Army of One

[Dover]

American-Statesman Staff

Monday, May 28, 2007

Johnny Meyer thought he was done with the Army. A Federal Express envelope languishing outside the University of Texas student's former apartment said the Army thought otherwise.

Meyer, 25, had moved to Austin after serving in Afghanistan with the goal of getting a journalism degree from UT. After earning credits at Austin Community College, he transferred to UT for the fall semester. He had just started classes and was working on a writing career — the tentative beginnings of a post-active duty life. He'd "finally begun to shove the war into the back of my mind," he later wrote. "Much of the guilt from leaving my buddies to finish the job had drained from my system, since I was no longer sure what the job was, much less how they would finish it. And I no longer assumed that loud noises in the distance were explosions."

Then, unbeknownst to him, the war was calling again, reviving a part of his life he hoped might be over, even though he held an inactive ready reserve obligation. The Federal Express envelope was at the door of his old apartment for days before he got a call about it.

So, on the same Saturday that his fellow students were gearing up for the big UT-Ohio State football game, he learned his college dreams would need to hold out awhile longer...>>

http://tinyurl.com/3depcv

[Captain Hilts]

1. It's an economic draft. Unfair. Take Jenna and Barbara. nt