Posted on 06/08/2005 11:47:09 AM PDT by Al Simmons
Ever want to look into the mind of a Clinton-era ‘Generation-X’ slacker who ‘made a mistake’ by accepting a prestigious Air Force Academy slot and then just could not stand to serve out his 6 year military commitment? Well, the following would be hilarious if it wasn’t so sad (from the standpoint of our nation). Hopefully 9-11 has somewhat cured this kind of attitude amongst the younguns.
The following is the actual text of a handwritten letter left at his desk by a 24-year-old Second Lieutenant, a US Air Force Academy graduate, on the day he deserted from the Air Force and flew to Cancun, Mexico, in the middle of an Air Force training class in the late 1990s. He left it in an envelope on the outside of which were written the words:
‘WHERE’S MARK?’
“To my friends in the US Air Force,
I’ve decided to embark on a new adventure, and you may be wondering why. Actually, that’s a good question, and I’m sure my hand will cramp up and I’ll drift off before I’ve concocted a reasonable reply. How to distill this storm of ideas into some coherence?..
As of this writing I am an officer, an AF member, an (American) US citizen, a man, an artist, a mammal, and a sentient being, in that order. When the needs and longings of one of the deeper, richer levels cries out for fulfillment, I can deny it only a little while. I’ve tried, for two years willingly and for three years with growing disharmony, to play this role I scripted at the misimpressionable age of 13. (Oh USAFA admissions office, please turn away all future applicants who list an interest in art. Have mercy.) But when the raucous rhythms in my head drown out all trace of AFIT instructors and SV staff meetings, when the shelves of AFIs and “special” programs dissolve into puddles of gooey indifference, only I remain, a little boy standing at the edge of an emerald ocean, tickled by the breeze and smiling at the gulf, no longer even grasping why people spend their lifetimes staring into cathode ray tubes decoding the language of flashing lights and smattering printers.
Why? Whoever reads this – OSI, AFIT, SV, or others… Why? What the F—k are you doing it all for? Who cares? Will anyone remember you? Will you touch my life? Are you happy? If your light winks out today and the breath of life floats silently away, will you be able to say, “To my own self I was true?”
I sat in class today, reeling at the violence of the waves of irrelevance battering against the seawall of my purpose and felt the camel’s back break. Can I wait another 4 years and get out ‘honorably?’ Would that I were blessed with such patience. I am weak, irresolute, fluid, impulsive. I am no respecter of status, standards, precedent, or convention. I only want it all – is that so much? To sample every dish at the banquet of this world, to step lightly through a life without clocks and suspense slips and long staff meetings and short tempers.
I love you all. If you catch up with me I’ll buy you a drink, a toast to the freedom of a heart let loose, a toast to living in the delicious beauty of this moment. I apologize for the inconvenience my fugue may cause. I knew of no other way. I fear for my sanity (what remains of it.)
If ever you think of me, may it be to remind you that this life is yours. If you are not happy, you are the only one who can change that. Create the reality you dream of.
Do what you want with my stuff. I’m not coming back. I respect you for continuing in service to the AF and nation. I only wish that I had realized sooner that this is not my place. The shackles chafe at my wings. Give me liberty…
To the other students in SV101 – its been fun. Vince – I know what you’re grinning about. Bill – wake up, its 7:15. Steve – you’ve got a way with words. Lori – you’re married to a very lucky man. Peggy – Mark’s outta here! Damien – I’ll give you $10 US and a pair of Levis…Serge – remember that last conversation on personal ethics? And to all the other students, instructors, and friends, sorry for causing a commotion and I wish you the best in the rest of the course and your careers. Now I have a plane to catch!
MARK
(P.S. Now the Distinguished Graduate award is wide open!)”
POSTSCRIPT: The young man’s flight to live the life of a Central American painter (and he was a good painter, too) was cut short when the $$ ran out 3 weeks later, and he came back and turned himself in. He was placed in confinement pending his court-martial for desertion, dereliction of duty and theft (he paid for his plane ticket with his Government Credit Card.)
The 4-5 month confinement drove his whining to even greater heights, and he begged to just be dismissed from the Air Force.
The request went to the Clinton-appointed Air Force Legal Counsel, who approved the request and let the young man go to live the artist’s life, having shorted the AF $200K in education costs. (Don’t know if he’s managed to repay any of it yet, or if the Gov’t has pursued recovery).
All I know is that when he was merely dismissed instead of court-martialed, my general – the Convening Authority for the Court-Martial – was steaming “We used to shoot people for that in Viet Nam!” he said. (Maybe not exactly, but he was definitely not ‘touchy-feely’ like Lieutenant Mark.)
The ol' gaydar lit up like a Christmas tree on this one....
Baby boomers held off having kids for so long, most Gen X parents from from the previous generation.
. . . . . don't ask, don't tell.
Probably the only sensible thing in the message.
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
^$*(!@^#$(!!@*(&!
Double post
He's poetic, I'll give him that. However, in complete rebuttal to absolutely everything he wrote, I will counter: "Things matter."
Plus see
‘Bulldog Brigade' no barking dog
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1365466/posts
Anti-war generation watches its children go to war
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1339068/posts
What's a peacenik to do when son joins Army?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1307970/posts
A new generation of heroes surfaces
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1231956/posts
U.S.: The Antiwar Movement -- Where Have All The Protests Gone?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1141846/posts
Is Iraq Becoming like Vietnam? Only if You’re Stuck in Woodstock
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1122681/posts
Semper Fi,
TS
Don't laugh. He was married to a BABE.
She's the one who finally convinced him to give up his quest to become a citizen of some Central American po-dunk country (it was one of the smallest ones) and got him to come back to 'face the music'.
Hope she's found a manlier man by now.
How does that slander all members of that generation?
Can we agree that as a general rule, Gen-Xers have been a bit flaky in their youth (at least til 9/11)?
Did you go to the link I gave you? Gen X'ers were born in the years from 1965 to 1979.
Let's due the math. The link you gave me says that Gen X is turning forty. It is now 2005. That means that Gen X began in 1965.
Wasn't always that way.
Yes. Did you go to the link I gave you?
Gen X'ers were born in the years from 1965 to 1979.
Right, and Baby Boomers were born in 1946-1964. Thus the oldest would be 19 in 1965. And since career was one of the defining issues for Baby Boomer women, many did not have a first child until late in the 70s. Thus most Gen Xers are actually children of the previous generation. Generation Y is also called the "echo boom" since most of them are children of Baby Boomers.
All this wrangling for nothing! I stand corrected!
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