Bruce Banning | My History Part 2

It’s 2026 and I am old now. It’s been quite a ride. The thing that strikes me now is how fast my life has flown by. I remember all the major things and transitions in my life but due to memory loss, I have lost most of details. Regularly, my wife will bring something up… she remembers everything… and regularly, I have no recollection. So, the following History, Part 2, will be what may be called a higher-level view.

Bruce Banning… My History… Post Vietnam

Introduction:

It’s 2026 and I am old now. It’s been quite a ride. The thing that strikes me now is how fast my life has flown by. I remember all the major things and transitions in my life but due to memory loss, I have lost most of details. Regularly, my wife will bring something up… she remembers everything… and regularly, I have no recollection. So, the following History, Part 2, will be what may be called a higher-level view.

I have had experiences that when I think of them, I become very sad. I suppose that life is not easy for anyone. We all have challenges, but I have learned that it is those who have a good ‘foundation’ that cope, keep progressing and leave this life having enjoyed achievement, had a few good friends, overcome the hurt and the pain and have, on hopefully several occasions, celebrated life. At this late date and in retrospect, I can say that all of that applies to me.

Post Vietnam Through Present:

Being discharged was an experience. I used the balance of my leave, went to my parents’ home then flew to Great Lakes Naval Training Center for discharge. There were a couple of guys from my hometown who went to Boot Camp with me present. By this time, I was totally out of patience with the Navy… I had had all that I could take and was ready to explode.

How I got through the several days of processing out without being thrown in the brig God only knows. I think it was having Nick and Jim (the hometown guys) there with me that helped me stay under control. Nick was a Gunners Mate and has seen a tour in Vietnam. Jim had been a Corpsman and had spent his tour of duty there at Great Lakes… at least I think that was the case.

I didn’t want anything to do with the military ever again. While at Great Lakes they tried to put us to work, and I told them to “F… off” so I just wandered around between processing centers. I didn’t want to cooperate with anything they said we had to do.

Even though I knew I have medical issues, I told the doctor at my physical that, “I don’t want to do any of this, there is nothing wrong with me now can I get the “F…” out of here”. If I had documented all my problems, my future VA experiences would have been significantly different.

For example, on my second tour I have a bomb fall on my wrist… it was shattered but a corpsman wiggled it around and said it was fine, gave me an ace bandage and said, “wrap it up and get back to work”. It healed badly and I have never regained full use of it. I could have had a VA claim for this if I had had the doctor check when discharged.

I also shot myself in the foot when I got up and walked out on the presenter who was there from USAA Insurance Co. I could have saved myself a fortune in the future had I got involved with USAA at that stage of my life. I didn’t join USAA until late in my life, so I lost out on the benefits they had to offer veterans. Being young, stupid and angry did me absolutely no good!

I flew home and… I found myself in Monroe, not joyfully celebrating my release but rather I was in a state of nothingness… no direction, no ideas, no desires, and a feeling of being totally lost and alone. Yes, there was family, but they didn’t have a clue. They didn’t ask about my experiences and had no idea what I was feeling… so, I drank to medicate.

I ordered myself a commercial cargo van. I figured I would fix the interior so that I could live in it and take off to San Diego to see if I might want to live there. After all, a guy I had served with lived there… Herb… that’s, Donel D. Herbert. Herb and I served together my first tour and part of the second. He was discharged during the second and went home to a destroyed marriage and children who really didn’t know him.

I also decided that my physical condition was a mess and was not improving. I was sick most of the time, I had chest pains and could not sleep well… I walked around most of the time in a state of sleep deprivation. I also decided to get a bicycle, so I went into town to the local bike shop. I figured that a bike might keep me active (little did I know that within a few of years I would not be able to ride it because my knees were really bad from heavy lifting).

I was surprised when I went in the shop to find that a friend from high school, Bill Dienzer was the mechanic there. Needless to say, I hung around the shop for a few hours talking with Bill and the owner… Floyd “Red” Brown.

Red was a Korean war veteran, and we hit it off immediately. A few days later I went back to take delivery of my bike and Red asked me what I was going to do. I told him that I had a job waiting for me at the La-Z-Boy Chair Company, but I was not really interested in taking it and had no idea what to do. He asked if I wanted to work for him. I said yes and went to work the next day.

At the end of that first week, Red and I went on our first fishing trip. We hunted and fished together for 36 years before he passed away. His getting me on the lakes and into the woods hunting may have in all reality saved my life.

I drank a lot but that was okay with Red because he did too. I was still lost but I was enjoying working with Red and Bill and looked forward every day to our next trip to the lake or woods. That was the “MO” for my first year and a half being home. Then something major happened which would change everything for me.

Another friend from school, Jere Oetjens, and his wife, Andrea, set me up with a blind date. Jere and I went way back to the 7th grade… when we first met. We had been good friends and still are today. Jere is a wonderful man and someone I have been truly honored to have known.

So, even though I was terrified to go on this date… because I felt like a total loser… if Jere felt I should do it, I did. Yes, I had gone out with other girls since Vietnam but no real dates… just friendly hanging out type of events. This date would change everything! It gave me Paula… the love of my life.

Finally, I had a reason to live. We began to build a life. My inward life took on some stability but my outward life… in my work-life… I would never be able to reestablish that ‘compass’. My outward (work) life went something like this…

• Working in the bicycle shop for Red (refer to the ‘R Hunt Camp’ story to learn more about Red)
• I started a career in law enforcement… police work
• Probation / Parole work
• Private mental health services specializing in Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Counseling for the VA
• Private security
• Nuclear security
• Teaching at the junior college level
• Into the auto industry… two different companies… where I became somewhat of an expert in quality and lean manufacturing systems
• Into the auto supplier world
• Finally retiring as a Director of Quality
• And then, working in several auto supplier companies as a consultant
• Along the way, I earned three college degrees, one of which was a master’s degree

No matter where I went, I ran into the same problem… there is the RIGHT thing to do then there are the ‘games that people play’ and I was firmly locked into the right thing to do (thanks to the teachings of my Greatest Generation parents) and could not play the political games that get people noticed and advanced.

I was even recruited once to run for political office, but I definitely was not cut out for that. I was told that if certain people liked me, I would be guaranteed a victory. This just proved for me that the system is corrupt, and I didn’t want anything to do with it.

Through all of this, I was far from perfect. I made mistakes, allowed people to drag me down, made a fool of myself more than once, there were occasions when I failed to step up, and I’m sure that there are a lot of people who have no use for me but I like to believe that in the end, it will be the sum total that matters and I believe that I have more marks in the plus column than the minus.

Through all of this, there was a ‘backpack’ I carried with me… Vietnam. How I dealt with that is the subject of other stories which will appear on this section of the BLD website.

Add into the mix of all the above, we experienced the most horrifying and devastating thing a human being can have happen in their life… the loss of a child. This is also the subject of another story but suffice to say, I will never know how we survived this.

There has not been a day since, that I do not think about Theresa. She is the source of a sadness that wells up in me on a regular basis… no words can describe the pain. It may be the knowledge that I know I will be with her again that helps me to keep moving forward. That day will come but, in the meantime, I want to live every day I possibly can because we have our youngest daughter, Erin, and she, and husband, Larry, have given us three beautiful grandchildren.

Erin and her family have given us so much… we want to live as long as possible so we can have as many days with them as possible. They ARE our world!!!

So, here I sit writing this. I’m an old man now and who knows how long I have. My goal every day now is to stay active… because my dad told me, “Son, never go to the chair”.

Looking back at the mistakes, the pain, the good times and the bad, I will tell you that life is about ‘results’. I like to think of the results as being measured in percentage points. In other words, did you do life mostly good or mostly bad… positive or negative… contributing and giving or taking? You get the idea.

I think I have performed relatively well considering all the challenges. I may be a little arrogant, but when I compare myself to others, I’m going to grade myself with a solid 80-85%.

End of History Part #2:

Just like with “My History Part 1”, there will other stories posted here which will fill in the gaps and provide more insight.