George Oakes:
CLASS OF 1985
Dowagiac Union High SchoolClass of 1985
Dowagiac, MI
George's Story
Military
After graduating, I was scheduled to go into the Army. I went to boot camp in July-August of 1985 (Man was it hot there!) Graduated from Boot Camp, and went to Satellite and Microwave communication school in August Georgia.
After finishing School I headed over to South Korea, for a year, my first duty assignment. Wow Korea was a trip !!! Saw many interesting things over there.
After Korea, I spent a year and a half back in August Georgia for my second duty assignment. Nothing special to report here.
I have now attained rank of E-4 and re-enlisted to go to Germany
Left for Germany in the fall of 1987, for 3 years. I was stationed in Karlsruhe Germany, about 30 minutes south of Heidelberg Germany, right on the French border. It snowed one time in the 3 years I was there and it only lasted a day. Basically Karlsruhe is in the valley and it is warm all the time. Jeans and a short sleeved shirt in February most of the time.
While in Germany, I went to Belgium 2 times, Paris France for a week, Skiing in Austria on the Alps, and Pisa Italy. I went to Istanbul Turkey 2 times once for an exercise and once for Operation Prov...Expand for more
ide comfort, to help Kurdish rebels that were exiled from Iraq. While in Germany I came back to the states to go to Special Forces School in Fort. Brag North Carolina. When I finished I headed back to Germany. I also attended a Primary Leadership and Development Course (PLDC) where I attained a top 10% ranking in class and was listed on the Commandants list.
I did one tour in Desert Storm, and it was time for me to come back home. I relocated to 3rd Army in Atlanta Georgia, where I was immediately assigned to go back to Desert Storm. So back I went. Man it is HOT in Kuwait and Iraq in the summer. After my final tour of Desert Storm I went back to Georgia and finished my career in the military. I would have re-enlisted but the Army was trying to reduce the number of troops, and I was not allowed to re-enlist because of the troop reduction.
There are times I want to go back and several times I have been contacted to go back, but I would have to take a cut in pay to join back up.
My favorite time in the Army was boot camp, and while I was in Germany. IT was beautiful over there. I have plans to go back and visit with my mother.
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