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Seasoned Vet
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June 02, 2003
Thirty-something recruit hard to recognize after basic
By Mladen Rudman
Associated Press
CRESTVIEW, Fla. — By the time the 35-year-old recruit was done with Army basic training, not even his wife recognized him.
“My dad had to point him out to me,” said Tammie Sanders. “He had the uniform and those military glasses and his head was shaved. When I saw him I couldn’t believe it. He had lost so much weight. I didn’t know what to think.”
Donald Sanders, then a private and now a specialist in the Army Reserve, lost 18 pounds during boot camp at Fort Benning, Ga., last year. Behind him was nine weeks of grueling, midsummer physical conditioning that at times felt more like torture.
When he enlisted in early 2002, Sanders was at the recruitment cutoff age but too close to 36 for an active duty slot. The Reserve, however, had room.
Sanders signed up for several reasons. His father, who always wanted to see Sanders in the military, had died recently.
The Crestview man also resigned as a sheriff’s deputy. And he was greatly troubled by the hijacked airliner attacks several months earlier that toppled New York’s World Trade Center and left a gaping hole in the Pentagon.
“When it happened, I was driving, and I heard it on the radio, and they kept on saying it was one of those morning shows where they always joke that this was no joke,” Sanders recalled.
For Sanders, boot camp was a “culture shock,” and the shock troopers were drill instructors younger than Sanders.
Sanders stuck with the training despite his age and eventually became an inspiration for at least a handful of the 18- and 19-year-olds who constituted a vast majority of his 62-man platoon.
He helped the teenagers by showing determination despite innumerable push-ups or marching with a 55-pound pack on his back or rappelling from 60-foot walls.
Tammie wasn’t surprised by her husband’s decision to enlist. In fact, she helped him hook up with the Army Reserve by way of the Internet.
“Everything he’s always wanted to do, I’ve always stood behind it,” she said.
Though Sanders’ absence during basic and, subsequently, advanced training at Fort Bragg, N.C., made it tough to manage the household, Tammie relied on family and friends for help. The sacrifice paid off when her husband made it through boot camp.
“I was very proud of him,” she said. “He had completed something that many [younger recruits] drop out of
------------------------------------------------------------ Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. ------------------------------------------ 
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President for Life
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Hard Charger
 
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CSM O.R Hoggard If I am correct. Least to hear him tell it thats whut said. he was the 1/504 SGM 88 - ? at least 91 when i left in Oct.
"Greater love than this hath no man, but that he should lay down his life for his friends."
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Regular Joe
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SgtV, I had heard that story too, but I also heard he was the inspiration for a character in on of Col. Leonard B. Scotts novels about Rangers/LRRPs in Vietnam, so who knows.
If you ain't gettin shot at...THEN it's a good day!
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Hard Charger
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LOL yes he was Sir, Charlie Mike, the character was Hobo, and he called him O.R. Hoggard in the book. Soooooo who knows. but thats the story old OR told to ShortRound (me) when tryin to motivate me one HOT afternoon in a fox hole he helped me dig on one those GREAT LTC Killabrew BN FTX's.
"Greater love than this hath no man, but that he should lay down his life for his friends."
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Regular Joe
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Shortround.....Ahhh, now I vaguely remember!
If you ain't gettin shot at...THEN it's a good day!
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Hard Charger
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quote:
Originally posted by gordo173
Shortround.....Ahhh, now I vaguely remember!
[LOL] I was the short lil runt in C co. the one couldnt run, roadmarch or hang. Took getting hit in Panama and loosing part of a lung to get me to be able to hang with the rest of the Co. I was also Cpt Stanleys Driver while in the Gulf. That should help lol we hated each other I am sure he talked about me A LOT!!! took me a year after I left the 04 to come around and be the soldier I wanted to be.
"Greater love than this hath no man, but that he should lay down his life for his friends."
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Keep the Peace and Be of Good Behavior
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I tell ya, some of you old goats can run circles around us pups.
I had a 35 yr old in the rack across the aisle in basic. He was Prior Service Naval Reserve, was with some kind of Recon team, though he always stressed that it wasn't the SEALS. This guy could PT the hell out of 90% of the company. Scored 280-300 on PT tests, etc etc.
He went to RIP and graduated too. Lost track of him after that.
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