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thedrifter
02-04-07, 03:36 AM
Published - Sunday, February 04, 2007

Uncle Sam wants you ... unless you are too old

By Amber Dulek / Winona Daily News

Patriotic, proud and willing. Roger Reitmaier has been called many things, but he’s waiting for a different call.

The 63-year-old decorated Vietnam veteran and retired lieutenant colonel served 27 years in the Marines, and says he’d do it again.

“We’ve got to take a stand against terrorism,” Reitmaier said. “We need a strong defense to protect our freedoms and secure our future. I know what evil is. I fought evil.”

In January 2003, three months before the U.S. invaded Iraq, Reitmaier called Marine headquarters after he heard the military was looking for retired people to return to active duty.

But he was told no, he said. “I’m too old. I’m too senior for the billets available.”

Reitmaier is one of a cadre of veterans who say they want to serve their country again but can’t because of military age restrictions. Even though the Army relaxed its enlistment rules to accept new soldiers as old as 42, older vets — who say they still qualify as trained and skilled — are finding there’s no place for them in the ranks.

“We have a lot of phone calls from veterans about re-enlisting, about one every week,” said Sgt. 1st Class Troy Thompson, a Winona-based Army recruiter. “Generally, we appreciate their interest, but there are different qualifications now, and we usually point them in civilian services.”

Mary Lou Eckstrand, chief public affairs specialist for 41 recruiting stations in South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota, said her offices receive calls all the time from older vets, but the Army doesn’t track how many.

Many veterans have vocalized their readiness to serve on military blogs. One Navy veteran from Michigan wrote: “At 63, I can still do

100 pushups, bench 300 pounds, but I can’t re-up. (I) think it’s ridiculous to have age restrictions, everybody’s body ages differently… Can’t think of one think of one thing I couldn’t do now that I could do at age 22.”

“We received a flurry of calls from veterans after Sept. 11 all the way up to World War II,” said Douglas Smith, a public affairs officer at the Army’s recruiting command at Fort Knox, Ken.

The active components of the Air Force, Marines and Navy take recruits up to 27, 28 and 34 respectively, while the Army accepts those up to 42.

The military does subtract the number of prior service years from age standards. Just this week, the Winona Army recruiting office had a 43-year-old Winona resident who was able to re-enlist because of prior service, Thompson said. As with all recruits older than 40, he will have to pass more rigorous health and physical tests before he’s allowed in.

Some willing vets, like Winona resident Gary Lowe, still can’t get in.

Lowe, 49, joined the Navy in 1974 when he was 16 and served three years as a cook on the U.S.S. LaSalle.

“I cooked for the king of Jordan,” he said. “They were the best years of my life, and I didn’t know it.”

Ten minutes after the second hijacked plan hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, Lowe said he called the Navy recruiting office in the Twin Cities.

But the Navy turned down Lowe, who was 45 at the time.

“They didn’t even consider it,” he said. “There’s got to be something for us instead of shipping 20-year-olds that are scared and mom does their laundry.”

David Carter, a Minneapolis-based Navy public affairs officer for 55 stations in seven states, said he’s taken calls from older veterans and 40-year-old triathletes, but there are no exceptions to the age rule.

“It’s an amazing thing to see someone come in and have the desire to serve and continue to carry out that torch,” Carter said. But all he can really offer is “a handshake and a thanks for the service they did.”

The Navy may not be a force that needs expanding, but the Army must recruit more vigorously because it is considered a “non-glorified” service, Eckstrand said.

The Army changed its age requirements from 35 to 40 in March 2005 and again to 42 last year, in a move Thompson said was intended mainly to accommodate veterans and expand recruiting pools.

“It’s because we have such a large mission,” Eckstrand said. “We have to (recruit) as many soldiers as the other branches combined.”

In the 18 months after the Army first raised its age limit, more than 1,000 people older than 35 enlisted in the active and reserve forces.

According to a 2005 Office of Army Demographics report, 11 percent of 73,373 new soldiers had some prior service; about 7 percent — more than 5,000 soldiers — were older 40.

“The Army must adapt for the sustained and continuous challenges of serving a nation at war and allow for opportunities for qualified and skilled applicants to serve,” said Douglas Smith, an Army pubic affairs officer.

Senior military representatives deny recruiting problems, but Thompson admitted there are difficulties.

“Recruiting is hard no matter who you do it for,” he said. “So often we are judged by our uniforms.”

Half of the 10 military components — the Army, Army Reserve, Army National Guard, Air National Guard and Navy Reserve — missed their recruiting goals by 8 to 20 percent, according to a November 2005 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The use of stop loss, which can extend a soldier’s service, and a shortage of recruits in delayed entry programs also point to ongoing recruiting struggles.

But even with plans for increased troop levels in Iraq, military officials defend their enlistment guidelines.

“If you don’t have standards, then what would you stand for? Where do you draw the line?” Thompson said.

Older vets can serve in support organizations, such as AmVets, Friends of the Navy, or they can opt for civilian service.

Gerry Krage, a 48-year-old Sergeant Major in the Army Reserves, served last year in Iraq. Now an independent overseas contractor, Krage said more than 100,000 civilians work in Iraq as everything from cooks to security guards.

“Although the qualifications are quite high, there’s no age limit,” he said. “They take people in their 40s and 50s as long as they can do the job and they’re healthy.”

Both Reitmaier and Lowe felt a call to duty and are outspoken about taking a stand on terrorism, but they represent opposite extremes.

Lowe never saw combat. Reitmaier served as an artillery forward observer for 13 months in Vietnam with four years of active duty and 23 years in the reserves. As a lieutenant colonel, Reitmaier briefed generals about artillery, commanded battalions and helped with three NATO exercises.

Lowe, who moved to Winona 31/2 years ago, has been working at Winona Printing for the past 14 months and said he’s barely scraping by to afford rent and child support for his two teenage boys.

During the past five years, Lowe has not forgotten about his desire to serve but hasn’t called the Navy again.

“I heard (President) Bush say 20,000 kids, and half of them aren’t Navy-ready,” he said. “Give me two weeks to put my stuff in storage and I’d be ready.”

Reitmaier, a field representative for the Catholic Aid Association in Winona for the past 20 years, said he still works out almost every day and his grown children and wife are supportive of his desire to serve.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Reitmaier said. “I did it for my piece of mind.”

Neither Reitmaier nor Lowe wants to be a foot soldier.

“Those (jobs) are for the young people,” Reitmaier said. “Those days are long gone.”

Lowe just wants to cook, but said he’d go through basic training again.

Reitmaier would like to train other Marines, but there are only so many jobs available for someone of his rank, and he can’t re-enlist at a lower rank.

“I have the knowledge and experience to train young people, so they’re prepared for combat,” Reitmaier said. “I could save Marine lives.”

Reitmaier said if he had called two months sooner in 2003, he might have gotten orders. But he never gave up. He called in 2005 and again a couple of weeks ago.

“I’m going to have to give up here pretty soon. I’m about there. Definitely by the time I’m 65,” Reitmaier said. “There’s a term we Marines use: once a Marine, always a Marine. Call me a die-hard.”

Ellie