Pvt. John Bynum was having too much fun on his R&R after a war injury – although he was as taken with Capt. R.E. Ludlow as much as all the younger men around, he was enjoying being with Sgt. Vincent Trent, Lt. E.T. Catalano, and Lt. G.H. Truss as much as he enjoyed working with Capt. F.D. Maynor in making content for the entertainment for Lofton County's veterans.
Since he was only a few years into his military career, it was interesting to talk with late-career and retired servicemen about life, and, as things sometimes do, the conversation turned to politics.
“Col. H.F. Lee's brave run for sheriff has a lot of us thinking about it,” Lt. Catalano said. “Still, he's a Lee, and even the body double of the Lee, and still he doesn't have a chance against the entrenched powers in the county. I love the courage with which he hits the trail digitally, though – you wouldn't know that he knows he is going to lose.”
“The man's record ought to get him just about any gosh darn thing he wants to run,” said Capt. Maynor, “and the only reason I said it that way is because these little children are running around here.”
“Thank you,” said Sgt. Trent, with a smile.
“Of course,” Capt. Maynor said. “I'm trying to get my mouth together for the Lord, and He keeps helping me out by putting me in situations like this – but it makes me mad because your children and my grandchildren have to have a future and I'm sick of people in politics stuck on a past we are not going back to! I mean, I can set up a scene for make-believe, but at some point, people have to grow up!”
“But do they really, though?” Lt. Catalano said. “I mean, what's the motivation? Being grown is all this responsibility and burden … it is so easy to stay in make-believe until reality hits you in the face.”
“Like my mother and my daughter are always saying,” Sgt. Trent said, “ain't it the truth, gentlemen.”
“Fifty years ago, we couldn't have this conversation – 1970, mind you, in Lofton County – my proper Anglo-Saxon White card would have been snatched for talking with a Catholic and a Black, and something worse might have happened to both of you,” Capt. Maynor said. “I'm not going back, period! I'm not interested in conserving that part of history!”
“Even though as a man from the preferred background, you have privileges,” Lt. Catalano said.
“Even though I have privileges,” Capt. Maynor said. “A fat lot of good those privileges are going to do my grandchildren if they are raised afraid of everyone else in a globalizing society. The world is moving, y'all, in ways I could not have imagined possible just ten years ago. It's not all bad, either – I can't live in fear of the future!”
“I don't think anyone can,” Lt. Catalano said, “but it's just that many people don't see anything in the future that connects with better for them than they have now and imagine they would have had in the past.”
“And that's what we have to work on, particularly for our younger people like Pvt. Bynum," said Sgt. Trent. "What's out there, young man, that would make a better future for you?”
Pvt. Bynum had listened, since Sgt. Trent was the youngest retired man and was almost 20 years older, but was glad to be invited into the conversation.
“I'd like to see politicians that know we servicemen are not just here to be used up,” he said. “I was so hurt when President Trump made those comments about military men being losers. It's like the big politicians forget that it takes more courage to do what we do every day than they have experienced in their entire lives – not all of them, because good politics takes courage – and I would like to see people in office who get it, and who make policy that matches up with the loyalty we show every day to this country.”
“Hear hear,” Lt. Catalano said. “Lofton County itself does very well in this regard, but it has been discouraging to find out that a lot of people we have supported feel just about like us as they do about Sgt. Trent here.”
Sgt. Trent smiled.
“Black men like me have steadily been giving the warning,” he said gently, “and I hate that reality had to hit so many in the face.”
“Well, we've all figured it out now,” Capt. Maynor growled, “and best believe some other people are going to know it. Col. Lee has no chance to win, even with the whole veteran bloc voting for him – but while we are turning out for Lee, we can get some other things done on a state and national level.”
“Which, of course, could have been the colonel's subtle plan all along,” Sgt. Trent said. “His mind is deep … surely he knew the entire veteran population would be roused up, in addition to him getting to air many things that needed to be aired about Sheriff Nottingham's lazy approach to controlling crime in white and just controlling every other color, period, along with national and state matters that are being mishandled by both parties.”
“Well, we'll see what we can make of high veteran turnout,” Capt. Maynor said. “Lee certainly has opened my eyes.”
“Isn't that him down at the end of the cul-de-sac with his wife and grandparents and their friends, waiting on the performance?” Pvt. Bynum said. “I've never met him, but he looks like someone colorized Robert E. Lee.”
“Well, he is in his mid-forties,” Capt. Maynor said with a laugh. “Let's go meet the candidate for sheriff, Pvt. Bynum.”
“I'd actually like to meet him as well,” Lt. Catalano said.
“Well, let's get to around 18 feet and have the conversation – gotta protect the elders down there, now.”