolled into Fort Jackson, starting the welcoming ceremony. The drill sergeants were rested and ready. The recruits were weary and worried.
Haircuts, which Esip called “the shearing,” came. Arms were punctured with shots — the medical kind.
For a week it was orientation, preparing the group to be handed off to even tougher drill sergeants.
There was little time for rest. While he was in physically good shape when he enlisted, basic was a process of tearing down and building up.
It was hard for him, having an established routine. And it was just as difficult for younger soldiers, whose lives were being just as changed.
After basic, it was right to Fort Huachuca and a new set of drill sergeants, those backbones and nemeses of every recruit. His age became the butt of jokes, which tongue in cheek he said was in good humor, from the drill sergeants.
Although he attempted to keep a low profile, it didn’t work.
He is asked whether he brought his vitamins or “did you bring your walker old man,” he said.
While it is normal to complain about drill sergeants, every GI knows they are the ones who help soldiers make it through, “and they have my utmost respect,” Esip said.
Like the young soldiers, he stands at parade rest when talking to anyone who is not in training.
Any failure can send a soldier on the ground doing push-ups.
“I’ve done my share of push-ups,” Esip said.
Younger soldiers sometimes ask him for advice.
He occasionally will give it — asked or not.
“That’s when they usually ignore me,” said Esip, who has a bachelor’s degree in business management from Southeastern Massachusetts University.
Like many, he has a desire for home life and concerns for his wife and what he did, such as keeping the car repaired, concerns him.
It is the physical challenges that help the mind overcome problems, he said.
Being senior in age to fellow recruits doesn’t mean he can’t match them. Esip physically passes many of those two decades his junior.
Just recently he scored a perfect 300 on his monthly PT test and had 270 or better in three of four of them while attending intelligence imagery classes on the fort. Scoring 90 percent or more provides soldiers a buy from most early morning PT, but he usually goes to the gym to do individual exercises anyway.
“Once a person gets up at 5:20 a.m. there’s no sense going back to bed,” he said.
He also qualified for the Gold German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge, an award not easily won, by completing what Esip likened to a hard field and track event coupled with swimming, an 18-mile rucksack march, military emergency first aid and weapons qualification.
He recently failed one written test by not reaching 75 percent, which set him back in training — not unusual for many soldiers. He’s about halfway through his six-month course. The field he has chosen is difficult, and the small stumble will be overcome, Esip said.
Like many going through the initial training, there are times when he gets depressed, he said.
It is looking forward to when the training is done and going on to perform a job that must be kept in sight, Esip said.
While he may be the oldest man in advance individual training on the fort, he and the others know when they are done they will be contributing to the nation’s defense.
“I knew it wouldn’t be easy. It’s very challenging. But I’ll make it,” Esip said.
What a far out old man...gotta love him....
Wish I could do the same....
God bless him...
Now that is a guy that has adventure in his blood, way to go. (it's called voting with your feet)
Male flight attendant becomes a US soldier. Happens all the time.
As long as he serves his country honorably, he will get nothing but eternal respect from me.
Good on him. Soldier on.
Great story!
bump
From Massachusetts.
I did this exact same thing at age 32 in 1990 during the first Gulf War buildup, going through basic at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma in November and December. Learned what that song meant about "the wind comes whippin' down the plain." Brrr... First three weeks was physically torturous, but never felt a greater sense of accomplishment than after finishing that final 2-mile run that completed basic. Even at 32, I was "Grandpa" too, and it was kinda sad, kinda funny watching all those 18 year olds get their "Dear John" letters. I swore I'd never forget those guys standing guard somewhere in the world 24 hours a day. God bless and protect the armed services of the United States.
If they run the max age up to 50, I'm there.
Now I've gotten back in to the USAR after nearly 20 years of being out -- and I look like "Grandpa" to the teens in my unit. It helps that I can outrun most of the kids on a PT test -- that way I don't feel quite as old.
These state units are not deployable -- they generally provide admin support to National Guard and other forces within their state. They drill in uniform and are generally subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
To see if your state has this kind of organization, click here.
(I got to serve 9 years in the state defense force in my state, Indiana, before I left them to return to federal service with the US Army Reserve. The state service was great for me, and I'm a big fan of these organizations.)
OldPossum remembers his stay there fondly. Not wishing to go back there, you understand, even if it would peel off five decades.
Thanks for the info. If I can get the site to load, I'll check into it. (Their computers may be overloaded with other FReepers).
If someone is interested in serving, I hope they find a group that's a good "fit" -- I have, and it's a great feeling when that happens.
Don't ask, don't tell!
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