National Guard drill is normally one weekend a month, sometimes starting on Friday evening, and usually two weeks of annual training. Some of the soldiers call the annual training "Summer Camp." One of my Summer Camps was spent in Camp Ripley, Minnesota, in February. That camp was for Winter Operations Training, so it was NOT a Summer Camp. The average temperature was around 40 below zero, and being infantry soldiers, we had the privilege of sleeping in tents and conducting training exercises in wind chills that got as low as 60 below.
Anyway, back to My Little Soldier. Each drill begins with a formation, to get a head count by taking roll call. The First Sergeant calls the name of each soldier assigned to the unit. When their name is called, they must respond with "Here!", "Present", or acknowledge in a military manner that they are present and ready for duty.
On one of these occasions, I took my 6 year old son, Jerod, to drill with me. I dressed him in his own little Battle Dress Utility (BDU) uniform. He stood in formation beside me in a perfect position of attention. When the First Sergeant called "Ryan", there was only silence. I leaned over and told Jerod, "That's you". The First Sergeant repeated "Ryan!", this time a bit more sternly. In his high pitched, six year old voice, Jerod shouted "HERE!". Every soldier in the formation turned, looked at Jerod, and laughed for several minutes before regaining their military bearing. Even the tough old, battle hardened, First Sergeant joined in and laughed, if only a little.
Jerod just beamed like he had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Jerod is now 32 years old, but a small part of him is still in my memory as My Little Soldier.
As a side note, the photos show Jerod holding his Grandpa Jim Long's M1 Garrand, complete with the bayonet. Grandpa Long carried the M1 while serving in the Pacific as a SeaBee (Member of a Construction Battalion) in the Navy. Jim helped build runways for bombers and fighter planes after the islands were captured by the Army or Marines. One might think that a Navy CB would not even need a weapon. After all, a dozer operator isn't a target. Not true. the Japanese left snipers behind to harass and disrupt. Jim told me that while operating his dozer, he always heard sporadic gunfire and had bullets bouncing off of his armor plating. Sometimes the harassment escalated into a firefight and the CB's became combatants. Wish I could remember on which Pacific islands he worked, but sadly I just don't remember. Anyway, the M1 has seen things that most weapons don't usually see.
