By Bill Kale, October 14, 2019 — Growing up, my dad was in the National Guard for twenty years, and upon being federalized he served in World War II in Europe. After serving overseas he decided to stay in the army post-WWII, and upon beginning his family he told his sons that everyone owed an obligation to the country in terms of military service.
Although it didn’t have to be a career, everyone needed to serve before going off on your own. So, my brothers and I did just that. My oldest brother served in the air force before deciding to go to college but enlisted in the air force afterward. The fourth oldest went to Rutgers and graduated in 1953 before volunteering for the draft and going to Korea, where after deployment he would choose to stay in the army reserves. The third oldest was not much of a student and decided to work for the railroad as a teenager before later enlisting in the National Guard. I’m the second oldest and went to Rutgers and as expected my dad said, “You’ll need to do your military service,” and “it’s better to do so as an officer than an enlisted soldier,” so I joined ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) at Rutgers and continued with that up to graduation. Upon graduating, I was offered a regular army commission which extended my service from two to three, but if you were interested in the army as a career it was better to do service with a regular commission.
I became an artillery officer upon graduation and went to training at Ft. Sill where afterward I was sent to Germany where I served on an artillery unit as one of three officers.