Pete Southard

Denny Sullivan Pete Southard

There are times when the simplest decisions that you make in life result in really screwing your plans up beyond all recognition. It happened that way to me when I was twenty five, almost twenty six. By that time I'd already spent six years in the Army, reenlisting once, and I had plans on spending at least fourteen more years wearing the uniform. In other words, I liked it and was going to make it a career. During those six years I'd served two combat tours and made sergeant. At the end of my second tour I only had a month remaining on my second enlistment and since everybody knew that I intended to reenlist they sent me to be part of an Army liaison team at a little Air Force base in Utah until they could find a place in Germany for me, Germany being my choice for assignment. I'd been there before and liked it. "Just go on out to Utah and keep your nose clean sergeant" I was told. "They're doing some kind of joint research with the Air Force out there and there's no towns close around for you to get into trouble in. If all goes well out there, and after you reenlist, a place will be found for you in Germany and you'll be on your way". Sure, and somewhere in the hills of eastern Tennessee there really is a pig that can fly.