One Brat's Story
by Vann Baker
My experience of growing up in the military began for me when I six years old. My father, Robert Vaughn Baker, who had been drafted and served in the Korean War, decided to re-enlist
in the U.S. Army in 1962. We were living in Columbus, Georgia at the time. I
remember starting the first grade in Columbus and going to school for just about a week. Then
we were on two planes and then a jet over the ocean, headed for what was then called
West Germany.
I lived four years in Mannheim, Germany and enjoyed every minute of it,
especially the snow. (Growing up in the south didn't include any snow for me).
In those days you could get 4 marks to one dollar and just about all German
businesses accepted U.S. currency.
The photograph on the right was taken in Saltzburg just before our ride down into the salt mine. (I'm the second from the left).
Our family took regular weekend excursions
and we explored dozens of castles when my father was not in the field. In 1966
we returned to the U.S. on the U.S.S. Patch. After getting our sea legs the
second day, we had a blast exploring the ship and trying to get into trouble.
From New York we traveled by car to Columbus, Georgia, to visit my
grandparents and my uncles, then we on the road again to El Paso, Texas.
We were stationed a year at Ft.Biggs.
It was quite a change from Germany, with 1 percent humidity and hardly
any rain with sand dunes and tumbleweeds stretching for miles outside the base.
Needless to say, I missed the snow we had in Germany and I
hated the time we spent patching our bicycle tires because of the sand spurs.
In 1967 my father received orders for Viet Nam. But before he left, we moved back to
Columbus, Georgia and bought a small house. During this year I attended a public school, Rothschild Junior High, and I had some trouble fitting in. Perhaps it was because
my father was away for such a long time and I sensed my mother's worry. Or maybe it was just that public schools were different from the DODDS schools I had grown used to.
There
was certainly a lot less discipline in the class room and a different way of
doing things. But distractions such as the space program and a good library
helped to pass the time. Viet Nam gave back to us a father
who was quieter but prone to explosive fits of anger and our family life was
different after he returned. The only time we found out anything about his tour of duty was when we overheard conversations with my father and my uncles during the holiday get-togethers.
1968 brought us to Fort Knox, Kentucky. My father served as a drill
instructor for four years. Fort Knox was a nice change from Columbus. We lived
on base and didn't have a lot of contact with civilians. We had snow in the
winter and there were plenty of pools in the summer and the climate was similar
to what I remembered Germany having. I went to Fort Knox High School in the fall
of 1970 and my Freshman through Junior years were fairly uneventful, except I
co-edited an "underground" high school newspaper which amused a few
and made a few school officials upset.
Early in the summer of 1973 my father received orders for Germany again. The rest
of the family followed towards the end of the summer. My father was stationed in
Friedburg. We lived for about six months in a tiny town called Florstadt, and
finally got quarters in Bad Nauheim. I attended Frankfurt American High School
and graduated 1974. I worked for a few months after graduation and then returned
to Columbus, Georgia, where some of my father's relatives lived. I enrolled in
the local college and to support myself, I got a job at a local printing company
and so began my graphic art career.
Like most brats, every few years I get the overwhelming urge to pack up
everything and move. Over the next few 20 years I apprenticed in the printing
industry, worked my way through college and graduated from Auburn University in 1984, and moved to
Atlanta, Georgia. In 1986, I attended graduate school at the University of
Cincinnatti.Since 1987 I returned to Atlanta, started a graphic design business and got online
in 1988. Over the years I have moved around the Atlanta area, trying to put down roots as
best I can considering my nomadic life.
In the early 90's I explored America Online, computer bulletin boards (BBSs) and even started my
own BBS and ran it for a couple of years. I discovered the Internet before it became mainstream when the World Wide Web emerged, I felt compelled to start a web site for Military Brats because there
really wasn't a site where we Brats could meet and talk about growing up on the move.
Which brings me to the present. I'm living in the Duluth, Georgia area, I'm married and working hard to help Military Brats Online evolve and got a local group going, the Atlanta Area Military Brats. Both MBO and the group have helped me to connect with my past and have given me something which I believe could become a life's work.
I sincerely hope you enjoy the site and know that it truly is a labor of love.
