Independence Day
back to active duty Civilian In Training called until the end of the war. There were some rather old NCOs working military recruiting offices, who should have been out fishing. This recall stuff is not what my wife wants to consider. She wants to be a civilian for good, after 29 years, 9 months and 27 By Major Van Harl USAF days of active duty service Ret. in the Air Force. She originally joined the The Colonel has gone active duty Air Force beand done it. She has done cause she only had to sign what we refer to in the milup for three years and the itary as “dropping her pareserves wanted her for six pers.� She has formally years. 29 plus years later notified the US Air Force she is still in uniform. She that she is going to retire followed me around on acfrom active duty. tive duty for a year and a In the civilian world, half when she figured that when you retire from a company you are done. military stuff was not so You buy the motor-home, hard and she knew she never to darken the doors could do it. I retired from of your former employer active duty and have been again. In the military you following her around ever never really retire. Your since. It looks like we are movmonthly payment from the ing to Wisconsin where a Department of Defense is lot of folks do not even considered a retainer, just know there really is a miliin case they need your servtary, other than what they ices down the road. see on TV. We will, howAfter 7, December 1941 a ever, spend our winters in large group of very old Oklahoma. When you live service members who in a purely civilian comthought they were done munity where there is no wearing a uniform were obvious military presence,
www.theveteransvoice.com
Colonel Dawn M. Harl USAF NC
retired soldiers are kind of an oddity. The civilians ask you questions but they don’t get it when if comes to the military. So I have enrolled the Colonel in remedial civilian training. She had a four day weekend over Memorial Day and we worked hard on her military-to-civilian indoctrination. First off, no uniform wearing, and no talking about the Air Force- shop-talk was not allowed. There was no watching the Military Channel on TV. We did watch the Memorial Day concert on the steps of the US Capital, but that was a Veteran thing, not a military thing. The Colonel wore civilian cloths, not to
include any of the many tshirts she has with Air Force logos on them. This was not anti-military training; that will never be our desire. This was “getting ready to be a civilian� training. It is OK not to come to attention in your living room when the Air Force song is played on TV. We talked about when I would remove the 50 caliber machine gun rack off the top of her Hummer vehicle, but we set no firm date for that. Don’t want to push the stress button too soon. The brackets on the front bumper of her truck used to hold the flags will stay on for a little while longer. You never know when you could be in a veteran / military parade. We are going to start emptying some of the sandbags we have filled and stacked up, ready to go just in case. Both of the family dogs
will convert to being pets and we will drop the K9 working dog title for Maggie and Libby, our four legged babies. The family dinning room will no longer be referred to as the chow hall. We had civilian friends at our home during the weekend, people who had never been in the military. We talked about civilian things. The civilian in training must be working a little because, come Tuesday morning, a duty day for the Colonel, I had to push her out into the garage and gently force her into her vehi-
7
cle. She did not want to go back to the Big Air Force. There is no doubt she is ready to retire and take off the uniform she has worn for almost 30 years. Now as long as Korea does not turn into a shooting war and stop-loss does not force her to stay on active duty, I believe we are headed to retirement and the land of civilians. We are holding our breath.
To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles. Anonymus
AF Seeking Stop Loss Airmen
The Air Force continues to seek Airmen who were involuntarily held on active duty "stop-loss" between Sept. 11, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2009, to determine if they may be eligible for the Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay compensation of $500 for each month they were affected as a result of stop loss. Eligible individuals have until Oct. 21, 2010, to file their claim. To file a claim, call the Total Force Service Center at (800) 525-0102.
%XULHG LQ
&UHGLW &DUG 'HEW" 2YHU LQ FUHGLW FDUG ELOOV" 2QO\ PDNLQJ WKH PLQLPXP SD\PHQWV" :H FDQ JHW \RX RXW RI GHEW TXLFNO\ :H FDQ VDYH \RX WKRXVDQGV RI GROODUV :H FDQ KHOS \RX DYRLG EDQNUXSWF\
Delivery Service Available Anywhere In The Southeast!
HANDICAP VANS *SCOOTER VANS *CONVERSION VANS *ACCESSIBLE VANS * WHEELCHAIR VANS*BRAUN RAMP VANS & BRAUN ENTER VANS * VMI INFLOOR RAMP CONVERSIONS * REAR ENTRY VANS
2130 Sigman Rd, Conyers, GA- Toll free 877-569-0780
1RW D KLJK SULFHG FRQVROLGDWLRQ ORDQ RU RQH RI WKRVH FRQVXPHU FUHGLW FRXQVHOLQJ SURJUDPV &DOO
&5(',7 &$5' 5(/,() IRU \RXU )5(( FRQVXOWDWLRQ 1RW DYDLODEOH LQ DOO VWDWHV