Howard Campbell:
CLASS OF 1965
Brashear High SchoolClass of 1965
Brownsville, PA
Howard's Story
I've always felt more connected to Brashear than the school I graduated from. My family moved to Philadelphia during my sophomore year, and I graduated from a high school there. I met some great people, and made some great friendships, but it wasn't the same.
After high school graduation, I went to college on an athletic scholarship, which was ironic, since I was never "good" enough to play at Brashear. I graduated from Clemson University in 1971 (lost 1.5 years because of injuries), with good grades and after playing two sports there. They had an ROTC program, and after finishing up Officer Basic Course, I went into a local Reserve unit.
That worked out well for me, because I had an opportunity to get a fellowship at Georgia Tech, about two hours down the road from Clemson. It was a four year program, and I did well. I was offered a job with a consulting firm, which I took, but wasn't really happy because it was a lot of travel and the firm wasn't exactly pro-military, and this was right after Vietnam. They weren't happy with the fact that I had to go a weekend a month for drills and two weeks during the summer for Camp. So, I left the firm. The ironic part about that is that they're constantly looking for defense contractor work, and occasionally, I hear from them.
My life took a turn that it is presently still on, when after 5+ years in the Reserves, my commanding officer recommended that I go on active duty. He asked me to think about two things: was I happy with my present state of affairs, and would the Army provide an outlet for me that didn't exist in the civilian world? I thought about it for a week, and told him I was ready to follow his recommendation. He drew up the paperwork, signed it, sent it off, and three weeks later, I was instructed to report to Ft. Benning for Airborne School and Ranger School. (I was, until then, an artillery officer). Airborne School was kind of easy; Ranger School was kind of hard-very hard. Over 300 of us started, and only 66 of us graduated eight weeks later. I served in a Ranger battalion for...Expand for more
2 years at Ft. Lewis, WA. I was there fro the invasion of Grenada, which was my first experience with combat. When we returned, I was at Ft. Lewis a little longer, and came down on orders for Germany. I ended up spending tour separate tours of duty in Germany-over six years-and had a great time. When I came back to the US, I volunteered to go Special Forces at Ft. Bragg, NC. The Qualification Course, or the Q Course, as it is known, can last for a year. I got to know quite a few of the SF types during the first Gulf War, and they were encouraging, which i understand they aren't always so.
So, that is pretty much it. I've had the opportunity to serve as a staff officer for the Army General Staff, and also the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, been to Korea, and also as a staff officer in Iraq and also Afghanistan. I am now a senior officer, and will probably retire in two years. There have been many stops along the way. Ft. Benning, Ft. Bragg, Ft. Leavenworth, back to Ft. Lewis, Ft. Devens, just to name a few. It has been a good life, and I have no complaints. Well, one. This is a difficult life for married men and women. The divorce rate for people who go the route I did is about 72%. I was married for a while, and we have a son, now 28, who also graduated from Georgia Tech with two degrees in Engineering, and has a very, very good job in Atlanta. After this present assignment, I'll be going to a college in the DC area to be an instructor in their ROTC program, and also obtain my PhD.
So, life has been good to me, I've had the opportunity to do things few people get an opportunity to do. However, it still would've been nice to stay and graduate from Brashear. There was some talk of that, in that I'm the oldest, and I could've stayed with my grandparents. I don't think my life would've changed significantly, since my grandfather always told me to get the best education I could, since there was nothing here but the steel mills and the mines. My grandparents and my father are gone now, but the advice remains. I hope I did them well.
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