Lawyer Gives Up Practice to Join Army

Lawyer Gives Up Practice to Join Army
By JAMIE STENGLE, AP

DALLAS (Nov. 3) - Running into an Army recruiter at a restaurant changed the
life of lawyer Michael Brown - really.

Brown, 26, leaves Dallas on Thursday for Fort Benning, Ga., cutting his annual
income from $120,000 to $18,000.

His impetus was a conversation this summer with Staff Sgt. Jerome Huntley.

"I had been thinking about doing it," Brown said. "It's on your heart and your
thinking about doing it and there he is."

They talked in the Subway shop and the next day Huntley came to Brown's
apartment to describe life in an Army special operations unit, such as the
Rangers or Green Berets.

Huntley said Brown's enthusiasm eliminated any doubts about someone giving up a
career as a lawyer.

"He was just saying he wanted something more exciting in his life," Huntley
said.

After 16 weeks of training at Fort Benning, Brown will go to Fort Campbell in
Kentucky. He hopes to then join a special operations unit.

A recruit such as Brown is "relatively unusual" - not only because of his
profession but also because of his income and age, said Douglas Smith,
spokesman for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox in Kentucky.

About 98.5 percent of Army officers have a bachelor's degree, and 40 percent of
those have a master's or a doctorate, according to the Army. But only about 5
percent of enlistees have a four-year college degree or higher.

Smith said the average recruit's age is 21, and according to 2002 data, only 7
percent of enlistees come from households with incomes of $100,000 to
$150,0000.

Brown grew up in Starkville, Miss., and attended college about 160 miles from
home, in Clinton. At Mississippi College, Brown played football - outside
linebacker - and earned an accounting degree. His next stop was law school at
the University of North Carolina. He settled on Dallas as the place he wanted
to practice construction and personal injury defense law.

Approaching Huntley that July day was no spur of the moment decision, Brown
said. It was something that built for a long time. As a boy, he loved to play
with toy soldiers and as a young adult he thought about a career in the
military. In the end, though, he went on to follow in the footsteps of his
father and grandfather, both lawyers.


"The law may not be exactly what I want to do - the military's something I've
always wanted to do."
-Michael Brown

After Brown got to Dallas, he started contemplating the switch.

"The law may not be exactly what I want to do - the military's something I've
always wanted to do," he said.

Brown, who is single, said he misses being out in the field, building a
camaraderie with a group of guys the way he did when he played football.

"I wanted to serve the country, too," he said. "That was something that really
interested me with the special forces or Rangers. You give all your time to do
that. The bond that you have with that group of guys was something that I
didn't feel."

And the possibility of being sent into war isn't something that would stop him
from joining.

"I want to go," Brown said. "That's really part of the reason that I'm signing
up. You're ready to go out there and do what you can for the country."

Making friends and family understand his decision took some work.

"My mom just realized that that's what I really wanted to do," Brown said. "Dad
didn't come around 'til I said it's already done. He said, 'All right, then I'm
behind it."'

Brown's mother, Patsy Holeman, 53, of Madison, Miss., said Brown told her about
a year ago that he still wanted to join the military.

"He was still searching, still looking," she said. "He just kept saying, 'This
is something I've got to do. I've always had this in the back of my mind. I
don't want to be 10 to 20 years down the road saying I didn't do it."'

Will Andrews, 27, of Clinton, La., has been friends with Brown since they
played football together in college. He said he didn't know how serious Brown
was about enlisting until Brown said he'd talked to a recruiter.

"It did surprise me, but it didn't at the same time," Andrews said.

His co-worker, Randy Montgomery, had the same thoughts.

"I think it's rare that someone will give up as much as he's giving up to go
and fight for his country," said Montgomery, a partner at Deary Montgomery
DeFeo & Canada in Dallas. "That's a good quality that we don't all have."



Popeye
Listen, strange woman lying in ponds distributing swords is
no basis for a system of government. Monty Python

"Popeye NCAT3" <buzcutt454@aol.comByteMe> wrote in message
news:20041103112536.22097.00000015@mb-m06.aol.com...

Say, since you are so "gung-ho" about this administrations policies, why
don't you just re-enlist?

>From: "suds" Iluvspam@breakfast.net
>Date: 11/4/2004 7:13 PM Eastern Standard Time
>Message-id: <wAzid.35844$jo2.17798@twister.socal.rr.com>
>
>
>"Popeye NCAT3" <buzcutt454@aol.comByteMe> wrote in message
>news:20041103112536.22097.00000015@mb-m06.aol.com...
>
>Say, since you are so "gung-ho" about this administrations policies, why
>don't you just re-enlist?


If you can arrange it, I'll go.

In a fuckin heartbeat.


Popeye
Listen, strange woman lying in ponds distributing swords is
no basis for a system of government. Monty Python

In article <20041104203603.10335.00000041@mb-m25.aol.com>, Popeye NCAT3
<buzcutt454@aol.comByteMe> wrote:

€ In a fuckin heartbeat.

If you wer truly gung-ho, of course, you would have said "in a systolic
heartbeat."

In other words, it takes you twice as long to get it up as it should.

Sailors.

Jesus.

--
"We're going to rush the hijackers."
-Jeremy Glick, aboard United Airlines flight 93, September 11, 2001

"Jammer Six" <jammer@invalid.oz.net> wrote in message
news:041120041804046180%jammer@invalid.oz.net...

> In article <20041104203603.10335.00000041@mb-m25.aol.com>, Popeye NCAT3
> <buzcutt454@aol.comByteMe> wrote:
>
> ? In a fuckin heartbeat.
>
> If you wer truly gung-ho, of course, you would have said "in a systolic
> heartbeat."
>
> In other words, it takes you twice as long to get it up as it should.
>
> Sailors.
>
> Jesus.

Shut up, Dogface.

What if the impulse came timed upon the diastolic event?

Go dig a latrine.

>From: "Scott" pugetsounddiver@geemail.com

>"Jammer Six" <jammer@invalid.oz.net> wrote in message

>Shut up, Dogface.
>
>What if the impulse came timed upon the diastolic event?
>
>Go dig a latrine.

Damn.


Popeye
Listen, strange woman lying in ponds distributing swords is
no basis for a system of government. Monty Python

In article <wAzid.35844$jo2.17798@twister.socal.rr.com>, "suds"
<Iluvspam@breakfast.net> writes:

>"Popeye NCAT3" <buzcutt454@aol.comByteMe> wrote in message
>news:20041103112536.22097.00000015@mb-m06.aol.com...
>
>Say, since you are so "gung-ho" about this administrations policies, why
>don't you just re-enlist?
>

He's too old, and WAY too fat!

In article <10olpkdljt8ud6c@corp.supernews.com>, Scott
<pugetsounddiver@geemail.com> wrote:

€ Shut up, Dogface.

Grunt, stud-puppy, grunt.

My father was a Dogface.

I was a grunt.

€ What if the impulse came timed upon the diastolic event?

Then the next impulse would be systolic, and I'd show up, along with
Dad.

After that, late as usual, the sailors would show up.

Anything else I can help you with?

€ Go dig a latrine.

Stand there and hold it.

Someone start a stopwatch.

This won't take long.

--
"We're going to rush the hijackers."
-Jeremy Glick, aboard United Airlines flight 93, September 11, 2001

In article <10om20j7to0toe5@corp.supernews.com>, Scott
<pugetsounddiver@geemail.com> wrote:

€
€ http://www.atk.com/international/def...pecial%20Purpo
€ se%20Munitions/badger.htm

Dude!

We need some!

--
"We're going to rush the hijackers."
-Jeremy Glick, aboard United Airlines flight 93, September 11, 2001

"Jammer Six" <jammer@invalid.oz.net> wrote in message
news:041120042044247189%jammer@invalid.oz.net...

> This won't take long.

http://www.atk.com/international/def...ons/badger.htm