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In making your joyous preparations to welcome him back into organized society, you might take certain steps to make allowances for the crude environment which has been his lot for the past 12 months. In other words, "Handle with care".
Show no alarm if he insists on carring a weapon to the dinner table, looks around for his steel pot when offered a chair, or wakes up in the middle of the night for guard duty. Keep cool when he pours gravy on his dessert at dinner or mixes peaches with his Seagram's VO.
Pretend not to notice if he eats with his fingers and prefers C-rations to steak. Take it with a smile when he insists on digging up the garden to fill sandbags for the bunker he is building. Be tolerant when he puts his blanket and sheet on the floor to sleep, pay no attention if, when it begins to rain, he pulls off his clothes, grabs a bar of soap and a towel and runs outdoors for a shower.
Simply leave quickly and calmly if by some chance he utters "Di Di" with an irritated look on his face, for it means no less then, "Get the Hell out of here."
Never ask why the Jones boy held a higher rank, and by no means mention the word "extend". Pretend not to notice if, at a restaurant he calls the waitress "No. 1 girl" and uses his hat for an ashtray.
Be especially watchful when he is in the presence of a women, especially a beautiful woman.
Above all, keep in mind that beneath that tanned, rugged exterior, beats a heart of gold (the only thing he has left). Treat him with kindness, tolerance, and an occasional fifth of good liquor, and you will be able to rehabilitate that which once was (but is now a hollow shell of) the happy-go-lucky guy you once knew.
Last, but by no means least, send no more mail to APO, fill the ice box with beer, get the civies out of the mothballs and fill the car with gas, because the "KID" is coming home.