Jaydon Hodge – War in Literature – Veteran Descriptive Profile

“The military is the only thing between our borders and the onslaught of violence brought by invasion.”  These are the words of Earl Saunders, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army.

These words, to most, probably have a certain ring to them that screams war. That the military is an engine of war and is there to help win them. But this was not the case for Earl. Although he said these words as if they were facts about the military, he also knows that the military has a different side:  one of connections, learning, and living with your fellow man. One where you can go places all across Europe and Asia. Also do and try other things like being a direct advisor to leaders of other nations militaries and work with people from all across the world.

These are some things that most people can never even do or even try to in a lifetime. These experiences are the best in Earl’s life and he wouldn’t trade them for anything else. But just like everything else in life there is always a risk to every reward and it’s hard to say that his experience did not come without any difficulties. Earl said “there is always some compromises and some disappointments in that life but the positives heavily outway the negatives,”

 As a child growing up during the end and aftermath of World War II, Earl loved the military and enjoyed the idea that one day he would be out there fighting to protect this country.

He grew up in more of a suburban location that boomed after the war. It was a place where all the kids would play games like “war” and have pretend fights with toy soldiers. He says this is mainly due to the state that the country was in and what the general public’s opinions were on the military. At the time everyone supported the military and wanted them to keep their strength up. He was in a good family, but they were not a military family or had much history in the military. He said everybody knew that after high school you had two options. Either you enlisted in the draft and let the “luck of the draw” decide whether or not you served, or you volunteered on your own, went into ROTC  in college, and served once you finished college.

For Earl’s highschool experience he said it was normal for representatives for mainly the Army but sometimes other branches to talk to kids to attempt the ROTC rather than getting drafted. He chuckled when he thought on how this was different from today where military representatives just encourage students that don’t have much going for them to just join and serve straight out of highschool.

 Earl took the path of doing 4 years in College. He always knew that he always wanted to get an education and the Army was a great opportunity for that. On the other hand, he knew that had other opportunities to join the workforce out of highschool but figured he would get drafted anyways.

He got his commision at Central State University through the ROTC program. He later, after his service, was offered by the Army to continue his college education for free and obtain his masters degree. In his early years in the Army, he trained in the ABERDEEN proving grounds. He said it was standard for everyone that trained at that location to be combat trained and learn how to fight.

Even though he didn’t end up being in the infantry units, the ones that were sent for combat,  of the Army he said that no matter what, when you serve overseas that it is necessary for every soldier to be prepared for any and every combat scenario that one could face. He had to do grueling physical training and learn how to handle weapons properly. He remembered that they would talk a lot about “ignoring your fears” of killing people.

One thing interesting thing that he could recall during his time at ABERDEEN proving grounds was the diversity of people. He met and trained with other soldiers from Turkey, Burma and Thailand. They would speak english while at the proving grounds but also give some insight to what their culture and foreign military is like at their home nations. Due to his ROTC training he was then put into BOMOP training (Basic Officers Military Orientation Program). This taught him leadership skills and how to command different battalions and platoons.

It is also what got him his initial assignment as second lieutenant in Korea. He was also put into the 1st cavalry division(first air division) in the Army.

 The majority of Earls military service was outside of the country overseas in foreign nations like Korea, Germany, Burma, and Vietnam. Earl was first stationed in Korea from 1958-1959. To be more specific it was northern South Korea.

What was interesting about this is that this was one year after the Korean War had finished. Tensions were still high between North Korea and their Chinese allies who supported them during and after the war. This is very similar to his situation when he was stationed in Germany from 1961-1964. This is because his service was still relatively close, a decade or two, after the end of WWII .

This means that the situation with the Berlin Wall was still very prevalent and the divide between the allies in west Berlin and the Russians and Germans in east Berlin was a main reason for being stationed The U.S. was still in these locations to “officially” help “non-communist” people recover.

In Korea it was the South Koreans and in Germany it was the West Berliners, but Earl talked about how they were there in a “defensive position” against North Korea and the russians where he “essentially” was never supposed to participate in combat but had multiple close encounters that could have involved him and his platoon. While in Korea, Earl was assigned as platoon leader of the second battle group in the 4th cavalry. The duties that he was given during this assignment was to maintain weapons and vehicles.

All detailed maintenance came back to his platoon. While in Germany Earl was promoted to Captain and was given the responsibility of leading general support which helped direct support companies.

He also made a note of talking about how this was one of the best parts of his career because of all the diversity he saw in the U.S. military in Germany. He worked for a battalion commander that was mexican American and an executive officer that was Japanese. He also said that it was a common theme in the Army to have a multi-racial company can be considered it one of his best and special deployments that the Army can give anyone at the time.

He chuckled when he said he couldn’t agree with this more. This is due to the moral problems that had also been seen throughout the military at that time. Earl talks about how then and even to this day the military had a problem with dividing itself up based on race and made it difficult for young people “to see the best in people” and learn and grow with everyone no matter who they are.

Near the end of his term, Earl decided to extend his active duty as a reserve officer. He then did this in Fort Devens, massachusetts from 1959-1961.

 While in Fort Devens, Earl started to experience the risks and rewards of the military life. This is because this is the place where he met his best friend and future God-Father of my mom, John Batts.

This is also where he met the love of his life and soon to be wife, Carrie. This also meant this is where he had his first and only child, my mother, Sabrina Saunders(later Saunders-Hodge).

Like said before the military life also comes with a lot of risk to these rewards because near the end of 1961, Earl had to return to his service and began serving in Germany, only months after child birth.

Earl recalled nearly sleeping in tears every night having to be away from his wife and daughter. He said “that was the hardest thing I had to do in my service, learning to adjust your life to live in the Army after being prepared to live like a father…it was hard.”

He remembered vividly seeing his daughter much later and she was scared of him because she couldn’t recognize who he was. But it didn’t get any easier from there.

He thought later when he got moved to Burma that it would be a good idea to move his Family with him so he could see them. He said this did help until he later got moved again so after to Vietnam and they had to move again.

So he decided to let them settle in Maryland when he was moved to Fort Meade. When he was done with his overseas duties and was able to stay in the U.S. for the rest of his career, he still couldn’t avoid moving.

He had to then spend 1 year in Michigan at a Fort before he could “retire” a lieutenant colonel from the Army. He was offered by the Army to get his masters degree in Michigan but he declined because he couldn’t be apart from his family that long again so he worked in the automotive business in Baltimore from his connections that he had out of highschool.

Overall, Earl still said that everything he gained and learned from the military was still worth these humps that he had to overcome and wouldn’t trade them for the world.

He says he encourages young people to try ROTC in college and look at service as a very serious option in their life because it will give you what no other job can.