A Private Affair

You know how, when you're laying beside your child at bedtime, he whispers that he's going to grow up to be a fireman and all the next day and week and month he insists on wearing the yellow jacket and dousing your furniture with real water? And then, suddenly, you're lying beside him again and he's going to be a dinosaur digger when he grows up. And all the next day and week and month he studies his dinosaur books and arranges the stuffed varieties and talks non-stop about Rexes. Then he's older and you're driving somewhere and he mentions how he's going to fly those giant airplanes that zoom overhead and leave the white trail behind. And for months he watches the sky and points and then lines up his die-cast models carefully on his shelf. And it goes on like that for years. He's going to be a teacher and then a crane operator and then a police man and then a doctor and then a tall-building builder and then a race car driver and then . . . .





Well, I never really experienced that with my son. He was itsty bitsy when he began to talk. Not even two years old. We would lie on his bed and he would explain how big semi-trucks had giant engines to pull their weight and he would tell me that black really isn't a color. It's just that it doesn't reflect light, but sucks it up instead. He would "read" his books to me - reciting every word from memory after hearing me read them just a few times. He was a smarty-pants boy. But each and every night, and every day, and every week, and every month, and every year, and every decade (and at least 8 Halloweens), he insisted that when he grew up he was going to be an Army Guy. Not once did he change his mind or even consider other possibilities.





This morning he walked in the house with his newly issued uniform and boots and socks and hat in his hand and announced "I don't have to dress up like an Army Guy anymore. I am one." This afternoon he raised his right hand and spoke the oath to defend this country, with his life if needs be, and to be a faithful and loyal supporter of America always. The United States Army Officer who swore him in is his father.




The smiles were permanent on both their faces. And mine too. My little boy is big. His new boots are larger than the ones he used to slip on and clomp around in the house with as soon as his daddy took them off. He was chosen long ago to be a warrior. It was in his blood and in his heart the day he was born.

Private 2nd Class Austin Richard Miller and

Colonel Richard Gary Miller