YES, I MISS WEARING MY SA OFFICER UNIFORM (part two)

Randy felt called to the ministry from the time he was very young and so we worked to that end. He worked as a laborer for a year and during that time applied for Training. We were turned down because of my weight, even though one year before I had been an active officer and weighed the same. We had our first child and Randy went to work as the Program Director at the corps. I worked on my weight and he worked with my Dad, to prepare for the ministry of the Army. (Strangely, my father came back to his home corps, where we lived, as the Corps Officer) The following year we were accepted for training and off we went. I was labeled as a “Spouse” and worked in the office of the Assistant Principal during Randy’s training. When I was needed, mostly for my ability to play the piano, I was permitted to be among the Cadets. The rest of the time, I was just a ‘Spouse’ sitting outside the goings on of cadetship.

We were commissioned to a small corps in a heavily populated state and our quarters was a one bedroom apartment, even though we had a four year old and I was pregnant with a second child. We made the best of the situation and moved things around and made do. Although we were in a very difficult situation, we did the best we could and gave all we had to that appointment. It showed in our attendances and in the response of the community through their giving and support.

Our second appointment provided more responsibility and the General Secretary said to us, “I’ll be watching you”. And, on occasion, would drop in for Sunday services to remind us of that fact. To this day, we are not sure what he was watching for. During our time in this appointment we had another child who was born with severe handicaps. We felt very much alone during this time, even though our appointment was minutes from Divisional Headquarters. We asked for help; our son was born on November 11 and we were ready to start our Christmas campaign just a few days later. No offer of help was promised and no help provided, not even the offer to do a Sunday service for us. We struggled through this traumatic time with the eventual support of one officer who would come periodically to pray with us, and another who would help us with our children when we were in crisis.

When the new Divisional Commander took charge, the new leadership made it clear that we were expected to do everything we were told to do, no matter what our circumstance. He was very hard on Randy because of a strained finance position due to the very difficult Christmas season we had struggled through, and he sat us down in his office and told us straight out…”Don’t expect the Army to ‘carry’ Justin forever”. We are not sure of all that he meant but we did not waiver, but continued on. Over 30 surgeries, two years total in the hospital, and many months of rehabilitation later, when Justin was one month short of his 18th birthday, they finally decided to give him medical insurance through The Salvation Army. We had to beg, to borrow and beg some more from the state, the federal government and private organizations, for Justin’s care. We learned that the Colonel knew what he was talking about when he said the Army wouldn’t ‘carry’ us.

During our officership there were many circumstances that made us feel as though they wanted us out. Randy is a scholar who didn’t realize it until after his days in the training school. He started to attend classes to work toward his bachelor’s degree and fell in love with learning. He studied hard, worked hard, fathered our 5 sons with great care and teaching and was a wonderful and caring husband. The Salvation Army only saw him as a rebel. Although our corps grew steadily under our leadership, along with the many accompanying responsibilities, we were “never chosen for leadership in the Army”. I’m still not sure what they think corps officers are if we are not considered leaders. Randy continued his education through his Master’s Degree and then proposed a doctoral study to the Army and they quickly turned him down. He felt this was a strong personal goal and so we took out the educational loans and during his furlough time he attended classes and worked through to his completion of his degree. He is currently writing his PhD dissertation.


(part two)
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