My Dad served in the Army reserves at the Vancouver Barracks for close to 40 years. He was a Sergeant Major when he retired. I remember catching up with him one day at the Barracks. I was a typical young man in my early 20’s and had a very full head of hair. My Dad was proudly introducing me to different enlisted soldiers. After he introduced me to one Specialist 4th class, well below my Dad’s rank, the soldier said, “Hi, Nice to meet you”. Then he turned around to my Dad and said, “Sarge… Don’t ever tell me to get a haircut again…” turned on his heals with a smile on his face and walked off….
Another good tale was when my Dad told my Mother he was giving a Sergeant Anderson a ride to the Tuesday night weekly meetings. It was years before my Mother met Sergeant Anderson and realized she was a female. She said to my Dad, “You never mentioned Sergeant Anderson was a female”.. He said, (can you guess…) You never asked me”.. They were married over 70 years so I guess it didn’t hurt the marriage.. After my Dad passed my Mother and I were visiting the grave up at Willamette Cemetery and I noticed the grave next to Dad’s was a female soldier. I reminded her of the story and said looks like Dad is at it again.. My Mother just passed in May. She is now at Willamette with Dad making sure he behaves himself.
Rodger Lance lives in Clark County.
