"I get up when I feel like it," he explains. "And I come down here when I am ready." Unlike most of the other gym rats, Paul doesn't ever reserve or schedule any equipment. He's had a lifetime of committment and he's done with all that. Except marriage, of course, that continues after 67 years.
He's a member of the greatest generation, and he reminds Stan of his Brigade Commander at Ft. Hood, Texas, the late Col. Paul F. Roberts. The exact same tall, grandfatherly appearance and gentle manner.
Stan's workout buddy was a colonel in the Army too, but first he was a private in the Marines and helped unload supplies at Guadalcanal. He remembers being hungry a lot in those days, and for some reason the Army shipped them a huge supply of olives. Black olives. He ate tons of them, and to this day still loves them.Later he was drafted into the Korean War, but this time, thanks to R.O.T.C., served as an officer, rising to Lt. Colonel. He knew of fellow officer Paul Roberts, who gained some renown in a 1950 setback near Pusan.
Eventually, Roberts was put in charge of the sleepy 13th Support Brigade at Ft. Hood. That's where draftee Stan served under his command in the headquarters public relations office throughout 1971. Buck Sgt. Stan did his best to put a shine on the Colonel's activities, and was kept close at hand for 16 months in the garrison, exiting service on the same orders as the old Colonel, who had spent more time in grade than any other Colonel in the Army. Stan and Specialist Robert C. Morecock produced a radio report of the Roberts retirement ceremony and promotion to general that brought tears to the old man's eyes.
Stan never did know for sure if the old man had held him out of Vietnam. Thirty-eight years later, when Stan first saw the Roberts look-a-like in the fitness center, he remembered the man he had photographed and wrote up so many times long ago. This Paul had also left the Army, but without much fanfare, and became a college dean at the University of Cornell in New York.
Now he's a retired gentleman, and a regular at the fitness center. But don't count on him being there every day. He just shows up when it good and well pleases.
