At this point, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that some readers have me figured for a narcissistic sociopath. By the time l finish this page, l expect
more to follow. l hope nobody stops reading and l would offer the opinion that
NS is a treatable condition. And, events covered in these current episodes are
over fifty-five years old.
l picked up the forms from the Captain's office and then reported to work at S3. Sgt. Vaughn was, not surprisingly, very supportive of my early-out plans.
Why wouldn't he like it? Since l had intentionally become a pretty consistent
eff-upp, he liked me! He would help me "pull it off" as he said in any way he could. Hey, if that ain't asking me to suggest something. . . One way l thought he might be able to help would be to report me 'presently on duty"
when l'm out there looking for the "Early-Out" job. That would probably help
speed the outcome.
"Yeah, l can do that. But don't hang me up on this. l want daily up-dates, yes
you can phone them in but l want to see you, in person, once a week".
"lt's not going to take a whole week,Sarge. l already have a couple of prospects considering me. l should have results foryou in a few days."
"OK me bye, do your best".
"Thanks, Sarge" (l think l'm beginning to like the Sarge.)
That week l made personal calls at companies that l thought could have
reason to hire an almost-new veteran who needed to leave the Army just a little bit early. But no one l've met wants to get involved with some government program involved in their businesses anymore than they already are. l too have more government in my life than is needed and with no takers
l'm thinking to hire myself. So the application is all me: but with different names. My own name, of course as the early-outer. A fictitious name for the company doing the hiring. l thought Anne Arundle Heating Oils sounded good
and hadn't already been chosen. Obviously a course of action was employed
here that exceeded the limits of the law. Right, intentional law-breaking.
lllegal, unlawfull and wrong. But l have my goal, my plan and l jntend to
prevail.
Pretty big talk for a guy that somehow got his head buried deep in his ass.
and ultimately blew the early out. Looking back at that time from now, it's
easy to see that l wasn't dedicated to doing a passable job of taking an early out.Some details: l must have had very little respect for the good sense of
those l set out to decieve; l rented a small PO box for the prospective
employer's address. Too small, too cheap to be a real business's mailing
address. Even a small one. Also, without a business license for the company
l made up l couldn't rent a box in that name. So the box was in my name and
l just show it (on the early-out application) as the mailing address of the company that supposedly agreed to hire me
l never liked living in the barracks and after l completed my last training assignment, l always rented a room, a cabin or a house convenient to the location of my assignment. l learned early-on that it is necessary to arrange
for the maintenance of the assigned space in the barracks, when living off
post.There was always a soldier among those iving in the barracks, willing
to keep an extra set of bed, lockers and shined shoes and boots ready for
inspection in exchange for a few bucks a week. Usually it worked fine.
Almost nobody among those who commanded me ever knew that l had a real residence off post somewhere and almost never used my space on post.
Just a couple of days after l had submitted the early-out form Captain Meyer
was going over my early-out form and realized he needed some more info
from me. ln the course of trying to locate me that day, the Captain learned of my off post residence. They got my home phone from the soldier who maintained my barracks display. On the phone Lt. Goodale said that the Capt.
just had a few questions re the early out forms. Could l come in today?
l sure could, and did. But when l saw the Lt., he said the Capt. would be
with us right away and the proceded to ask questions about my off-post home.Soon we were joined by the Capt., who also seemed mostly interested
in 6207 43rd. And then about whether it might be sub-standard. (Nobody said
anything about whether or not l should be allowed to continue living there.
At the first lull in their questions,l said "Sirs, my home really is a very nice house, in a very nice neighborhood.l'd be very happy to drive you there right
now, if you would like to inspect it."
"Thank you, Private. We would like to see your house, but we can just follow you in a staff car. Just give us the address in case we loose each other in traffic.
Where l got the idea that the Hudson l'd been using was a 54, l don't know.
Lt. Goodale, whose dad "had bought Hudsons since they started makin' 'em"
said it was a '51. Both he and the Capt. were than standing in the large side-
yard at the house on 43rd st. Beside the Hudson and the staff car, only
Herman's car was in the yard at that time of day.He usually started work about 5 AM, worked about 5 or 6 hours so he was often home in the early afternoon. Before approaching the house, the Capt and Lt went straight for
the Hudson as though it was a restored classic. (7 years old) and they thoroughly inspected it.The car had been well-cared-for and had turned a few heads during my use of it. Then they turned their attention to Herman's car.
lt's a GM car, built in Germany (Whose model name l forget. The Capt. gets a look at the license plate and says "This is Herm Shultz's car"
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