The memoir, A Warrior's Odyssey: A Life Transformed, is about my life altered by military service--how the U.S. Army changed me from a confused and frightened a 19-year old Mexican American into a commissioned officer and a confident citizen.
With the response of the United States to North Korea's sudden invasion of the South in 1950, I was among the many thousands of young men about to be taken into military service. Rather than being drafted, I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. But I regretted the choice for being assigned to the disappointing low-level duty of cleaning stored used weapons. Faced with more than three years remaining, I jumped at the chance for a shortened commitment and a commission in the US Army.
Success commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1953, I was ordered to Korea. During my pre-embarkation leave an Armistice stopped the fighting, but I missed the chance for an early discharge. That left me committed to nearly two years of service, including nine months in Korea. My service also required leading troops to man the Korean Demilitarized Zone, where from a Korean soldier interpreter I contracted tuberculosis. That disease kept me in the Army and for a total more than 22 years, including eventual combat in Vietnam.
In the late 1980, while unpacking in a new home in Virginia, I came upon my leather case holding my service years' worth of official orders, military assignments in the U.S., abroad in Europe and the Far East, promotions and decorations. Flashing back, I saw my 19-year-old self at the Los Angeles train station in 1951, on my way to Texas for the U.S. Air Force. My first concern then was avoiding combat. But, when the opportunity came to shorten my service by becoming an Army Officer, I took it, even if it meant going into battle.
With the gold bars of a 2nd Lieutenant brought a profound change, a makeover of my self-image and a new confidence. Despite the prospect of going to Korea, I felt I'd made the right choice. For once, my own efforts had brought a weighty change in my life. The military cared little about my impoverished background, or the second-class status I'd been made to feel as a Mexican American. It allowed me to compete in a large sample of American males, and I not only came out near the top but also earned the rewards of self-respect and dignity.
My performance in the following years in Army units buttressed and burnished the new self-image. I earned the regard of my commanders, acceptance by my comrades and civilians, men and women alike. On sober reflection, it was a good experience--a discovery of myself and self-respect, a necessary prelude to all that was to follow.
- Robert Sanabria.
