11/11/2025
Isn’t one of the most ridiculous parts of human existence that it takes us well into our adulthood to appreciate our parents?
The year was 1971. That is my father in the foreground. He was stationed in West Germany during the Cold War and was in the field artillery. Like many men of that era, he was drafted into the United States Army. College plans on hold. A new bride and two one-year olds back in Tuscaloosa.
He is in the "fire direction center" -- the place where they calculated how to aim the artillery. Long before GPS or satellite or drone imagery, they did calculations "by hand" incorporating intelligence from forward observers and using meteorological data and charts and maps to arrive at a "deflection" and "quadrant". The calculations were then verified by a computer called a Field Artillery Digital Automatic Computer (FADAC). The information was relayed to guns via that phone in the foreground.
The very cool badge with the inscription “We Support the Line” was that of my father’s unit.
The other fine-looking gentleman is my grandfather, and I think this picture was taken at Fort Sill, Oklahoma (home of specialized training in field artillery) prior to his deployment to Europe in WWII. Like my father he was in the field artillery, but served as a machine gunner in a mechanized howitzer known as an “M-7 Priest.” He manned the 50-caliber machine gun.
Thank you to all our veterans! Sometimes it takes us half lifetime to really appreciate you!
