Military Brats: We Are Family
(From Pat C. in Austin, Texas)
My father was Army for 30 years. We moved many times and I went to 6 Elementary schools, 2 Junior High Schools and 2 High Schools. My last High school was Kaiserslautern American high school, Germany. I remember my father coming home and saying we were "moving again" but this time to Turkey!! Turkey????? All I could think of was the friends I had as a Sophomore at Pembroke High School in Hampton VA. We were stationed at Ft Monroe, VA and I LOVED IT. We lived on base again and it was great fun to be back on a military base and have friends that understood my lifestyle.
We had been bused off base in 7th & 8th grade to a junior high that was being integrated during the civil rights movement/era. It was a tough time packed with gang fights over integrating the school and a principal that asked all the "coloreds" to stay behind at a school rally. One of my best "brat" friends, at the time, was African American. we heard the principal make the statement and looked at each other with question marks in our minds and on our faces. I remember sitting tight next to Josephine not willing to leave her there. A teacher came up to me and said I had to leave because I was "white"!! I remember exactly what I was wearing; lime green culottes and a flowered green top to match. I walked down the stairs looking back at Josephine and waving to her as the band was playing "A taste of honey" by Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass. Later that day as the military base bus picked up the "brats" at the junior high we were abuzz asking Josephine and our other African American "brats" what happened after we were made to leave! The principal had told the "coloreds" to act "right" or there would be consequences!! Needless to say after much ado he was fired; and should have been sooner than he was!!
We all endured the ribbing of civilian kids who thought we were freaks. No one could win as Josephine was called a "cracker" because she had a white best friend; I was called a name I can�t say, write and have troubling even thinking but it was N.... lover!! We had a "brat" friend that was an Eskimo and people at the Junior High asked her if she ate "blubber". Another brat on our bus was Hispanic in origin. We were a mish mash of cultures, but in our minds we were just one culture; Army Brats!! Tough times as a military brat as we were seen as outsiders and weird because color didn�t matter in our "brat" group!! We endured 7th & 8th Grade at Thorpe Junior High and were bussed again, our Freshman year, to the new junior high that had been under construction. 9th Grade was the BOMB!! We military brats "owned" the school. All the horrible experiences at Thorpe were easily forgotten and I was beginning to make really great friends and feel "normal". We were all so excited to go to high school the following year and become Sophomores!! 10th grade was awesome too. We "brats" all went football and basketball games. We became cheerleaders, fell in love and hung out together on the weekends.
It was the fateful day in March 1970 when my father came home one evening, and announced we were getting transferred to TURKEY!!! Wouldn�t it be great and an adventure he said??? NO I said!! We would have to boil our own water and we would be on a small secured base with a small group of kids but it would be fun....wouldn�t it??? NOPE was my answer!! I was "in love" with Bob Newman and with my 60's teenage life!! Mom apparently pitched a fit about Turkey too and somehow Dad pulled some strings and we got orders for Kaiserslautern Germany!! Mom was thrilled but I STILL was not. I couldn�t leave the network of friends I finally had made. I loved my base life, friends, school, playing tennis and hanging out at the Officers Club pool in the summer with my Officer friends (my dad was an NCO). I convinced my friend's father (who was the Brigadier General) to let me live with them the rest of my sophomore, junior and senior year. Brigadier Gen'l Hickman talked to my dad and told him he would be happy to have me live with them and finish High School at Pembroke HS. My dad, politely, declined and I was in BIG trouble for putting my dad in that position. SO off we went May 22, 1970 to Kaiserslautern Germany!!
I cried everyday with my friends from March thru the Summer of 1970. My dad's MOS was always in May which stunk because you didn�t get to end the school year with your friends; you had to take exams early to finish the school year and when you moved you didn�t get to know anyone easily as they were still in school and had their "groups" to hang out in the summer. SO I was again stuck with my sister who was 3 grades behind me and seemed like such a "younger" kid at the time. I remember getting to Germany and it rained every day for 30 plus days. I hated every minute of every day as it rained and we lived in our empty military apartment in Vogelweh on the K-Town base. We had opted to leave our furniture in storage in the states and use military furniture in K-Town.
I had just gotten in the states, the white bedroom of my teenage dreams and had to leave it behind; as well as my beloved Collie. My parents were so afraid to tell me my dog would not be able to come with us that they waited until the day before we were leaving for Germany to break the news. Supposedly her hip issues and size prohibited her living on a 3rd floor apartment. My parents found her a good home with a civilian who worked in my dad�s office in Ft Monroe. Although I, know now, she was wonderful to my dog, Lassie, and adored my dog too; I was just devastated to leave my dog, and friends behind. My start in K-Town was anything but "love". I hated the place and was going to hate the school I told myself. School finally started and I met a funny quirky kid who was tall, had long blonde hair and gangly like me. Her name was Barb and we bonded instantly. I then met all the other great military brats easily and all the crying and distraught days turned to laughter and fun!!! Kaiserslautern American High School, Kaiserslautern Germany was one of the BEST experiences, to date, in my life. I got to travel, meet wonderful people on base, and off base. It made me the person I am today. Leaving High School and going back to the states for college was harder than moving initially to Germany!! I stayed in touch with Barb and alot of other HS friends. Over the years we have all moved our different ways and I am happy to say many of us have reconnected!! Being a Military Brat is something I am extremely proud of!!
It was a wonderful experience and I realized when I went to college how lucky I was to have traveled, moved numerous times and experienced so many different things. My first week in college most people thought I was German because my tag said Kaiserslautern Germany. They couldn�t fit Military High School on the tag and most of the civilian kids wouldn�t have figured that out either. Most of my dorm mates lived in towns that had no military base and they had no idea what being a military brat was about. A lot of them had never been on an airplane or out of the state of Virginia (where I went to college). I became pretty popular with my military ID and the ability to buy "stuff" cheap on the Navy base that wasn�t too far from our college campus.
Being a military brat is something that always stays with me. Each time I get the opportunity to go on a military base I get a warm and fuzzy feeling!! It makes me think of K-Town HS first; being a brat second and thirdly thankful Brigadier General Hickman didn�t convince my dad to let me stay in the states to finish High School. I think my entire life would be different, and not for the better, if I had not gotten the opportunity to move to K-Town in 1970!! Every time I get to go to a military base I feel myself smiling ear to ear and I cant stop!! It was hard to move; hard to be considered different when attending school off the military base BUT such a wonderful life experience to be an ARMY/Military Brat!!! I relish the memories and all of you that have touched my life then and now!!!!
