1985: Joined the Army. One of the 3 things I swore I'd NEVER do.
One of the other 2 "never do's" was work on a farm. I had quit the farm to join the Army. I was the chaplain assistant. I wasn't a chaplain. They are ordained ministers. I was an assistant. Get the coffee and cookies, type the forms and letters and be the body guard since chaplains do not carry weapons in accordance with the Geneva Convention.
1987: Lateral transfer from the Post Chapel on Fort Dix, NJ to the reception battalion where all the new recruits got shots, hair cuts, clothes and taught how to walk, talk and stand in line before they were shipped to their basic training company where they would learn to walk, talk and stand in line + fire weapons.
Chaplain Marquez was possibly the greatest man to work for ever, but he kept saying that I was the most unusual human he'd ever met.
I kept saying that I was just a regular Joe, just like all these other "Joes" around us. I was just "Your Average Joe."
His response: Right. And I'm the Pope. (He wasn't even Catholic!)
One day, during an inspection, Chaplain introduced me to the General as his assistant, "Specialist Kois - He's Your Average Joe, and I'm the Pope."
When I began to think about a business name, it wasn't hard to come up with one.
No comments:
Post a Comment