When work evaporates and bills multiply, a father goes back to the basics: basic training
By Shary Lyssy Marshall, Times Correspondent
In print: Sunday, January 4, 2009
• • •
Five years ago, there's a good chance neither the Army nor Russ Wilson would have wanted much to do with each other.
Russ was patriotic — both his dad and grandfather had served — but under normal circumstances a job that might require a year in a war zone was not high on his list.
The Army had preferences, too. It wanted high school or college graduates, and it wanted them young, healthy and fit, which was not a description Russ would have applied to himself.
But add two unpopular wars and a bad economy, and suddenly it was a good match.
The Army had struggled to meet increased recruiting goals — at least another 80,000 each year. To hit that number they were willing to overlook an age nearly twice the ideal recruit's and a waistline enhanced by a weakness for Big Macs.
For Russ, a guy with no credit, no home, no health insurance and no future, relaxing weekends with the family quickly became the least of his worries.
Late at night, while everyone slept, Russ and Amy could see their future laid out in the glossy pages of the brochures.
He could train as an E4 specialist and drive trucks.
They could live in a house, maybe even on a safe military base. Russ wouldn't have to worry about the children when they rode their bikes down the street.
Still, this relationship was risky. For both sides.
The Army might spend $30,000 recruiting and training a man who washed out.
The risks for Russ were slightly more complicated. If he failed, he would lose his best chance to put his family on a firm financial footing. If he succeeded, he might be sent to war.
Russ signed the papers.
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