[Vision2020] 55-year-old SFC graduates basic training

[Tom Hansen]

I tried on my uniform the other day.  

Jeesh!  It has shrunk considerably, especially around the tummy, since the last time I wore it (July 15, 1989).

Courtesy of the Army Times.

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Senior strong: 55-year-old SFC graduates basic training

When John Taffe left the Navy in 1991, today’s basic-training at­tendees weren’t even gleams in their recruiters’ eyes.

But when the gray-haired for­mer chief petty officer (E-7) decid­ed to return to uniform as his 55th birthday approached, he found himself at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, alongside those very teenagers, trying to keep pace and provide advice without overstep­ping the authority of drill ser­geants — including the sergeant first class who offered two simple words to Taffe at the start of train­ing: “You’re mine.”

Taffe survived, graduating late last month with his group’s sec­ond- best fitness-test score. He’s now a sergeant first class with a Reserve unit in San Pablo, Califor­nia, close to his regular logistics job with the Coast Guard in Ala­meda.

Why return to service at an age when many have long since left? The chance at retirement benefits and extra cash to help put his own two teenagers through college didn’t hurt,but Taffe said his moti­vation really came from his memo­ries.

“Being in the military is some­thing you can’t get anyplace else,” he said. “I cursed the day I had to let it go. I’m trying to regain that.”

He left what he called “the best jobin the Navy” —a chief explosive ordnance disposal technician — for personal reasons. Or, as he put it, “to shake off an ex-wife.”

He knew almost immediately he wanted back in, but the service’s reserve EOD community wasn’t hiring.

Decades later, he ran into a dif­ferent problem as he began knock­ing on doors to re-enter service.

“The Navy was the first door. They said, ‘No way, too old.’ ” he said.

Similar responses greeted him with the Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard,but “I knocked on the Army door and they said, ‘Come in, my brother!’ ” Taffe avoided age waivers by a matter of hours, in some cases. He had to retake his Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery be­cause the original version was on microfilm, buried in personnel ar­chives.

But after a half-dozen trips to the military entrance processing station, Taffe was off to basic com­bat training. And while he’d pre­pared for the physical exertion, the combat part came as a surprise.

“Had I known that [basic rifle marksmanship] would’ve been a big part of basic training, I would’ve bought an M4 and a cou­ple thousand rounds and done less CrossFit,” he said.

Another difference: “In the Navy, you’re part of a team. It’s ‘Keep the platform pointed in the right di­rection.’ In the Army,teamwork’s a big part of it, but a lot of the tasks are individual.”

And another new wrinkle, less about service branch and more about changing times: “They scared the living crap out of me with the sexual harassment training. One wrong comment, and pretty much you’re finished.”

He ate last every day — typical for a sergeant first class, but giv­ing him less time to chow down and contributing to what he figures was a 20-plus-pound weight loss. He received the same screams from drill sergeants as his fellow new soldiers, but then faced “a mil­lion billion questions” from the recruits, who were afraid to ask their instructors.

Now a BCT graduate, Taffe might not be done with changes to his own career script. While he’s just starting his new Reserve gig, he did happen upon an open billet.

“Ranger school,” he said. “I defi­nitely meet the minimum stan­dards. If they send me,I’d be happy to go. I’d be honored to go.”

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Sgt. 1st Class John Taffe, 55, just graduated basic training.



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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"There's room at the top they are telling you still.
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,
If you want to be like the folks on the hill."

- John Lennon
  
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