From roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Thu Jan 12 04:26:17 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.16.34]) by lists5.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k0CBQHSK019853; Thu, 12 Jan 2006 04:26:17 -0700 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l.rootsweb.com [66.43.16.22]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k0CBQGld015982 for ; Thu, 12 Jan 2006 04:26:16 -0700 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l [127.0.0.1]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id k0C8xOFI024718 for ; Thu, 12 Jan 2006 03:59:24 -0500 Received: (from roots-in@localhost) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.8/Submit) id k0C8xNFe024717 for roots-approved@rootsweb.com; Thu, 12 Jan 2006 03:59:23 -0500 Received: from lists5.rootsweb.com (lists5.rootsweb.com [66.43.18.41]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id k0C8RFFI024591 for ; Thu, 12 Jan 2006 03:27:15 -0500 Received: (from slist@localhost) by lists5.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) id k0CAru2a032517 for roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com; Thu, 12 Jan 2006 03:53:56 -0700 X-Envelope-From: ChristieTrapp@aol.com Thu Jan 12 03:53:55 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.16.34]) by lists5.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k0CArtSK032506 for ; Thu, 12 Jan 2006 03:53:55 -0700 Received: from imo-m24.mx.aol.com (imo-m24.mx.aol.com [64.12.137.5]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k0CArtB6028419 for ; Thu, 12 Jan 2006 03:53:55 -0700 Received: from ChristieTrapp@aol.com by imo-m24.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v38_r6.3.) id e.22a.488e1aa (18403) for ; Thu, 12 Jan 2006 05:53:44 -0500 (EST) From: ChristieTrapp@aol.com Message-ID: <22a.488e1aa.30f78f38@aol.com> Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 05:53:44 EST To: ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" X-Mailer: 9.0 for Windows sub 1111 X-Spam-Flag: NO X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.16.34 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.16.34 Sender: roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Subject: [ROOTS-L] military service numbers Someone posted a message that said the first number denoted draftee or enlisted. (39 009 271) Well, it looks like my dad was an Army draftee as his number starts with a 3; however, the message went on to say that the next set of numbers denoted the year of induction? Well, I don't buy that argument because that would mean my dad entered in 1909? He went into the Army in 1941 right about the time of Pearl Harbor. Perhaps they changed the numbering system during the Korean War to have the middle numbers reflecting year of induction. But I don't think that system would prove to be too useful as they would soon run out of numbers with that system. How many people could they have with 3 digits to play with? Maybe it is just coincidental that some of the men or women happen to have middle numbers that come close to their year of induction. The RA or US came about in Vietnam. My first husband enlisted in the Army and went to Vietnam but most of the time he was using his social security number as his service number. I don't remember him having a separate number. I think the letters were just used to identify the type of enlistment - did you enlist or were you drafted. I joined the Navy Reserve in 1978 and retired after 20 in 1999 and the only number I had was my social security number. My dad was drafted in SF, trainining in Sacramento, ended up in England and Ireland - never having to handle any guns - but spending a lot of time traveling around the country with friends and acquaintenances on weekend passes and learning folk dances and putting on musical programs. He was a admin clerk. When the guys started shipping home after the war, those on the front went home first and he was one of the last out of England because he didn't have enough "points" to be in the first group of returnees. He didn't talk about the war much so I'm having to read his letters home to my mom to figure out where he went and where he was stationed. His best friends sent me, at my request, a short story about how they meet, how my parents met and married, and where he and my dad served in the war. He also told a story about a bike trip the two of them took. His story and my dad's recollection in a letter home, while it described the same trip, it differed somewhat on the facts of who's butt was the worse for wear from the ride! My time of service was during peacetime - though I got called up to go to Desert Storm in 1991 but didn't go because they made a mistake. They were calling up entire units and not individuals and I was the only one being called. I would have gone to Washington DC to the Pentagon because of the type of unit I was in, and would have gladly gone, but because of the error, didn't go. I did get to Rota, Spain and Stuttgart, Germany in my career as well as New Orleans and other places like Hawaii and Alaska and the West Coast of California (San Diego and SF-Alameda). Wouldn't trade my experiences for anything. It was great. Christie Trapp