To: koan who wrote (283655 ) 11/23/2015 1:56:07 AM From: freelyhovering Read Replies (2) | Respond to In 1965, I was in the Army in Bad Kreuznach, West Germany, the HQs. of the 8th Infantry Division. I was the clerk for Colonel George Bush, the G3 (Head of Training and Operations for the Division. The Commanding General, whose name I can't remember--I thought he was a bit of a dork, following the great General Stanley Larsen who I had befriended-- had a helicopter pilot, Kris Kristofferson. I actually knew about him at an earlier time as I was on the football team at Occidental College and he was playing for U. of California at Santa Barbara. Following his graduation, he and my college roommate and another friend, were chosen as Rhodes Scholars and attended Oxford together. I would see him at the bowling alley in Germany but we never spoke about our earlier lives as he was a Captain and I was a Sp5. I also got medals as he had in the paragraph below--Meritorious Service and the Good Conduct Medal--for my work for Colonel Bush--no relation to W as far as I know. edit ]Kris Kristofferson, under pressure from his family, ultimately joined the U.S. Army and attained the rank of Captain . He became a helicopter pilot after receiving flight training at Fort Rucker , Alabama . He also completed Ranger School . During the early 1960s, he was stationed in West Germany as a member of the 8th Infantry Division . [12] During this time, he resumed his music career and formed a band. In 1965, when his tour of duty ended, Kristofferson was given an assignment to teach English literature at West Point . [13] Instead, he decided to leave the Army and pursue songwriting. His family disowned him because of this decision and they never reconciled with him. [14] They saw it as a rejection of everything they stood for, in spite of the fact that Kristofferson has said he is proud of his time in the military, and received the American Veterans Awards "Veteran of the Year Award" in 2003. [15] [16] "
