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Show EDWARD G. LUEDERS February 1, 2000 it, I'd thought I'd want to be a private so I'd have less military responsibility. WIN: Well, I can understand that. It happened to me in the Vietnamese Era the Viet N am War Era, when I was a college graduate when I was drafted, and they asked me if I wanted to go to OCS, I said, "Is there an extra time commitment?" They said, "Yes." I said, "No. The only thing I want out of the Army is me." So I tried to get out as soon as possible. EDW: Well, you know my feelings, because you just enunciated them. That's the way I felt. I felt when I got out of the Army I wanted to be as clear as I possibly could, and this was a point at which I will take your earlier advise, and tell you about my recurrent dream. WIN: Okay. EDW: Which is that I, at my own age (in my 70's), I am back in the Army. It's a training situation, there are barracks, I'm in the usual confusion of where do I belong. I'm at a base I'm not familiar with, but I've been drafted again, somehow. And nobody realizes that this is an enormous mistake. That I'm too old, and I've already done this, and what am I doing back in the Army again? But I feel the yoke of that military power upon me, and I'm in a confused situation where nobody will pay attention to my pleas, that I don't belong here. But I'm there. Unwilling. Without freedom. Without choice. WIN: That happens more than once in your life? EDW: Oh, it's a recurrent dream! I'd say every couple of months at the very least I'll have some new version of that. 20 |
