Tyler Jewkes, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by John C. Worsencroft, December 14, 2009: Saving the Legacy tape no. IA-26

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Tyler Jewkes 1 bearing. You go into bases, you go into just Guard for weekend and everybody calling each other by their first names rather than using all the military tone . So that wa probably the biggest transition was corning back and going back into National Guard. From going full-time every single day, trying to stay in ranks and just keep your military bearing, to now is it appropriate for me to go back to this kind of leisure way that we go about National Guard? So I say that more than the schooling was the hardest transition. JCW: How did your unit do it, then? Did they go back to the usual National Guard? Was it more of an awkward transition? TJ: By now it has. Now when I go back to drill it's just, yeah, everybody's casual. Everybody goes out after we finish Guard. Some people go out in the mountains, go bunny bashing or hunt or whatever else. But at first, I would say it probably took around six to eight months to get back to that, to get back to where it was just kind of more of this friendly, casual type of atmosphere. I know it's debatable whether it's good or bad, but I would say that the transition did take about six to eight months. I don't ever, I don't know how it happened or where it happened, if it started from just the upper level people kind of changing their demeanor or if it just started with the lower ranks. JCW: What do you think? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Or are you more ambivalent? TJ: I don't know. There's a lot of good that comes with the military ranks, with keeping your military bearings, standing at parade rest, speaking to a sergeant the way that you're supposed to. There's greater respect that comes in that. Me being a sergeant now, I don't necessarily hope that somebody comes up and stands at parade rest to talk to me. Yeah, that's great, it shows some respect and it shows a little bit of their character, 37