Military Officer - June 2008 - (Page 92)

encore Media Frenzy A new private arrives on base and brings with him a lot of attention. Can the base post ofﬁce handle all the hype — or will it collapse under the light of the ﬂashbulbs? A fter a successful sojourn, my tour in Europe was coming to an end. My new assignment took me to Fort Hood, Texas, where my new boss, the adjutant general of Fort Hood, appointed me postmaster. The operation of all the post ofﬁces on this sprawling military base was to be my bailiwick. As luck would have it, the most famous young person in the world at the time was assigned to Fort Hood, resulting in an avalanche of letters, postcards, and even photographs autographed in lipstick to “the coolest cat in Texas.” With this national adoration, every postmaster in the U.S. knew where to dump his dead letter mail: to Fort Hood, forwarded to Pvt. Elvis Presley, USA. My cries for help initially resulted in 10 new men and ﬁnally graduated to 60 total “sack draggers” to unload the many boxcars loaded with mailbags. This problem continued with no immediate solution in sight. So a meeting was devised between the U.S. government and Elvis Presley Enterprises. It started with media frenzy around our little post ofﬁce, with photographers ﬂashing photos of the immense mail heap, the many sweaty mail handlers, and me — the mail supervisor. The agreement was that I promised all of Elvis’s mail would be forwarded to an answering service in Tennessee, and in the future, only mail with a code would be referred to his manager and lawyers. Then, as if by schedule, Elvis was led in, surrounded by his military escorts. 92 MILITARY OFFICER JUNE 2008 NCOs protected the young soldier with his newly issued fatigues and boots and a shaved head. Who was this poor, unfortunate soldier looking so bedraggled and fearful of all of us? I asked, “Who are you?” He respectfully answered, “Private Elvis Presley, sir.” My next question showed my lack of knowledge of the entertainment world, as I asked, “What do you do?” “Sing, sir,” was his answer. By this time, all the signature documents were approved in front of us, and his lawyer had conﬁrmed them acceptable to sign. Elvis signed. “Are you any good?” was my next intelligent query. Presley replied, “I don’t rightfully know, sir, but I guess they like my movements.” Now fast-forward as we watched Elvis, “the King,” as he went on to transform America’s music! In his succeeding years the whole world admired him in his lavish, colorful, peacock-sequined attire. But I still remember him as a frightened young soldier with his basic-training haircut, a pimply face, and gnawed ﬁngernails in his ﬁrst unﬂattering uniform, trembling while signing amid the ﬂashbulbs. MO — Al Alvarez is a retired Army lieutenant colonel. He lives in Fayetteville, N.C. ILLUSTRATION: ELWOOD SMITH

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - June 2008

Military Officer - June 2008 Contents MOAA Online From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire MOAA Member Services Washington Scene Chapters in Action Financial Forum Ask the Doctor MOAA Scholarship Donors Cover Story: Mission to Modernize World War Web Playing to Win Fitness in Numbers Fighting Infection Pages of History Faces of MOAA Information Exchange Member Books Advertising Index MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps Encore

Military Officer - June 2008

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