SOMEBODY UP THERE MUST LIKE ME.

Before I go any farther, I would like to say that I have been very fortunate, lucky, blessed, or whatever you choose to call it.  With some exceptions, life has always worked out well for me.  Those reading this will know the rough parts.  As a small boy I thought that having some woods and a creek nearby to romp in was important and I always had that.  I remember asking Daddy as we were driving to move to Milledgeville if there was a creek where we were moving and being surprised that he didn't even know.  Yes, there was.

I was a 16 year old kid when I applied to work at Pope’s Mini-Market and it just happened that they had fired another kid and I got the job that I held until I went in the army.  I was hired to stock shelves, mop floors, take care of the returned drink bottles, and anything else that needed to be done.  I soon was running the register and doing some of the ordering for the place and getting raises.  In a few months I was running the place at night by myself.

My buddy, Weyman, came by Pope’s just before I got off work one night and he suggested that we go to Collins Drugstore and get a coke and that was when I met the love of my life, Nancy Stallings.

At that time all males had a 6 year military obligation.  Join or be drafted.  There were some whose daddy kept them in college deferments until they were too old to be drafted.  They were so educated that the only thing they could do was to teach college.  ( I think that is where many liberals came from.)  I knew that I wanted to be in electronics when I grew up and I gave the army three years of my time for an equivalent to an associate degree in electronics and fulfilled my military obligation at the same time.  My recruiting sergeant said that there were two army schools for the Field Radio Repair Course (296 mos) I wanted.  One was in New Jersey and the other one was at Fort Gordon, GA. and they took input on alternate weeks.  The sergeant timed my joining so when I graduated from basic training I would go to Fort Gordon.  I persuaded my parents to sign a waver so I could join the army at 17. There was no guarantee but it worked out and I was able to stay close to home.

About halfway through the Field Radio course they started the Aircraft Radio and Navigation Equipment (284 mos) course and asked for volunteers to transfer.  Normally volunteering is not recommended in the army but I volunteered anyway and went to the 284 course.  It was a brand new course and the instructors were all civilian tech reps with a 6 month contract and they would then turn it over to GI instructors.  I volunteered again and was chosen as an instructor.  The new job allowed me to be promoted early to Specialist E-4.  (Going home on most weekends to see my sweetheart wasn't so bad either.)

The air force had been doing what was going to be our job and they were to turn it over to the army.  Well, something happened and they kept it.  I heard it said that the air force found out that the army had more aircraft, by number, than they had.  The army did have more aircraft at that time but I don’t know if that was the reason.  Since then, the air force has taken all fixed wing aircraft and left the army with only helicopters.  Our input of students was cut off and as our students were graduated they were sent on to be truck drivers, telephone linemen, and one whole class was sent to Arizona to be stockade guards.  (Jail guards).

It was obvious that we would all be gone as we lost students.  The sergeant that I worked for mentioned that the 3rd Army HQ in Atlanta was starting an avionics platoon and they had a levy for 13 of us 284 guys to go to Fort Mac in Atlanta and he asked if I was interested.  Lets see, prison guard, Korea, home to Atlanta?  Hmm?  I decided Atlanta would be nice and bought him a 5th of whisky.  (Well, I got someone else to buy it with my money because I was still a minor).  Actually, I was a minor the whole time I was in the army.

The new company was the 589th Signal Company and was directly under 3rd Army Headquarters and they had E-5 (Sergeant equivalent) Specialist slots for everybody and I was promoted to E-5 in less than 2 years with a waver for time in grade.  I think we were somebody’s pet project.  Hey, suits me.  My buddy, Weyman, spent 4 years in the navy and got out as an E-3.

When I got out of the army my hobby was radio controlled model planes and that got me hired over other applicants at Murphy and Orr where I was their electronics department.  I did all the design and building of the electronic guts for animated advertising displays.  I was installing the “Defense Display” for AT&T at a business show when I met some guys from IBM who were installing a 604 accounting machine.  They said that IBM was looking for CE’s (Customer Engineers) and I had the same kind of training and experience that they had before they were hired.  I applied to IBM and was hired.   I had two years at Murphy and Orr and they were good folks to work for so I worked out a notice and helped them out in my off time until they could find somebody to do my job.

I started at IBM with the unit record (punched card) equipment but it was at the beginning of the computer era.  My training continued as time went on with the latest printers, disk drives, tape drives, teleprocessing equipment, and various computer systems.  IBM offered a years pay for folks to take an early retirement.  I had 31 years in already so I took the offer but they still needed me since I was working on 3890 check sorter systems and they were short handed on that training and experience. I retired on a Friday and went back to work on Monday at the same place and same job with less pay but with a retirement check coming in and I didn't have to attend customer meetings anymore.  The extra years pay finished paying off our land and house and we were debt free for the first time ever.  Uncle Sam also loved the large chunk of extra tax he got.

I had a territory of 3800 laser printers when they transferred me to take over the C&S Bank 3890 account.  Soon after my transfer, IBM sold off the printer business and if I had still been mainly in printers, I would probably have been sent with the printer business and would not have had the opportunity to later retire and come back to work as a contractor.  I worked for IBM as a supplemental employee or as a contractor after retirement for an additional 10 years.

I have survived two heart attacks, a heart bypass operation, four and a half years after being diagnosed and operated on for colon cancer, months of chemo, and years of daily driving on I-285.  All in all, I have been blessed in many ways. I have the best wife ever, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and a good dog.

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
Yogi Berra 
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