The Things I Carry - A Bowling Pin
Years ago, I was a soldier. A pretty good one, too, but this isn't a story about any exploits I might have had. This is a story about being a young person far from home and without a network.
In December of 1988, after finishing my training at Ft. McClellan and spending a few days at home for Thanksgiving, I was away on my adventure; my first permanent duty station in the US Army. Wearing my Class A uniform and still with my too-short haircut, I walked into what seemed like a screaming madhouse as my new unit had just arrived an hour before me from a field training exercise and were dragging all their filthy gear from the vehicles to the cleaning areas and on to storage. They were all loud and dirty and frankly, I was scared shitless as to what I may have gotten into.
All that madness ended soon enough and I got in-processed into the unit and was assigned to where I needed to be. Though I was the new guy and the folks that were already there seemed much older than me (they weren't) the fact is that we were all a bunch of scared kids so making friends wasn't hard. After a couple months, I got a new roommate, Joe Gilmartin. He was all of two years older than me and had been in the service for about three years at this point. Though he didn't act it, to me he seemed like the coolest, most calm dude possible. I won't pretend that he was a great soldier but he was a great roommate.
Our base was a small one and it had a recently defunct bowling alley in it. On one of Joe's nights out, he ... well, I don't know all the details but he came back home with a few bowling pins, one of which soon became among my favorite possessions. Over my time there, I had many friends sign it or make their mark upon it. Signatures were scribbled over drawings and quotes covered names. It's frankly a mess but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Since that time, I lived in South Carolina, Alaska, California (twice), Kansas City (twice), Idaho, Spokane, and now San Antonio. That stupid bowling pin has come with me every single time and has always been displayed proudly. I'm not the flag-waving type but I am glad that I served in the US Army. Those years provided me with countless memories and experiences that could never have been found elsewhere. And, I got a bowling pin out of it!
