Your three words, my little story
Bob’s words: duty, honor & country

Note: this is a true story based on my family and I am Mack. The fictitious town, Sloan, was given birth deep inside the creative crevice of my mind and continues to grow.

George lives in Sloan and never visited another COUNTRY, or for that matter, never moved out of state. His dream was to go to Italy and push on the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Everyone wants to straighten the tower; he wanted to push it over.

He loved the fact that his dad gave twenty years of his life to the Army and he felt it was his DUTY to do the same. When he signed up for the draft, they classified him as 4-H, that means he was not eligible for any military service. He had high arches and studies showed that flat feet or extremely high arches were a great risk of injury.

George’s brother, Mack, had two preteen sons, Jamie and Billy. Their mother left years ago and he was raising them, but not by himself. Mack, George and their mom Margaret raised the boys together.

George drank, but not as much as Mack. So when Mack was at the bar, George was with the kids, either, at their family farm or at Mack’s place. George had bedrooms at both places, which made it convenient for him to either drink at Mack’s place or help his mom with her needs.

Helping raise his nephews gave George a sense of HONOR that he wanted badly. He felt being a 4-H robbed him of the life he wanted to live.

From left to right, Jamie, me and Billy. Taken in ’93 or close to it.