Hurdles

HURDLES

Life will hand you hurdles. So, you might ask: What are hurdles? Basically, hurdles are challenges to test your ability to survive until you die. Another way of looking at hurdles is to view then as obstacles. If you have served in the military and run an obstacle course you are aware that when you reach a hurdle or an obstacle that you can's just stop and starve to death. You have to find a way to jump over, go under or around or figure out how to remove the obstacle or hurdle.

When you start out as a small child as I did, usually your Mother will handle the hurdles for you but sooner or later, you have to handle them for yourself. If you are the kind of person to take the road less traveled, you will quickly become familiar with hurdles.

I was born a young child without a lot of responsibilities. I did not have to ask for hurdles as they were handed to me. Before long, I was hoeing the garden, chopping wood, hauling water from the spring, feeding animals, churning milk to make butter, chasing down chickens for supper, watching for poisonous snakes, picking grapes, blueberries and blackberries, beans, pulling up onions, carrots and fishing or hunting for squirrels, rabbits, deer and other wild animals to help feed the family. 

The things I learned to do as I grew up in a large family with 12 brothers and sisters gave me a head start on surviving and overcoming hurdles. I joined the Navy at 17 and I was amazed when they gave me two pair of shoes and free clothes to wear. I remember lying in my bunk at night and hearing other 17 or 18 year old recruits sobbing and regretting volunteering . I was already pretty fit from working on a farm but I did gain some muscle weight from the constant marching and running with a rifle all over the Navy Training Center in San Diego. I enjoyed the shooting range. I did not enjoy the gas chamber where they subjected me to tear gas. At first I thought that my four year enlistment would be like boot camp but when I graduated and received my first set of orders to Naval Air Facility Litchfield Park just outside of Phoenix, Arizona, I was pleasantly surprised. I was treated as a human being instead of as a maggot. I was assigned a job in an aviation warehouse where I managed receipt, storage and issued aircraft parts to repair aircraft. At that time, my base was the winter home for the Blue Angels. They flew the McDonnel Douglas A4 Attack aircraft. 

NAF Litchfield Park was pretty easy as far as hurdles went. Every morning I would get up, shave and shower and go to breakfast. The chow hall was close to the barracks so I would stop and have a breakfast before walking to work at the warehouse. I could order eggs, pancakes, toast, bacon, sausage or whatever struck my fancy and I did not have to pay for the food. One of my favorites was the chocolate milk dispenser. I also enjoyed the fresh fruit, especially the oranges and bananas.

I was pretty much in hog heaven at my first duty station. I was scheduled to go to Memphis, Tennessee to attend Aviation Electronic School but just before I was scheduled to leave I was in an Automobile accident where I suffered severe lacerations and a compound fracture of my left leg just above the ankle. I had a hurdle at that point as the doctors wanted to amputate my foot as there was no bone holding it to my leg, just some tissue and muscle. I told them if it rotted off, I would deal with that but if they tried to remove my foot, then there would be hell to pay.

At any rate, they saved the foot and took skin from my thigh and did skin grafts to cover the open bone. I still just have skin over my lower leg but I got over that hurdle. However, when my school date started, I was hobbling around on crutches. I was told that I missed my opportunity to become an Aviation Electronic Technician. I was pissed about that but around that time I saw a notice on my work bulletin board encouraging sailors to volunteer to go to Viet Nam. You guessed it, I signed up to volunteer and was sent to Lemoore Naval Air Station in California. I was assigned to Attack Squadron 125 for training purposes to become a plane captain. The days were long and hard. I learned to wash, fuel and lubricate several types of aircraft and how to pre-flight the planes prior to take off. Litchfield Park Naval Air Facility was a walk in the park compared to my new 12-16 hour work days. I finally was certified to be a plane captain for A4 aircraft and was given orders to my favorite attack squadron, Attack Squadron 144. Our mascot oddly enough was the Roadrunner.