Too mild for the Pit, but I need to blow off some steam.
I just got an all family email from an aunt of mine. One of her grandsons, the child of a cousin of mine, has just completed his Air Force advanced technical training, and will be staioned in Oklahoma. To us family members she gave his new address and mentioned how proud they all are of him. I am too, actually, although I don’t know the young man well.
But it’s what she said next that ticked me off. After mentioning he is the first in his generation to enter military service, she said the previous generation(my own) had skipped military service, but that the generation before that(my parent’s) had had several in service. My aunt went further back and mentioned ancestors who served in the Civil War, and in the Revolutionary War.
It’s the part about my generation that ticks me off. Umm, Auntie, remember me, your niece Baker? I was in the US Army from 1974 to 1977. I was a Korean linguist and in radio surveillance. Your older sister’s daughter, the one who was a Spec. 4 when she was honorably discharged? What am I, chopped liver? Or does the service of women not count somehow?
At least I can be glad that the guy you work for didn’t become President. If the governor of Arkansas had got elected I’d have thought wistfully of emigration, but wouldn’t actually do it. The country would need all the help it could get cleaning up the mess he would have made of it.
Alright Baker, take deep breaths, calm down. It probably just slipped her mind. But any mind that thinks Ronald Reagan was one of our greatest presidents needs to be looked at very carefully.:mad:
Do it!!! And just say what you said here: “Auntie, don’t you remember? I was in the US Army from 1974 to 1977. I was a Korean linguist and in radio surveillance. Your older sister’s daughter, the one who was a Spec. 4 when she was honorably discharged?”
But now she’s going to send a message out to everyone in the family apologizing for her oversight and including your picture and lauding your important service.
Yes and no. No, I’m not easily embarrassed. And yes, after I sent the picture, when I got home today after church, there was an amended email, with the addition Baal Houtham wrote about. Somebody else must have jogged her memory. But I still don’t see how she forgot, and the addition didn’t apologize for leaving me out the first time around.
And yes, I am being a bit bitchy about this, which I shouldn’t be. I guess it’s best that we only see each other every couple months, since my aunt lives in Arkansas.
Unfortunately, what she probably did was mentally run down through the men in your generation. Maybe, having been reminded of your service, she’ll remember it isn’t just a guy thing.
