How I found Alaska
On my dad's military service.
My dad was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War, but he never saw combat. After Basic Training, he was assigned to be a military policeman (MP). Almost every platoon that finished training was shipped to Vietnam—except for his platoon.
My dad's Basic Training gradation book from Fort Polk, Louisiana. I have never seen him without a beard except in pictures.
My dad, who grew up in the blistering Louisiana heat, spent his entire military stint in Fairbanks, Alaska where it drops to 30 degrees below zero in the winter. He's told me stories about how they'd keep moose meat in the trunk of their car in the winter and just cut off a chunk as needed. Or how the wheel bearings in their car would freeze and the front wheels would just slide until the grease heated up enough for the tires to turn freely.
Some of my dad's favorite memories are from Alaska—first from his military service there and later from work trips when he worked as a welder in the oil and gas industry.
While in Fairbanks, he met friends that he's kept up with for more than 50 years—all long distance. Pre-Facetime. Pre-Zoom. Just long-distance phone calls way before unlimited minutes were a thing.
His friend Joe stayed in Alaska after completing his service. He went to work on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, built a career, and formed a family out there.
When I was 16, my dad took me moose hunting in Alaska. His buddy Joe from the Army took us out in his bush plane and provided a guided hunt that we would not have been able to afford if not for the friendship they sustained over the years.
Moose hunting in 2006 with my dad. It took three trips in the Super Cub plane to get all of the moose meat out of the bush. My dad's friend Joe was our pilot and guide. This was also the trip that I really began to love photography.
In 2022, I took a three-week trip to Alaska with my dad after my mom and both of my brothers passed away. We met up with Joe for the last week of the trip and he took us halibut fishing for several days. It was a fishing trip we wouldn't have been able to afford if not for the friendship.
Trip to Alaska with my dad in 2022. Joe and his wife Marilyn were our fishing guides. We limited out on halibut or black rockfish every day we fished.
I think my dad views his military service as simply something that had to be done. It wasn't something to evade, ignore, or romanticize—it was something to accept as part of his citizen duties. Today, when he talks about his service, he talks about how good the people in his company were. He's not a gushy guy, but he always talks about how much he liked the folks he served with. He never talks negatively about his time in the service except for saying how much he didn't really like being an MP—it didn't jive with his personality.
Those few years in the Army shaped my dad far beyond just the experience of being in the military. They gave him experiences that took him out of the bayou and showed him the wonders of The Last Frontier.
Veteran's Day is today. It's a day to remember those who have served and are still serving. My dad's service wasn't glamourous. He didn't win any combat medals, but he did what his country asked of him—even if that simply meant freezing in Fairbanks for a few years. I've had the privilege of seeing and experiencing one of the most beautiful places in the world because he went where the Army told him to go.
