Oh Yee of Little Faith
by Michael G. Crawford
Take one David Edwards, young man growing up in "Rural America". You know, that small town typically found with an agricultural emphasis, where kids grow up learning about farms and animal husbandry. But not all kids want to be farmers, and of course the stereotype ends when you realize that Fresno, CA., where David lives, is not really much like the image of a rural mid-west town the phrase"Rural America" conjurs up. But bear with me.
David, at an early age, decided he was going to be a serviceman. Not just any serviceman, actually, but an Air Force Officer. Some folks might think that's corny, but wait. This is the real thing, not some emotional phase that goes away as puberty sets in, or the "in thing" during one decade and "out" the next. This is a loyal citizen actually wanting to serve his country with his heart and soul. This isn't corny. This is life-important-stuff.
Enter life in "Rural America". David's father is ill, and as David is making his way to that special decision point in life, he finds he has to choose between his life goals on a personal level, and the needs of his family. Being a solid human and the kind of guy we all toast to, he decides his family needs him to stay at home, not go flitting off with his military dream.
So, a quick four years in college to get an engineering degree, and some time in the workplace, and the dream, while not forgotten, is put aside. Then life offers a rare opportunity at a second chance. David's wife, bless her heart, says "Hey, my guy, go for it. Let's be a service family". With that encouragement, David ressurects the dream and gets himself recruited. A minor problem, or so he is told, is that he is just at the age where he needs an age waiver to join. Pursuing the dream, he applies for the waiver per DOD form whatever. He is given a waiver by the Air Force recruiting command in L.A. and BOOM he is IN.
David cleans up his civilian life affairs, takes a military service leave of absence from his job, gets inducted and arranges for travel to attend OTS. Having taken his oath to serve his country in the U.S. Air Force, his long held dream has come true.
Then, 48 hours before leaving to L.A. to face the rigours of OTS, our "Second Lt. to be" is informed that someone has researched the law at the last minute, and found a "public law" which does not allow the Air Force to have inducted him, and it's all off. BOOM, he's OUT.
Life hits David pretty hard at this point.
Many people would have raised a real stink. Not David. Many people would have gotten really pissed of at his government, at the Air Force, the dog and the cat. Not David. He says to the Major at the recruiting command where he was to go to OTS, "With all due respect, Sir, I thing this is wrong and I am going to do something about it."
"Good Luck", she says, and David is on his own. Well not really.
Well you see, David wasn't all alone. He had his wife encouraging him still, and it has been said, everyone knows someone who is pretty close to someone important. How important? Well as this particular piece of folklore says, it could be the President. Or at least a General in the Pentagon. Or a Senator or Congressman.
But unknown to David, this fraternity of nearly invisible friends sometimes works quietly and like a network, reaches out through many connections. For instance, David's wife is the daughter of the step-daughter of the life long friend of a retired U.S.A.F. Lt. Colonel. When this former pilot hears of David's plight, he says to himself, "This isn't right, my Air Force doesn't do these kinds of things". But like the other fraternity members that spring into action, the Colonel also adds, "We have to be careful here. David is not pissed off, just anxious. He doesn't want to throw a wrench in the works, just fix the problem. This calls for public assistance, not outrage." And like other fraternity members, the Colonel starts reaching out.
One of the retired Lt. Colonel's sons is also a retired Lt. Colonel from the Air Force. Another son is a veteran "wanna-be" who has made some friends and has a web page. And of course the retired LCs each know other retired or in service Colonels or Generals. Questions get asked, puzzled fraternity members agonize over the impossibility of it all. The word spreads.
And David, not giving up, is not sitting still, either. After all, he doesn't know he is in the fraternity yet. And he considers the situation just the first test of his resolve. He is quietly telling people how strange this all is. Not saying "screw you", not whining or chalking it up at a bad government, or a stupid military. It's a mistake. Pure and simple. Anyone can make one. "Let's fix it and get back to business." David's attitude and efforts begin to pay off.
First he goes to talk to a lawyer. Good move, find out what your rights are. But he is not all that happy with what he hears. For one, he isn't even leaning towards an attack, yet the lawyer sounds a little aggressive, and costs some bucks to boot. No, that doesn't appear the way to go, its not David's style, and quite possibly does more damage than good.
David discovers that his leave of absence from his job for military service means he is guaranteed his job back when he has completed his committment. Since the committment is done (rather quickly admitedly), the employer is on the hook. But David isn't prepared to force that particular issue yet. He wants to focus on the mistake and get it corrected. After all, he wants to go into the Air Force, that's what this is all about. And again, the fight with the employer might hurt his chances. No, David makes his solid citizen type decision and puts off the employer chase for now. There has to be a better way. This is called guts folks. Determinition. Courage. And oh, by the way, aren't these the attributes we all want in our military people?
Then a few newspapers, at times unfriendly to the military, pick up the story. David encourages them with "Don't cry foul! Just appeal for correction of the mistake". And pleasantly the press is true to their word to David and write some incitive, but not inflammatory pieces appealing for some help from the higher levels of the U.S. Government.
And while the fraternity David knows nothing about is working from the outside to the inside, the fraternity on the inside reachs out to David. A JAG officer (Judge Advocate General's office) reads about the situation. Now whether this is via the newspaper, a letter passed around by the fraternity, or perhaps some other grass roots connection, the right person gets informed. The JAG officer says to himself, "Hey, this stinks. We need to fix this if we can." He talks to David, and lets him know he doesn't need a lawyer and it might even be counterproductive in terms of David's goal to go in service. The officer also informs David that there is an excellent chance he is already in the service. He was inducted. He IS in the fraternity. And the fraternity takes care of its own. The officer says, "Let me look into this."
Some time passes, David is getting his car smogged (life goes on), and the conversation gets around to the fee. David requests the guy go easy on him, if he can, since David no longer has a job. "Why" asks the smog guy and out comes the brief version of the story. "Oh you're that guy...Hey fellas come meet David. You know the guy in the article." His community is starting to give him support. Maybe the smog guy or one of his people are vets. In any case, the silent fraternity is at work and David is just coming to realize he IS in the fraternity. David is getting that good feeling, folks.
Then the day comes when he gets a message left on his answering machine to call this funky area code and phone number. A person answers, and David says he is calling cuz he was left a message to call. May he speak with a certain officer, using the name of the caller. The person on the other end of the line, not quite understanding the situation, asks "How did you get this number". Well David introduces himself and begins to launch into his story, assuming it can't hurt to get another ear.
But the voice interrupts him with, "Oh, David Edwards. I know who you are. I'll put you through." Another fraternity member heard from, and now the system is really workin'. Soon David finds out that the JAG officer has been busy. He has reached deep inside the Pentagon, and they are know researching the facts about his case, and already David can hear the apologies and politeness coming. Yep, as David suspected would happen all along, someone has tumbled to the fact that a mistake has been made, and a loyal, dedicated, MILITARY MAN is on the receiving end of a foulup. In the past, the military beauracracy might have shrugged and said, tough. But not today. The attitude of the military machine is more like "This won't stand!"
In a few days David is informed, "Yep, the Air Force
has made a mistake. Standby, we are correcting."
As it happens, David is told to call the original Major and confirm that he is to report to his station on March 18, and OTS starts for him on March 19! All of us in the fraternity await the official paperwork before celebrating. However, we also cry, "Excellent! It Works!"
You see, it does work. Grass Roots protest can take many forms. It can be hollering saying "Screw JOB" or it can be voiced by a fraternity of concerned siblings; brothers or sisters in arms. And in David's case, a concerned fraternity that calmly said, "Hey folks, let's fix this silly mistake" seems to triumphed quite dramatically. You don't have to scream expletives, and don't have to screw your face up in a fierce and disgusting growl as you accuse the system of utterly failing and holding it up as another example of bad government.
The quiet fraternity got a bit louder for a moment there, yet overall used a civilized and essentially calm approach. They made it happen. The cooperative efforts of military folks inside and outside the military, from serving officers, to retired veterans. The fraternity includes concerned civilians. People like the smog guy, the slightly distant relatives, the reporters and editors of several newspapers, a brother-in-arms in the Pentagon, and countless other unknown fraternity members, citizens all. These people worked together with little communication and precious little planning in order to make the U.S. process work. Hey look at that! "US" without the periods. Hmmm now that makes sense, a fraternity of US. The American ideal at work through US.
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Last Updated: 3/1/96