There was a time

Published 9:05 pm Friday, November 11, 2016

I was 17 years old once.  We all were and each of us probably reflect back to what happened to the time in between then and now.  I was a young boy growing up in Milledgeville, Georgia, the son of a Baptist Minister and a Godly example of a Mother.  My sister, Joan, was a summer missionary. My grandparents were farmers and lived on Friendship Road in Buford and my grandfather was a Deacon at Friendship Baptist Church. For me, it was great roots, a great foundation, a rebellious streak, and shoulder length hair to go along with the attitude.

I do not know if it was the long hair, the attitude, or the rebellious streak but somehow I ended up as a cadet at North Georgia College in the Fall of 1976.  I think my parents sold it to me that I would be near my grandparents, who I truly loved. They told me that my cousin, Danny Jones, was a cadet and was thriving in the Corps of Cadets. They downplayed the military, the lifestyle change, and the “soon to be” loss of my long, curly brown hair at Woody’s Barber Shop on the Dahlonega Square. I bought their line and that August I found myself in FROG Week with upper classman cadets talking to me like I had done something wrong. (In my mind at that moment, the only thing that I had done wrong was to say yes to going to North Georgia.)

Well, I did not do anything wrong as my parents had it RIGHT.  Being a cadet was the beginning of a life changing experience and an opportunity to serve our great nation as a new Second Lieutenant in the United States Army upon graduation.  On that campus, friendships were formed that still strongly exist today. I can call a number of my NGC classmates or fellow military officers and it is like time stood still. We all pick up just where we left off.  We bonded, matured, grew in our patriotism, and served each other and our nation with pride in wearing our military uniforms.

It is that pride that this article is written.  At 17 years old, I did not fully understand or grasp politics, patriotism, or what our nation’s flag stood for. During FROG Week in August, 1976, I soon found out.  On the Dahlonega campus of North Georgia College (now the University of North Georgia), a cannon is fired at 5:00 pm every day as the American Flag is lowered and RETREAT is played by a recorded bugler. People driving on campus stop their cars, get out, and pay their respects to the colors.  People walking on campus cease their conversations and their movements.  Any sports activity or outdoor extracurricular activity is halted in honor of our flag and those that fought so gallantly before to give us that right.  At North Georgia, that happened in 1976, long before 1976, and still happens every day, even today!

I am all about rights.  I will have a conversation with you anytime you would like on government overreach and how our nation’s boundaries have been tilted drastically from what our country’s founders had intended.  I know which way the wind is blowing but I will always take a stand to follow my corps beliefs.  I have served our nation in foreign lands and have personally witnessed what a true lack of personal freedoms means. I have been cold, wet, hungry, and tired in training to defend our country against all enemies, foreign and domestic.  I have jumped out of perfectly good military aircraft in the bright of day and dark of night.  I was an American Soldier and in my heart I will always be until they present the folded United States of America flag to my family members at my funeral.  I have a voice in today’s society but in my opinion, the politically correct media and politicians are doing their best to silence that.  For those groups, I invite them to serve with my fellow officers and enlisted on foreign soil. Men and women that I have trained with, who have been seriously injured in military training activities, or have lost their lives in battle for those daily comforts that we all enjoy. I have stood by the bedside of a dying soldier who paid the ultimate price for freedom just so some of our citizens and athletes can take a knee during the national anthem.

Our national anthem, the sound of the cannon being fired at 5:00 pm at North Georgia College, RETREAT being played by a bugler, and cars and people speechless and motionless in paying their respect as the flag is slowly lowered. Where is the America that I learned so much about as a cadet at North Georgia College just 45 minutes north of Buford, Georgia.  Folks, it is time to take a stand and get out of your comfort zone.  Thank a veteran or someone in uniform if you see them as I still do.  They will not ask this of you but I am.  We have a responsibility to our God, our Nation, and to the rest of the world who look to America for freedom.  As Veteran’s Day approaches, you have an opportunity.  I hope you will make the most of it!