By Rockwall County Judge Jerry Hogan. He can be reached at jerryhogan@sbcglobal.net or 214-394-4033.

Rockwall County at year end 2011:

I think I can say without much opposition that people are generally fed up with how our government operates and how our politicians are mired in self-serving ways of inattention to the needs of our country. Witness the continuing trend of “appointing a special committee” to solve the major problems facing our country that continue to be debated and then locked into “no decision” results. What a waste of time, talent, money, and failure to fulfill the desires and needs of the voters.

That’s at the National Level of our country. Let me talk about a part of our government that doesn’t operate like that and does have positive results; our Rockwall County government.

First, Citizen Involvement. This last year, over 120 volunteers joined together to develop the first stages of a 5 year Strategic Plan for the County. The guidance given to them was simple: “Develop a Strategic Plan that lays out specific objectives of what you, the citizen, want our County to look like in 5 years.” Pretty simple instructions, you might say, but just the simple logistics of getting that many people focused on a cohesive plan was challenging. And it was accomplished; organized, directed, published, and briefed to the Commissioners Court by volunteers, where it was then accepted as the start of the Rockwall County Strategic Plan going forward.

Because of the Census every ten years, the County must go through redistricting of our political boundaries just like the State does. Again a 15 person volunteer Citizens Redistricting committee was formed to assist and advise the Commissioners Court on new Precinct divisions in the County. The realignment was reached with little disagreement and the recommended divisions of the County were forwarded to the Department of Justice for approval.

We dedicated our Rockwall County Veterans Memorial on 11-11-11. Over a thousand citizens attended this one hour event that included airplanes, firing squads, bands, choir, speeches, presentations, honoring of veterans, and the memorial itself. All of this was organized and conducted by a volunteer citizens committee from our County.

Second, Visibility Into Government. The policy-making organization within the County and the group directly responsible for the finances of the County is the Commissioners Court. This Court meets every week on Tuesdays at the Historic Courthouse at 9:00am. But that’s the time when many of our citizens are working and don’t have the opportunity to actually observe and hear what is being discussed and what decisions are being made.

Several things have been done to improve on this. Now all of the Commissioner Court meetings are audio streamed so any citizen, simply by going to the County website (www.rockwallcountytexas.com), can key on the icon and be immediately connected to the audio from the meeting. Also, the Court now has night Court meetings at least once each quarter so again the citizens have the opportunity to actually sit in the meetings and observe all of the activities. The County Judge also holds Town Hall meetings at least once each quarter so citizens have the opportunity to address any issue of their choosing directly with a member of the Commissioners Court.

At least once each month an article addressing County activities is written by the County Judge and published in the local newspapers. These articles are not “sales pitches;” they detail what is happening in County government: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!

Third, and very important, is Finances. No one wants taxes raised…and no one wants their entitlements reduced or taken away. And that’s the major problem facing all governments today. The County is no different, but intense focus has resulted in good results.

The County budget this year (Fiscal Year 2012) is a balanced budget with no tax increases. It was not easy to accomplish. For the first time, the County had a RIF (involuntary reduction in workforce); leases on buildings were terminated; several buildings owned by the County were vacated and put up for sale; capital expenditures for vehicles, office equipment, etc, were significantly reduced; a small COLA of 1.5% was allowed for non-elected officials, but no other raises for employees; most departments took a 5% reduction in their operating expenses; and several additions needed within the County structure were not added. That was on the Operating side of the budget.

On the Capital side, we pulled about $5 million from our Reserve fund to complete our obligation for the new courthouse. This payment was authorized back in December of 2009 and completes the $7.2 million that was added to the $30 million tax note action to fully fund the completion of the new courthouse. The courthouse was completed on time and in the budget approved in 2009 of $37.2 million. Our unaudited Reserve fund now has a balance of about $14.5 million. Our stated financial policy on this fund, and the one communicated to all Bond agencies, is to have 4-6 months of operating cash in the Reserve fund. We currently have significantly more in the fund than required by our rating agency policy.

As you have probably observed, we are also moving forward on building the roads our citizens approved in the 2004 and the 2008 bond elections. The John King overpass and FM 740 North in Heath are both in the middle of construction. Approval has been obtained from the State, and they are obligating the money to go along with County money, for the construction of the Irby-Campbell overpass in Royse City, the FM 551 overpass in Fate, the FM 3549 overpass between Fate and Rockwall, and the FM 740 South road completion in Heath. These road construction projects, while annoying when you have to wait for traffic while they are working on the roads, are the key to the continued expansion of our County and they have the highest priority of the Commissioners Court.

Finally, Attitude of the Court. As mandated by the Texas Constitution, each county in Texas has a Commissioner Court made up of four Commissioners and one County Judge. This group is the policy-making organization for each county and the developer of the annual budget. The group is very limited by State statute in terms of what they can do. (My personal frustration with the county system of government as dictated by the State is that it is inefficient, no one is in charge measured, and held accountable, and everyone is always telling you what you can’t do rather than how to make something work.)

Some Courts are effective; others are dysfunctional and accomplish little other than making the newspapers in a non-flattering way. Our Court in Rockwall County has several advantages over many: all the members are conservative, all are from the same political party, and all have the best interests of the County. That is not to say the Court is always in agreement; in fact quite often members of the Court are at opposite ends of an issue when it is first raised. Civil debate and discussion, however, focuses the issue and acceptable solutions are most often reached. It takes three votes on the court for an issue to be passed; it takes five votes for something to really be implemented well.

Do the citizens always agree with the decisions of the Court? Absolutely not. Do a majority agree? In most cases, Yes. Has the Court made errors? Yes. Has the Court made major errors this last year? No! This Court is an effective Court; it is working to become an excellent Court.

Your help is needed as we go forward. Our County government is not mired in the mess of endless political battles that reach no conclusion, does nothing for our citizens, or continues to drive us deeper and deeper into debt without addressing and fixing the problems facing its citizens. Tell us what you want; get involved; become a volunteer; let us know your expertise and where you would like to volunteer; talk to your elected officials and grade them on how well they meet the citizen’s needs; and finally, don’t give up on us or America. Concerned and involved citizens can help lead the way going forward.

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ROCKWALL – After a standing room-only crowd of over 300 people packed County Judge Jerry Hogan’s Town Hall meeting last night at the Historic County Courthouse on the Square, and the majority made it clear they do not want the County library outsourced, the County’s chief administrator agreed to remove his outsourcing proposal from the agenda of this morning’s County Commissioners meeting.

Instead, library director Marcine McCulley will continue to operate the library locally with a new, as-yet to-be-determined budget, which will likely be discussed by Commissioners at this morning’s meeting. Hogan revealed at the end of the meeting that he had met with McCulley before the meeting and agreed on a $250,000 cut.

McCulley had made a presentation at the Commissioners work session last week showing how she can cut $100,000, $200,000 or $300,000 from the library’s $1.4 million budget and still keep most current services intact and most library staff employed.

To reduce those amounts, she would have to lay off or reduce either one or two librarians to part-time staff, reduce the number of part-time staff members and limit the library’s purchase of supplies, equipment and maintenance agreements.

At the most extreme $300,000 level, she would slash 75 percent of “public programs” and nearly $10,000 worth of computer programs; discontinue the $6,000 Dallas Morning News subscriptions, Ancestry.com and World Book online; plus cut back on the purchase of additional “books and periodicals” by $7,000.

Over 25 questions and comments were made by audience members, comprised largely by the 50+ set. Most were respectful of Hogan, who spent the first 20 minutes of the evening explaining why outsourcing library and County building custodial services made sense to him financially.

He said because the County growth has slowed considerably, housing values continue to decline and revenue has consequently been reduced, budget forecasts for the next five years show the County will have a difficult time balancing its budget. He explained that whatever amounts could be shaved from the library’s budget and by outsourcing custodial services will help prevent forcing the County to dip into its six-month reserve, which he does not want to do.

He reiterated that the rumor is false that he wants to take money from the library to pay for the completion of the new County courthouse, next to the library. The funding for the $30 million + courthouse has already been secured and is entirely separate.

By J.J. Smith, Publisher

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ROCKWALL – Rockwall County Judge Jerry Hogan has announced that he will hold his next town hall meeting June 13 to discuss and answer questions about his proposal to outsource County library and custodial services in order to raise $458,000 for next year’s budget.

It will begin at 7 pm on the third floor of the Historic County Courthouse, 101 E. Rusk St. 75087.

The meeting is being called in response to what Hogan wrote in an email to media and County commissioners has been “a significant number of emails from people who have had the facts about the possible outsourcing of the library misrepresented to them.”

“This is an important issue for our County and I want to give all of the people the opportunity to personally question me on the details of this proposal and why it is being made,” he wrote.

“I will answer all questions asked about the proposal to outsource the library. I hope you can pass this information on to as many people as possible.”

Many of the emails have likely come from some of the hundreds of angry and concerned citizens who during the past few days have launched a “Save the Rockwall County Library” campaign. (See the separate article on TheRockwallNews.com).

They have started an email and letter-writing campaign to Hogan and other Commissioners asking them not to outsource or library services nor lay off any library staff.

To contact Hogan and other Commissioners call 972-204-6000 or email them at:

Judge Jerry Hogan at: jhogan@rockwallcountytexas.com

Precinct 1 Commissioner Jerry Wimpee at: jwimpee@rockwallcountytexas.com

Precinct 2 Commissioner Lorie Grinnan at: lgrinnan@rockwallcountytexas.com

Precinct 3 Commissioner Dennis Bailey at: dbailey@rockwallcountytexas.com or 972-322-2612

Precinct 4 Commissioner David Magness at: dmagness@rockwallcountytexas.com or 214-676-3966

By J.J. Smith, Publisher

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(Rockwall Herald Banner) Jerry Hogan, who just completed his first month as county judge, has implemented audio streaming of Rockwall County Commissioners Court workshop meetings on a test basis and scheduled his first town hall meeting for Feb. 24.

Next, Hogan wants to schedule a night meeting of commissioners court.

Commissioners now meet at 9 a.m. every Tuesday, either with a workshop meeting or regular meeting.

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By J.J. Smith. Rockwall County Judge run-off election candidate Jerry Hogan says the contents of the direct mail piece which his opponent, Kevin Fowler, sent to thousands of homes across Rockwall County last week was rather “amateurish” and quite inaccurate.

The retired U.S. Army officer and former IBM and MCI corporate vice president, who was the leading vote-getter in the March 2 Republican Primary election, said he was quite surprised that American National Bank vice president Fowler would actually put such contrasting opinions on paper since the claims reveal his naivete and are far from accurate.

For example, Hogan said he can’t understand why someone running for County Judge in Rockwall County in 2010 wouldn’t at least question the ethics of all elected officials, considering the problems Rockwall County has obviously had in the past few years.

Former Criminal District Attorney Ray Sumrow was convicted in 2007 of felony Abuse of Official Capacity, the theft of $68,000 and sentenced to 15 years in prison.  Former County Treasurer Sheree Jones was sentenced in 2006 to four years’ probation and a $2,000 fine after it was determined she had “borrowed” $2,000 from the County to pay her bills.

Hogan wants to safeguard against future problems by hiring an ethics officer, which Fowler said he thinks is unnecessary because County elected officials are some of the best in the state.

In his ad, Fowler wrote:  “Never questioned ethics or integrity of elected officials.”

Hogan’s position was described:  “Has repeatedly questioned the ethics and integrity of county officials.”

The ad compared their supposed positions on five other issues, as well.

Hogan said he thinks it’s silly that Fowler would criticize him for questioning the issuance of road bonds to build more roads, when it appears that the state highway fund is broke and Rockwall County may never obtain those funds expected when Rockwall Co. voters passed the $100 million road bond.

In the mailer it reads:  “Fowler: Worked hard for passage of $100 million road bond and believes infrastructure development and roads are key to economic viability of Rockwall.”

Regarding Hogan’s position:  “Questions issuing the road bonds even though citizens passed it by almost 78%. Doubts the process for funding road projects.”

Current County Judge Chris Florance has also stated that the state highway fund appears to be broke and the matching funds expected from the state may never find their way to Rockwall, since we have to compete with Dallas, Collin, Tarrant and Denton Counties for the funds.

Hogan also takes issue with Fowler’s comments about taxes.

Fowler wrote:  “Believes in listening to voters and will heed their wishes in infrastructure development.”

He represented Hogan as saying:  “No new taxes ever. Unrealistic in a growing community. Another empty promise.”

Hogan pointed out he’s never said “No new taxes ever,” and that someday they may be necessary. On the other hand, he intends to find a way to prevent a tax hike for as long as possible.

Hogan said he is disappointed, as well, that Fowler would suggest he will use an authoritarian style of leadership, if elected, and order Rockwall County employees around rather than listening to what staff members have to say.

The mailer reads:  “Fowler: Experience in building consensus, working with groups and communicating.” Or as the headline reads, “Vote for a leader that can build consensus. Not Walls.”

Hogan:  Experience in an authoritarian type leadership style.

Hogan suggested that it’s Fowler’s inexperience with leading people that’s prompting him to say and write such inaccurate things.

“Kevin may be a good financial planner, regulator and loan officer but he is unqualified to become County Judge because he has never led any significant number of people or organizations,” Hogan stated.

“On the other hand, I have led several companies with as many as 1,500 employees – all with different career goals and human problems to deal with.”

“The basic difference between Kevin and me is qualifications for this office. He’s never led any significant number of people or organizations while I have a strong history of doing so in the corporate world and the military.”

“He may have a been involved in many community projects and organizations as a volunteer, but it’s a lot easier to lead volunteers who want to be there.”

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By Jim Hardin, Rockwall Herald Banner. Kevin Fowler and Jerry Hogan are vying for the County Judge’s seat in Rockwall County in the upcoming runoff ballot. The Herald-Banner takes an in-depth look at both campaigns prior to the start of early voting.

Fowler slogan: ‘I can build consensus, not walls’

That’s a message county judge runoff candidate Kevin Fowler wants to get across to Rockwall County voters before the April 13 election.

That will be his down-the-stretch slogan in his judgeship race against Jerry Hogan.

“I find myself saying over and over, ’I can build consensus,’” Fowler said this week during an hour-long interview at American National Bank, where he is a commercial loan officer.

And what’s the opposite of building consensus, Fowler said a marketing representative asked him.

“Well, it’s building walls,” Fowler said he responded. “If you have a personality that’s polarizing, or pushy, or strong, what doesn’t work in county government, then you’re building walls with other commissioners, or other departments, or other elected officials, or other cities, with Washington, with Austin. You have all these walls and you can’t get anything done.”

After the response to the marketing representative’s question, a slogan was born.

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By J.J. Smith. County Judge run-off election candidate Kevin Fowler alleged if his opponent is elected – retired US Army Lt. Col. and former corporate executive Jerry Hogan – that he will order people what to do rather than build consensus as Fowler claimed should be done to over 100 people gathered at the monthly Rockwall County Republican Men’s Club Breakfast March 13 at the Harry Myers Park Community Center.

Fowler said that an authoritarian leadership style – which he implied is Hogan’s – simply won’t work in Rockwall County government.

“The County Judge is a leadership position. The most important task is to build consensus. An authoritarian leadership style simply will not work in County government. It requires a leader that can lead leaders.”

Speaking next, Hogan scoffed at the accusation, stating that building consensus is obviously necessary and something he’s always done during his 40 years experience in the U.S. Army, plus afterward as president and vice president of an IBM-owned company and MCI Telecommunications.

Then he jabbed back at Fowler, vice president of commercial lending at Rockwall’s American National Bank, adding that leaders should lead by example and not hesitate to make decisions when they need to be made. Hogan added that he will definitely not “drive” people, as the banker was suggesting.

Fowler said that since he has served for 23 years on committees and in organizations with many of Rockwall County’s current government and community leaders, he is “the person who can work side by side with them” to accomplish the most as County Judge.

“Our County is facing some very real challenges, such as  roads, infrastructure development and decreasing tax revenues. I cannot express to you how important it is for our next County judge to be able to work with people, to build consensus, to communicate, to listen,” Fowler stated.

“That is why I’ve talked so much about my leadership in this community, because it’s so relevant to what the County Judge has to do every single day.”

“I’ve learned how to accomplish difficult agendas, build consensus and encourage communication. That is what I bring to this position.”

Fowler also questioned Hogan about his statements about the need for ethics reform.

“You’ve heard my opponent question the lack of ethics in our own County officials and how he wants to change how things are done. I agree with change but you know what? We already have some of the best officials in the State right now. I want to know who’s unethical? And he listed numerous current County officials as possible examples.

When Hogan spoke, he explained that he simply meant former County DA Ray Sumrow, who was sent to jail for theft, and former County Treasurer Sheree Jones, who resigned when it was learned that she “borrowed” several thousand dollars from the County treasury.

Hogan added that these examples, plus the fact that County Commissioners ignored the wishes of County voters when they voted to build the new County courthouse next to the County library, are ample evidence why ethics reform is needed so residents can have their faith renewed in County government.

Fowler concluded his remarks with comments about taxes and confimred that he will leave his job at the bank and work full-time as County Judge, if elected.

“Bottom line: “We must live within our means.” And I can make the difficult decisions when the time comes.

“I pledge to you that I will manage the County’s finances in a conservative and responsible manner. After all, it’s not just your money, it’s mine too.”

Fowler said he believes the three most important issues facing Rockwall County are: infrastructure development/roads, a master plan and the budget.

Hogan said he considers renewing trust in government, growth – which he sees as an opportunity and not a problem – plus the budget as top priorities.

The run-off election will be April 13. Early voting runs April 5-9.

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By Heath resident Jerry Hogan, U.S. Army Lt. Col. (retired). Charlotte Eaton, granddaughter of Elaine Eubanks of Rockwall, Texas, grew up in Kilgore, Texas and graduated from Sabine High School in June of 1999. As discussed a lot in past articles about other young men and women from our area, Charlotte thought about enlisting in one of the services after graduating but instead decided to take the path of least resistance and go on to college since that’s what most of her friends were doing.

So it was enrollment in college in an Accounting program and at the same time, she got a job in a Certified Public Accounting (CPA) firm to earn her way through school. However, she found that the longer she worked at the CPA firm, the less she found herself going to school. So in 2007, after going to school and working for seven years, Charlotte decided it was time to do something for her country. Her Dad was in Iraq as a Navy Seabee (naval construction organization) with over twenty years of service and her brother had enlisted in the US Army in 2002 and had already served two tours in Iraq. So since she had one relative in the Army and one in the Navy, she enlisted in the US Air Force. Now the family had the elements of all the services except the Marines. (Charlotte said they were going to try to get her grandmother Elaine to fill that position, but no success.)

After going through various training courses, she was assigned to Tinker Air Force Base near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where she is in a Computer Networking and Switching position. As she says about the Air Force, “I love it so far but it’s not for everyone. There are plenty of opportunities when enlisting and anyone who is thinking along those lines should ask as many questions as they can. I haven’t decided if I want to stay in the Air Force or not, but until I do I’ll continue to finish that degree I started ten years ago. That will give me the option of getting out and going back to a CPA job, or maybe going on to Officer Candidate School.

I have really enjoyed my service and the worst thing that has happened is my wishing that I had enlisted sooner in life. I’m older than others my rank, but once I get to my duty station it does not become a problem. I am just glad that I am now serving my country.”

So here is another short story about a young woman who enlisted in the Air Force and has found satisfaction in her life. Aren’t you glad there are people like her who will join the military and help protect our freedoms and our way of life? Please tell all of them “Thanks for your service.”

Jerry Hogan is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel who volunteers to write these articles. He can be reached at jerryhogan@sbcglobal.net or 214-394-4033

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“The Military View” column by Heath resident Jerry Hogan, US Army Lt. Co. (retired). Several years ago I wrote an article about a young lady from Rockwall named Jennifer Baker. She is the daughter of Wesley and Michelle Baker, a 2004 graduate of Rockwall High School, a person who went on to college after graduating to play college soccer for a year, and then a young lady who said, “I felt like I was getting a calling, like something I had to do, something I knew I had to be a part of,” so she quit college and joined the US Army.

Now that story is not atypical as many young Soldiers can tell a similar experience and why they became a warrior rather than a student. What is unusual, however, is that Jennifer, a 120 pound, five foot three inch, attractive young lady, joined the US Army’s famous 82^nd Airborne Division and has been in this unit ever since finishing her basic training in 2006. Well, you may say, “what’s the big deal” because you know the Army now has women in most of its units? The big deal is that Jennifer is assigned to an Infantry Rifle Company of the famous 508^th Infantry Regiment; has spent one tour of duty in Iraq; is currently in Afghanistan at a fighting Forward Operating Base (FOB) with her Rifle Company; has completed both parachute training and Jumpmaster school where she learned how to be responsible for an entire plane load of parachutists; has been on foot patrols in Afghanistan with her male counterparts seeking out the bad guys; and, on the side, is helping to train female members of the Afghanistan National Police organization. She has already been promoted to Sergeant and is close to her next move upwards to Staff Sergeant. Now that is not the Army that I bet most of you remember!!

Since Jennifer is involved with the training of the female Afghan National Police (ANP) recruits, I asked her how she got involved with that mission. As she explained, “There is a US contract organization here at our FOB, the Dynacorp group, which has been hired to train the ANP and they work with them on a daily basis. However, because of the Moslem Law and culture, they are not allowed to talk with or touch any female. When we arrived at the base, they approached me to see if I would assist them with their training. Now they train me and I pass that information along to the women recruits in the ANP. The women we are training are the first group of females in the southern part of Afghanistan to become part of the ANP, so this is really trail blazing stuff.”

In Afghanistan, the ANP have a dual role where on one hand they are charged with normal police type activities in regards to criminal type actions, but also they are part of the Afghanistan security force that is involved with seeking out the terrorists. Jennifer said, “The ANP do a lot of joint missions with the US forces as well as with the Afghan National Army (ANA). It is really a big help to us that both the ANP and the ANA go on patrols with us and work with us to find the terrorists as they are simply able to find out more information than we are because of their culture, knowledge of the area and of the tribal people, and familiarity with the geography. We are mentoring and training the ANP so they can hopefully one day find and fight the Taliban on their own.”

Muslim women in Afghanistan do not have the same freedoms as women in America. As Jennifer says, “The women here have very little acceptance by men in the work force. The women here still have to keep their faces covered, even as a police woman. The Burkas (traditional dress) they wear go all the way to the ground so it makes it difficult to distinguish the women police officers from the local women. As of now the women stay in their police compound and deal with people coming in to file complaints or they can also be used to search female suspects. They are not allowed to patrol the streets or drive the vehicles; women here are homemakers and that is where the men want to keep them. The women stay in the house when US troops are around unless the men say they can come out. Most US Soldiers do not talk to the women because it is considered disrespectful here in Afghanistan. Our hopes are to open the door for women to prove themselves as police officers and to show the men they are capable of learning and using their knowledge to execute their mission as a member of the ANP.”

One of the questions I often get is “How do our people in Iraq and Afghanistan live?” Sergeant Baker responded to this question with “We stay in what we call B-Huts which are basically long wooden buildings that house sixteen Soldiers. That means eight sets of bunk beds and two Soldiers per ‘room.’ We have 4×8 sheets of plywood nailed up to give us a little privacy as they act as walls to make a separate room. We make a door by hanging up a blanket or poncho. We have a good dining facility that is contracted by civilians and we have a good gym very similar to 24 Hour Fitness that has everything we need to stay in shape. We have eight computers and four phones with a time limit of 30 minutes on the computer and 20 minutes on the phone. We have flushing toilets and warm showers, unlike my last tour in Iraq, so I’m pretty happy with our living conditions.”

So if you are unhappy with your life here in the States, think what it is like to be an Afghan woman in Afghanistan…or an American woman over in Afghanistan fighting to help maintain our freedoms. Puts a whole new perspective on how we live, doesn’t it?

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By Heath resident Jerry Hogan, US Army Lt. Col. (retired). Christmas is over. The New Year is upon us and its back to school, work, or whatever we do on a regular basis. But for Austin Alexander there really isn’t any “regular basis,” for Austin is still in the process of learning how to be a Marine.

Austin, son of Debbie Alexander, who teaches kindergarten in Jones Elementary, and John Alexander, who is a police sergeant with the city of Mesquite, graduated from Rockwall High School in June of 2009. Since he had already enlisted in the Marine Corps while in school, it was off to Boot Camp in San Diego, California, where he spent the next thirteen weeks.

Boot Camp is a time-honored ritual for any new Marine recruit. As one source puts it, “This is where discipline will begin to be instilled in recruits by disorienting them and effectively cutting them off from civilian habits and mindsets, as well as reinforcing the mental and physical standards needed to perform under stressful situations that will be simulated in follow on training and in combat situations. Here the goal is designed to enable the recruits to learn to survive in combat and to overcome unexpected situations that would cause injury or death.”

The actual training is broken up into four phases: general introduction to the USMC, field skills and weapons training, skill enhancement, and the final exam phase which includes an extensive field exercise where all of the skills learned by the recruits are brought into play.

And as Private First Class Alexander said, “Boot Camp was a big change for me. The hardest was finding the motivation to get up at 4:00AM or whatever time we got up those mornings and lead the platoon on what we had planned for the day. (Alexander was selected as the recruit guide flag bearer and that is why he was charged with “leading the platoon.”) When the platoon finally came together during the last phase of the training, the end of training was incredible. I would swell up with pride knowing I had a huge impact on helping get us all there together and seeing us all in action.”

When I asked Austin what had changed since he left Rockwall, he replied, “The only thing that changed for me was that I wasn’t a civilian anymore. In Boot Camp I didn’t have the privilege to just sleep or eat candy or even have any privacy in my own bed. All of these little things were replaced with my becoming part of a Band of Brothers where we would all give our lives for each other. Joining the Marines was the best decision I ever made. It has helped make me the person I wanted to be.”

Alexander graduated as the honor graduate from his recruit platoon. He now is going through advanced infantryman’s training at Camp Pendleton, California. He will probably be headed for Afghanistan before next Christmas. Tell him “Thanks” if you see him on our streets before he deploys.

Jerry Hogan is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel who volunteers to write this column. He can be reached at 214-394-4033 or jerryhogan@sbcglobal.net

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