Chapter 1
Easier to Ask Forgiveness
July 1975
4th of July. Normally, a time for celebration, but for Tyler Gordon Willett this would be no normal 4th. Today’s fireworks would be personal. All day Willett’s knotted stomach reminded him of the difficult task ahead, but he knew today had to be the day.
Three days earlier, Willett strode into the U.S. Army recruiting station in downtown Evanston, a Chicago suburb, where he told an astonished recruiting sergeant he wanted to enlist and serve in the infantry. That same morning, Willett submitted his two-week notice to Ms. Dorothy Prince, the Human Resources lady at the Henry C. Lytton and Co. headquarters in downtown Chicago, home to the flagship store on State Street. Willett’s excellent performance in the company’s executive training program resulted in some swift promotions, and after almost three years he was the men’s outerwear buyer. So, it was quite a shock for Dorothy when Willett told her of his Army enlistment, and then said goodbye to the other stunned buyers and salesmen.
There was only one problem. With a reporting date of July 15, Willett hadn’t yet told his wife of almost four years, Nancy, of the impending seismic change to their lives and that of their sixteen month-old son, Sean.
Day turned to early evening at the Willett’s two-flat apartment in Evanston, where they occupied the second floor. With Sean already fed and down early, Willett went onto the small wooden porch outside their kitchen door and grilled some bratwurst. With gray peeling paint, the porch nonetheless served them well as a place to relax. Willett and Nancy downed the brats and drank some cheap beer as they sat in lawn chairs overlooking the small backyard and the other apartments across the narrow alley.
“You’re not gonna like this, but I quit Lytton’s,” Willett started, his heart racing. After a moment of silence, a stunned Nancy exclaimed “WHAT! Why, for God’s sake?” A middle school teacher in Evanston where they’d lived for the last two years, Nancy’s tanned face grew ashen.
“I knew when the Cole’s sold Lytton’s to that conglomerate you mentioned changes were unsettling, but Tyler . . . this is crazy! Where are you going to work? When? What about Fields or Carsons…?” as her voice trailed off.
“Look, the folks running things now are screwing people left and right. Remember when I told you what they did to Bill Wolney? He was an institution at Lytton’s, but they sent him to California for a ‘promotion’ to merchandise manager, and then less than two months later, they fired his ass.”
Nancy sat in stunned silence.
“Other weird shit too,” Willett continued. “So I talked to Witner about all the personnel crap going on. I trust him, and he’s been around the block. Know what he told me? You have to jump from firm to firm in retail in order to climb the promotion ladder. I’m just not built that way, Nancy. I want stability.”
Nancy’s green eyes glared as she leaned forward in her chair. “Are you shittin’ me? You call quitting your job of four years, at which you’ve done well, stability?” the words darting out of her mouth.
“Well, I’ve already found another position, if you want to call it that. You’re not gonna believe this, but I enlisted in the Army,” Willett blurted out.
Nancy’s face grew slack as she sank back into the lawn chair, the sky darkening over the wooden porch.
Audio Excerpts
What People Are Saying
“I found your book to be true to my life as a tanker. . .you hit a home run for junior leaders ready to take command . . .you have given junior officers exactly what they need. A must read!”
— General (R) Gordon R. Sullivan, U.S. Army
“Rick Bogdan has accomplished, as we say in the Naval Service when a senior Flag or General Officer sends a personal message for a “job well done”- “Bravo Zulu”. He has done a valuable service providing his own modern version of Rudyard Kipling’s Soldier Tales to provide the public at large a glimpse of what it was like to serve, the good times and the bad.”
— Colonel (R) Preston McLaughlin,
United States Marine Corps Combat Veteran, Operations Desert Storm and Enduring Freedom
Readers Favorite Review Excerpts
“Sitting somewhere between the great American short story and the great American novel, Grunts, Gramps & Tanks by Rick Bogdan… reminded me of the Nick Adams series of short stories by Hemingway… with sparse, gritty, descriptive writing… overall a very polished piece.”
“Grunts, Gramps & Tanks is such a brutally honest depiction of military life… so many important and inspiring lessons to be gained… the entire book was extremely compelling.”
“Grunts, Gramps & Tanks is straightforward, engaging, educational, and funny as hell.”
“The author had me hooked from the first page when the protagonist joins the army without talking it over with his wife first. I had to find out what happened after that.”