Military Memories–Fort Rucker

When we travel we pick a theme, usually a scenic or historic road, and focus on the things relating to it. We are now south. It is winter. We want to STAY south. We couldn’t find a scenic or historic route around here that does that. So we picked our own:  Military Memories.

We are planning to visit each of the stateside bases at which Dave was stationed back in the mid 1960s. We are doing them in geographical, not chronological, order. So here’s Fort Rucker, Alabama, where we spent the first five months of our marriage.

We lived in a small mobile home park on the road between Enterprise, Alabama, and the fort. Downtown Enterprise hasn’t changed much but everything around it has. The town is now big enough to have a ring road around it where the WalMart and restaurant row are. But in the middle of downtown is this statue:

It celebrates the boll weevil. Yup, celebrates an insect. The boll weevil killed the cotton crop causing the farmers to diversify their plantings. Dothan, Alabama, the town on the other side of the fort, is now the Peanut Capitol. Their statue is, of course, a peanut.

Fort Rucker is still an active Army base. To get on the base we had to provide photos IDs, vehicle registration, and proof of vehicle insurance. Plus, dodge the barricades that are part of today’s Army. Plus, we had to let the gate guard enter our RV to be sure we were the only people on board it.

Here’s what we went to see:

Below is the first type of helicopter Dave flew. I knew this as a 23; I recognize it by the tail coming out the bottom and pointing up. Sorry about the lack of sharp focus. Maybe Dave was remembering being nervous about his first flight when he took this one.

This is a Huey. This is what he flew the year he spent in Viet Nam. He only got shot once but I barely survived it.

This is a 55. I learned to recognize it by thinking of an orange with a pencil stuck into it. This is what Dave spend two years after Viet Nam teaching other soldiers to fly. That was easier on my nerves as long as I didn’t think about the fact that his students came in knowing nothing about flying helicopters.

This is what today’s soldiers looks like:

Notice the shirts not tucked in. And the boots that don’t have to be spit shined. And rubber soles instead of leather which make standing and marching easier on the feet. Even the sides of those boots are soft instead of that hard leather that rubbed your ankle bones raw. The things the Army will do to recruit soldiers nowadays.

TTYL,

Linda