I grew up believing in just about everything that had ever been taught to me by my family and by my public education. Too many of those beliefs were smashed to bits and soon dissipated into thin air, while I served in the United States Army as ‘Official’ Brigade Photographer for the 30th Artillery Brigade Air Defense missile unit on Okinawa.
I was serious about soldiering, dedicated to doing a great job at my assigned tasks; I zoomed from Private E-1 up to Specialist Fourth Class in the first ten months of my military service; I knew that I had become an excellent photographer and was going to be one for the rest of life.
Unfortunately, I was illegally assigned to the 30th Artillery Brigade on Okinawa, in 1970.
I was shattered by the facts that: I was never issued any camera gear to do army photo assignments; I could not order photography equipment or supplies; nor could I earn an advance in rank; and the hard, horrible fact that the photo lab I worked in was set up in a nuclear fallout emergency decontamination chamber was an intensely screwed up situation that had the very real potential of allowing millions of American casualties to occur during a nuclear war.
What was a young 20-year-old kid supposed to do about that?
Not one single US Army order ever given to me while stationed with the 30th Arty Bgde was legal. Not even the army discharge they gave me was legal. I am quite certain that, technically, I am still in the Army.
Keep on reading through this web site. I completely qualify, and provide witness information for, everything written here.
I was serious about soldiering, dedicated to doing a great job at my assigned tasks; I zoomed from Private E-1 up to Specialist Fourth Class in the first ten months of my military service; I knew that I had become an excellent photographer and was going to be one for the rest of life.
Unfortunately, I was illegally assigned to the 30th Artillery Brigade on Okinawa, in 1970.
I was shattered by the facts that: I was never issued any camera gear to do army photo assignments; I could not order photography equipment or supplies; nor could I earn an advance in rank; and the hard, horrible fact that the photo lab I worked in was set up in a nuclear fallout emergency decontamination chamber was an intensely screwed up situation that had the very real potential of allowing millions of American casualties to occur during a nuclear war.
What was a young 20-year-old kid supposed to do about that?
Not one single US Army order ever given to me while stationed with the 30th Arty Bgde was legal. Not even the army discharge they gave me was legal. I am quite certain that, technically, I am still in the Army.
Keep on reading through this web site. I completely qualify, and provide witness information for, everything written here.
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