Veteran's Day is nearly upon us, and it is important to take the time to remember the men and women who served our country, ensuring our freedom and safety. "Freedom isn't free. That has been my mainstay ever since I was a young lad. My dad was in the military. He was a Corpsman in the Navy. Since he did that, the Navy was my ultimate goal," explains Dale Morey in response to my question about his thoughts on the day. Dale served our country for forty years between his active duty and reserve service years. He has been a navy aviation structure mechanic, a "31 victor" (radio operator), in the infantry, a mortar man, a supply sergeant, a training officer, and an MP along the way.
His service career started during Vietnam, when he joined the Navy in 1969. "When I graduated from high school, I went south for harvesting. When I came back, there were letters from the draft board saying I had to go get my physical. They weren't that serious, and my boss wanted me to come down for maize harvest, which was another month and a half down south. When I got back at the end of November, the letters were a little bit more serious. I thought I better get something taken care of. Well, they put me in charge of about 15 guys when I went for medicals. I was kinda like 'What's this all about?' I saw the mentality and the kind of thing the army had to provide. I thought that I had better do something different. Maybe the Navy would be the thing to do." That was when Dale decided to follow in his father's footsteps by becoming a sailor. "When I got back from Butte, back to Glasgow, there was a Navy recruiter, and it was like it was a divine intervention. I walked right in there and asked if there was a spot for me in the Navy. He said "Well, yeah. You could probably be an aviation structure mechanic. I didn't even know what aviation was. I said 'Great!' Anyhow, I went in the the end of '69. Being an aviation structure mechanic, after boot camp, I went to Millington, Tennessee for my 'A' School."
Dale describes his time in Italy serving as an aviation mechanic as the most fun and exciting time in his career. "...when I was in aviation, flying. When you're young and dumb and you do a lot of flying. I did a lot of liberating oranges in Sicily. I did some rescue missions. That was pretty fun." His term there was 4 years, but extended for 6 months due to marrying Mickey and bringing her back to Sicily with him. Afterward, he was returned to the States where he served in the Navy Reserves. "I pursued
the Naval Reserve for four years because you are obligated for 8 years. I stayed in the reserves for about 16 years. After that, we went back. I went to college. From college, I was doing Naval Reserve stuff. I stayed in the Navy Reserves until about '84. I was flying from Billings out to Whidbey Island on weekends for my aviation background. Then they stopped the airlift because there weren't enough people participating." The end of the airlift meant the end of Dale's time in the Navy. He then joined the Army Reserves. "...I got hauled into the National Guard as 31 Victor, that's a radio man." For his transition from the Navy to the Army, Dale laughed when he explained that he received a "Most Improved Soldier" plaque, because he went from being a sailor to a soldier.
During his years in the Army Reserves, Dale worked in various roles and was even activated as a part of an augmentation unit to fill in at Fort Hood in Alaska. There, he worked as a military policeman while the regular unit was deployed to Afghanistan.
A friend of Dale's from his time attached to the Field Artillery unit, Tim Sow, will be the speaker at this year's Veteran's Day event.
Most years, Dale observes the day by participating in the town's Veteran's Day festivities, though some years "Being as how I was in the Naval Reserves, there have been several times I have gone to Great Falls and been with my Navy Buddies that I did Reserves with out of Great Falls."
Regarding the day itself, Dale explained that the day to thank servicemen is important because: "I think people need to hear the importance of the military itself. Like I said, freedom isn't free. If we don't have a strong military and a strong way of defending our country, we will probably end up something besides a democratic republic. That's the mainstay right there... I had it pretty good compared to a lot of them that didn't make it home. It's not a gimme, being in the military."
