Jeffery Williamson, 45, of Covington, Ohio, was too old to join the military after 9/11 but when the U.S. government raised the age limit, he enlisted that day as a private, at age 41, and is deployed in Afghanistan, already having served in Iraq. | David Belluz/MCT45-Year-Old U.S. Infantryman Does Heavy Lifting In Afghanistan -- McClatchy News
ASHEQEH, Afghanistan — Jeffery Williamson was so angered by the 9/11 attacks that he decided to join the military, only to be told that at 36, he was a year too old to enlist. Five years later, on the day the Army raised the age limit to 42, he joined at 41. He's served in Iraq, and now he's back on the front lines, this time in Afghanistan.
Not only is Williamson, who's now 45, a soldier, he's an infantryman in the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell. Ky. Here's how the Army describes the requirements:
Read more ....
My Comment: Most men at this age are thinking of their kids college fund and maybe taking some more time off. But it appears that Jeffery Williamson has a different calling.
2 comments:
I can identify.
I joined at 42, shipped for BCT at 43, and graduated AIT (15U - Chinook Helicopter Repairer) just shy of my 44th birthday - two years too old per regs. Got my recruiters in a boatload of trouble due to an honest mistake in the paperwork as to what the age limit was and how it applied.
I returned from my first tour in Iraq in January 2010 and intend to volunteer for Afghanistan in 2012.
Love every minute of it.
SGT Jeff Burhans
B Co 1/214th AVN RGT
The Hook-Ers
I am wayyyyy tooooo old to enlist, but I deeply regret that I never served. My hat goes off to people like you and all the other Jeffery Williamsons in the world.
Post a Comment