I Only Look This Good Because My "Genes" Fit So Well

FORCED RETIREMENT

On November 17, 1981 George J. Marlett turned sixty years old, but to him it was no time for celebration.  He received notice that due to his age he would have no choice but retire from the military he had loved and served so well for four decades.  It didn’t matter that he could complete the fitness course in the time allotted and do so ahead of some of his superior officers and NCOs many years younger than he. Daddy was furious that the bar had been lowered and a

portion of the required mile-and-a-half run could now be completed by walking.  Why is it called a mile-and-a-half run if you’re not expected to run it!  To make matters even worse, the course could be done with shirt tails out of fatigue pants and pants legs out of combat boots!  To him these standards, or rather lack of standards, encouraged serious breakdowns in discipline and were totally unacceptable.

Since the Department of the Army did not share his views on this matter, his mandatory separation from active service was probably a good thing for all involved.  It was highly unlikely that he would ever concede his objections and agree with them.  I can’t think of many situations which would have frustrated him more than continuing to serve under compromised guidelines that he had always considered to be offenses subject to disciplinary action.

So on November 30, 1981 wearing his dress uniform and looking as dashing as ever, SGM George J. (Red) Marlett smartly saluted his commanding officer for the last time.  He did so with the same patriotic pride he felt forty-one years earlier when he saluted his CO for the first time.

Momma and Daddy continued to call Opelika, Alabama home and lived there until she died just three months before their 58^th wedding anniversary.  One month following her death Daddy was invited to unveil a historical marker commemorating POW Camp Opelika.  It was placed at the former site of the main gate to the camp, just yards away from where he and his beloved wife had shared their first home.  The day was filled with mixed emotions: the sadness of a void which could have only been filled by the presence of Momma, the excitement of friends and the pride of four generations of his family being in attendance, some who had traveled great distances to share in this day.  Daddy looked so sharp wearing the same dress uniform he had worn when he was discharged from the military twenty-two years earlier.

A great soldier once said, “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.”  It was decided by all of us children that Gen. MacArthur’s statement was absolutely right.  I’ve informed my siblings that whichever one of us is the last one left, please make arrangements for someone to look out for Daddy and keep him out of trouble because he will no doubt still be going strong!