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 CHEYENNE,
Wyo. – Many who join the military, often right out of high school,
experience a culture shock when they begin training. Regimented
responsibilities, around the clock and physical labor on command are
not for everyone. It becomes a shakedown wakeup of sorts, seemingly
unbearable – unless your life before the service was just as
rigorous.
For a former brigadier general who voluntarily
joined the military in 1974, recently retired Brig. Gen. Harold Reed
believes his upbringing on an Iowa farm prepared him for what would
become an accomplished military career of more than 40 years.
While cattle, chickens and crop fields have not much in common
with airplanes, flight suits and call signs, there were parallels
between life on the farm and in the service.
“Don't ever say
it's not my job.”
“Everyone pitches in on the farm,” he said,
adding that in order to get a job done, it became a family affair –
grandparents, cousins and all.
There were chicken days, and
no doubt in Iowa, sweet corn days. Everyone worked till the job was
done – picking, shucking, cutting, blanching and bagging. Not
working was not an option.
“Don't ever say it's not my job”
was not just a set of words to prevent complaining, but rather Reed
said it was the farm culture.
“Work hard. Play hard.”
A motto often said by the former C-130 Hercules aviator
throughout his career was also a strong theme on the farm. No doubt,
they all worked hard, balancing work with school and extracurricular
activities.
However, Sundays were special. The family
attended church and in the afternoon they would sometimes take naps.
Picnics together, fishing in the creek and hunting squirrels and
rabbits were also regular activities of the “down day.” It was their
time to “recharge their batteries,” Reed said.
Playing hard
could be a bit rough and tough at times, but all in good fun.
Reed's older brother Bud recalls the time when he and a cousin
wrapped Reed up in a comforter and rolled him down the a stairs of
their two-story home. He said he knew his brother was “special” when
he came out of that blanket with a smile, actually liking it.
While the farm was a year-round lifestyle for Reed, so were
sports. He was involved in football, baseball, wrestling and track –
the “sportster” of the group, Bonnie said.
He was his
school's first state wrestling champion and also captain of a
conference-winning football team. Reed fully admits he liked to win,
to be the best at everything he did. He played a position on the
football field normally done by larger, taller boys - pulling guard,
but that did not stop him.
Both siblings remember their
younger brother as a deeply talented athlete with a drive to get the
job done – any job – just as he did on the farm.
“When he
puts his mind to something, he does it and he does it well, and has
ever since junior high,” Bonnie said.
He may have traded
tractors and green fields for big birds and blue skies, but through
it all he has always been the same ole farm boy from Iowa.
by USAF 153rd Airlift Wing
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2014
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