Mary Egan:  

Life I graduated from High School in '69. Got married in '70. Moved from Vt to the midwest and did the housewife/mother thing for awhile. In '82 I decided to run away from home and join the Army! Did basic at Ft Dix, NJ and then AIT at Ft Sam Houston, Tx. Was stationed at Ft Sam (the so called 'Country Club of the Army') working in the hospital there. Got divorced and remarried while there. Came down on orders for Germany and got sent to the lance missle unit of 1/32 FA in Fliegerhorst. Okay! Hospital medic to Field medic was a SHOCKER! to put it mildly. They told me they had PT at 5:30 (or something like that) and I said "Of course, you have Personal Time that early in the day!" Said we had 4 formations a day and I wondered how they could fit that many in - I was used to one formation a month maybe and that was usually held in an auditorium!! Oh, and let's not even talk about my thoughts of what a "field exercise" was!!! But I finally adapted and of all my time in the military, this was where I had the most fun and took away the fondest memories and gained some friends that I still keep in touch with and cherish to this day. I left 1/32 FA Fliegerhorst and went to Frankfort's 97th Gen Hosp and worked in the ER. Then when I rotated back to the states, I was sent to Madigan on Ft Lewis, Wa. Spent the rest of my time there. Got out in '92 after 10 1/2 years in service. I was doing a PT test one day and asked myself "At 42, do I still want my job to depend on how many push-ups and sit-ups I can do?" Plus my husband was retired and had a good government job, we had bought a house and it was time to ju...Expand for more