My Parents Thought I Deserted The Navy Until I Walked Into My Brother’s Trial As A Decorated Officer

a long time. Then he placed his hands flat on the table and said the sentence that would become, years later, the instrument of my erasure.

“If you start, do not quit halfway. If you put on a uniform, you wear it to the end.”

I nodded. I understood the terms. I did not know yet that my brother was already noting them.

Basic training at Great Lakes was continue reading …