{"id":28538,"date":"2011-01-12T18:17:09","date_gmt":"2011-01-13T02:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=28538"},"modified":"2024-07-16T06:09:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-16T14:09:30","slug":"my-former-ucla-classmate-is-now-a-lieutenant-colonel-in-the-u-s-army","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=28538","title":{"rendered":"My Former UCLA Classmate Is Now A Lieutenant Colonel In The U.S. Army"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fall of 1988<\/a>, I believed life could be normal again. I hoped to find a doctor who’d discover what was wrong with me and then I would return to the action full bore.<\/p>\n

I took three classes in my first semester at UCLA — second semester Calculus, European Economic History and beginning Japanese. <\/p>\n

I met Arnold Strong<\/a> in my Japanese language lab. <\/p>\n

Japan was all the rage in the late ’80s. According to Paul Kennedy<\/a>‘s 1987 book, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers<\/a><\/em>, it was poised to become the world’s superpower.<\/p>\n

We were only supposed to talk Japanese in our language lab but none of were proficient, so we kept lapsing into Spanish.<\/p>\n

There was a bloke there named Klein who was 32 years old. We thought it was weird that he was an undergraduate at age 32. The rest of us were around 20.<\/p>\n

Arnold Strong and I had a similar sense of humor. He was an English major while I was an Economics major. <\/p>\n

One day in language lab, the teacher held up pictures. We were supposed to add “des” to the end of a name. When the teacher pointed at Arnold Strong, I said “Gorillades.”<\/p>\n

For some reason, everybody cracked up and that became his primary name to me.<\/p>\n

After eight weeks, my unredeemed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome forced me to drop all of my classes but European Economic history. The entire school year, I finished but three classes.<\/p>\n

It was frustrating to see everybody else move ahead with their lives while I only went backwards.<\/p>\n

Arnold was my age but he was poised to graduate. It never occurred to us to try to stay in touch.<\/p>\n

In the late summer of 1999, I got a call from Oregon. The man identified himself as “Gorillades.” He’d just read my profile in Rolling Stone magazine<\/a> and it made him laugh.<\/p>\n

We whooped it up for a few minutes and that was that until I found him on Facebook in August of 2010.<\/p>\n

He’s the only person I am in touch with from my lost year at UCLA. I had a girlfriend that year but she’s married now and has a baby. I had Economics professor Russell Roberts<\/a> for two classes who I admired. He was the first Orthodox Jew I met and he and Dennis Prager started me on my religious journey.<\/p>\n

Dr. Roberts went on to publish all the books he was dreaming about in the late ’80s<\/a> but we’ve had no contact for a decade.<\/p>\n

I spent three years at Sierra Community College from 1985-1988, but I have only one Facebook friend from that time and we never talk.<\/p>\n

When I feel sick, I get nostalgic and yearn to discover what my friends did with their opportunities life. I think about what might have happened for meif I had not crashed into a wall of chronic illness in February of 1988.<\/p>\n

Wednesday afternoon, I talk on the phone with Lieutenant Colonel<\/a> Arnold Strong<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n
\nJan. 2009. First minutes back in Portland after a year in Afghanistan.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Meeting the future President in Spring of 2008.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Sierra Community College, June 1988, after winning awards for Student of the Year in Communications and Political Science.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

On my girlfriend’s bed at Rieber Hall in the Spring of 1989.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

At UCLA in August 1989.<\/em><\/p>\n

Arnold: “I’m the CEO of a small software company called Bright Neighbor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“The mayor of Portland, Sam Adams, the first openly gay mayor of a major city in the nation, was one of our early supporters. He bought the first license of Bright Neighbor and deployed it for the city of Portland. It’s a social media application that focuses on community development.”<\/p>\n

“I should finish a master’s degree in Strategic Communication at University of Oregon in May. I was there Monday watching the big Ducks game.<\/p>\n

“You remember me at UCLA? I never once went to a football game. I just don’t give a damn about it. My wife Margaret told me when I was a young lieutenant, ‘Sweetie, you better learn something about football or your soldiers are going to think you are either gay or a communist.’<\/p>\n

“My youngest son is a football player, so I’ve learned because of him. This season I’ve watched every one of the Ducks’ games because they’ve gone undefeated.”<\/p>\n

Luke: “I interviewed the author Jesse Katz<\/a> a few months ago. His mother Vera Katz<\/a> was mayor in Portland for many years.”<\/p>\n

Arnold: “I used to be on a radio show (Vera and the Voters) frequently with her. I was out of work at the time. I used to call in once a week.”<\/p>\n

“After 9\/11, I made a complaint. I called up and said there are all these ratty American flags flying all over the city. Every public park had these old ratty piece-of-crap flags. The whole ‘These colors don’t run’ idea. We should show greater respect.<\/p>\n

“I said that on her radio show. She said she had come over as a Jew from Europe and it meant so much to her to see the American flag and the statue of Liberty. Within a week, every flag in every park in the city of Portland was replaced.”<\/p>\n

“Our mayor, Sam Adams, was Vera’s chief of staff.”<\/p>\n

Related Interviews: Authors Dexter Filkins<\/a>, Steve Fainaru<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the fall of 1988, I believed life could be normal again. I hoped to find a doctor who’d discover what was wrong with me and then I would return to the action full bore. I took three classes in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15298,233,21],"tags":[7070,25147,25150,25148,25149,25151],"class_list":["post-28538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-afghanistan","category-iraq","category-personal","tag-chronic-fatigue-syndrome","tag-european-economic-history","tag-full-bore","tag-lieutenant-colonel","tag-rolling-stone-magazine","tag-semester-calculus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t