Interview

 

What is changed in the regular family setting when one member is in the service? How much of your life is changed in the process of growing up when a parent is constantly in harm’s way, and what changes when they come back? Some of these questions took Anne Kessler a few minutes to sort out, having had her father and husband both be in the service. The vast amount of experiences and stories she had to tell were amazing, and we spent most of the time reminiscing about the old days and how she missed various members of her family. Some of the most interesting answers however weren't even her own stories.

            When I first asked my mother what it was like to be raised in a military family she simply stated “Well that’s a broad question, I guess it had its ups and downs. We moved a lot and had to leave lives that we started in England to start ones in Australia, but I guess it wasn’t so bad. For the most part it was exciting, we had never been to another country before and I was afraid to start a new life, but the idea seemed like a big grand adventure.” She stopped for a moment, though, and when I asked what the down sides were of moving Anne said “Well we left all of our favorite furniture behind. My father couldn’t sell his motorcycle in time so he buried it in a big box and came back for it a year later. I had to leave all of my friends behind on the bases back in England. It was dreadful at times but the idea of moving to Australia was just so romantic that I couldn’t say a word against it.”

            When I asked her if there were any dark times with her father coming home from Korea and then Vietnam, she didn’t even hesitate to say “No, George was a tough old bastard. He was through it all by the time I was born, and my mother wouldn’t have put up with the drinking just like I don’t either. Things were hard but it was always just because money was tight. Your uncle moved out when I was thirteen and even that argument was gone.” She seemed pretty satisfied with her answer, until her face lit up with “But there are some horror stories. Back then there were no diagnoses of PTSD or the like, so they just accredited the way a person was acting to depression. They drugged em up, and acted surprised when they committed suicide or ran off with another woman destroying their families. Worst case scenario they killed someone. A friend of mine’s father actually went on a car robbery spree, started in Perth and ended in Sydney. He was a decorated war veteran, and got off easy, but still, what would have driven a man to act such a way, especially a man with three degrees. One of them was in psychology!”

            A lot of the stories she told me were more interesting than anything worth mentioning. The things she said were just like everyone else who grew up like us, if our parent wasn’t the one doing it, then we knew someone whose parent had. This relization was sad but true, and we thank god there ware ways to help the soldiers better now.