Photo By Staff Sgt. Tegan Kucera | Sgt. 1st Class Edmond Ackermann of the 205th Infantry Brigade, stands in front of some...... read more read more
By Spc. Tegan Kucera
Camp Atterbury Public Affairs
CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. – The new year is when many people try to make a change in their lives; for one Soldier the change will be permanent.
After being drafted 40 years ago, one Soldier finally says good-bye to the Army he has served so well.
"Looking back at 40 years, everyone should start taking notes because you're not going to remember what happened when it all flies by," said Sgt. 1st Class Edmond Ackermann Jr., the Soldier in charge of the Validation Cell for the 205th Infantry Brigade at Camp Atterbury.
Four of those years Ackermann has spent at Camp Atterbury and he gave his farewells to the installation during the last week of December. Ackermann was one of the first Soldiers to jumpstart Camp Atterbury as a training site. Prior to that, the installation had been used mainly for annual training of Army National Guard Soldiers. Since working here Ackermann has served in the Validation Cell, a department that certifies Soldiers' training. So far he's verified more than 19,000 Soldiers.
"I like to think that every job is important, and I'm just part of the overall mission that prepares these Soldiers...," Ackermann said. "Hopefully we've prepared them well enough [to deploy] and come back in one piece. In my day it was 'board the plane and go'," Ackermann said, referring to his first experience in the military during the fall of 1968.
In November of that year Ackermann was drafted for Vietnam. Back then, he said, it was a speedy process of getting the prerequisites out of the way in order to move on to the training.
"...I went to Vietnam and spent a tour over there of 11 months and 22 days, but who was counting," said Ackermann.
While deployed in Vietnam, Ackermann said he performed a variety of jobs. He worked with the chaplain, ran an officer's club and was even a mailman, but for the majority of the tour he was a courier.
After coming back to the states he was stationed at Fort Dietrich, Md., for more than a year. After a brief break in his military service he reenlisted. This time as an infantryman and he later packed his bags for Germany.
"I was stationed in the Berlin Brigade while the wall was still up, so there were all these different entities in Berlin. There was French, British, us and then there were the communists," Ackermann said it made for some interesting training because of the different cultures and communicating in different languages.
While in Berlin, Ackermann once again was inserted into the pages of history.
"Spandau prison in Berlin was the place where Rudolf Hess was kept and I was sergeant of the guard there every so often," said Ackermann.
Rudolf Hess was one of the first members of the Nazi party and acted as Adolf Hitler's deputy.
Hess is credited with transcribing and partially editing Hitler's book Mein Kampf, and eventually rose to deputy party leader and third in leadership of Germany, after Hitler and Hermann Göring. Hess was later captured and sentenced to life in prison.
Ackermann left Germany in 1979 and joined the Army Reserve where, at age 59, he is still going strong for a few more weeks. On paper, his retirement date is in February and he will have officially served under nine different presidents
Ackermann said he never intended to stay in for 40 years, but one of the biggest things he has learned throughout his career is 'never say never.'
"A plan is great in the beginning, then life comes into it and you adjust to it," Ackermann said.
Apparently, 40 years at one job won't prevent him from taking on another. Ackermann is returning to his former civilian position shortly after retiring from the Army. Before being mobilized, he worked at a help desk for a company in Illinois.
"I'm sure a lot of things have changed after almost four years, so I don't know what to anticipate at this point," Ackermann said. He thinks the biggest change will be newer equipment and the procedures being used.
One adjustment Ackermann will have to make is dressing for work. He said he will miss never worrying about what to wear. The biggest thing he will miss about the Army are the friendships he's made.
"Loyalty is a big thing in the Army; no matter where you go you take care of your own," he said.
Other than returning to work, Ackermann said he really doesn't have any big plans after his Army retirement except for taking a motorcycle trip to South Dakota with a friend in August.
All in all, Ackermann said he's had a good run and that the Army has given him wonderful experiences and great opportunities. He hopes that today's young Soldiers take advantage of the opportunities and the Army's many great benefits such as the various educational benefits.
"Just as I'm getting ready to retire I'm finding out all this great information, things that I could have looked at earlier and am just now finding out. There are a lot of hidden treasures in the Army if one knows where to look," Ackermann said.
And Camp Atterbury has plenty of these treasures, but one of them won't be around much longer.
| Date Taken: | 01.20.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 01.20.2009 14:05 |
| Story ID: | 29063 |
| Location: | CAMP ATTERBURY, IN, US |
| Web Views: | 249 |
| Downloads: | 190 |
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