The Difference of a Decade: Soldier in Iraq to Street Protester

At the beginning of 2010 I was a soldier on active duty with the United States Army deployed to Iraq.  As this decade ends I am a Democratic activist who has participated in more than 100 protests since November of 2016. 

In 2010, I was a member of a Church. In 2018, after Jews were massacred in a Pittsburgh, I joined a synagogue.

In 2010 I was 56 years old—old enough to cause problems with an adoption that ultimately did not work out. But we did adopt two more kids in the years after I returned from Iraq. 

At the beginning of 2010, I had traveled to almost 30 countries on five continents, but had never traveled outside America unless on business or Army deployment. In 2011, we went to Haiti to meet a boy we hoped to adopt. It did not work out but we are still supporting him in Haiti.  After that trip to Haiti, I traveled to more than 30 countries just to travel, not on business, civilian or military.

At the beginning of the decade I could read French and Ancient Greek and knew a few phrases in German.  In 2015, I started learning Russian. I took four semesters and reached my limit of fluency--I forget the vocabulary very quickly, but I remember the grammar.  Then in 2017, I started learning Hebrew. That was even more difficult. Adding two alphabets is a big change. 

In June 2015 I retired at age 62. I had worked weekends and summers since I was 12 and had not taken more than two weeks off since 1965 and ever since I had a laptop and a cell phone, often worked during my vacations. Since retiring I have not worked at all. 

The year after I retired in November 2016, I made the abrupt transition from former soldier to political activist.  I had never protested in my life. I enlisted during the Vietnam War and re-enlisted during the Iraq War.  But the I could see the end of democracy in the failed casino owner in the White House. I have been in the street protesting most weeks since 2016, more than 150 times.

At the beginning of this decade, I had never swam the length of a pool. In 2013, I started learning to swim. In 2014 I swam 2.4 miles in the Ohio River at the beginning of an Ironman Triathlon I finished in 17 hours and 36 minutes.

After I retired, I tried meditation and yoga. I now do yoga weekly and meditate daily. 

In 2010 I had never been to Israel or a Holocaust site. My third trip to Israel will be in the February of next year. I have visited Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buchenwald and many Holocaust museums and memorials in Israel and across Europe. 

Life remains a crazy adventure. 

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