Global Reach
I did the last year of my service at
a SAC base in
Dr. Strangelove at the base theater. The B-52 alert crews
in their flying suits. The Peace Is Our Profession billboard
outside the main gate. Now it says Global Power and Reach
for
in management. The enlisted men got out and went to work for
corporations, as labor. I was a grunt for Western Electric.
A pole jockey. Outside plant. Inside plant. A cable-splicer.
Wiss snips. Scissors. Hold an edge. I used them as
root clippers as an archeologist. I was going to be
a college professor. As a day job. Then I was going to be
a writer. After I taught myself to write. On company time.
Charles Willeford says you have a lot of free time
in the military and there are a lot of typewriters.
He recommended it as ideal training for a writer.
I’d have to agree, it was good training for me.
I read a lot, and wrote a lot of letters.
Late I would make my books read like a letter from,
or to a friend, an imaginary friend.
Like Blaster Al Ackerman.