Retired Master Sgt. Robert M. Rawls’ army issue footlocker has't seen to combat duty since World War II... but now it serves his son in Operation Iraqi Freedom 3.“He had several,” said U.S. Army Capt. Charles R. Rawls, referring to his father’s footlockers. “This is the one he always used.”
The vintage storage box is complete, right down to the pull-out shelf, said Rawls, a fire direction officer with the 3rd Battalion, 117th Field Artillery Regiment, Alabama Army National Guard. His unit is providing force protection and convoy support for 3rd Infantry Division units here.
“I joined the National Guard in 1989,” said Rawls, who grew up in Troy, Ala. He was 27 years old at the time.
His father asked him to join at 18, but Rawls said he wasn't ready then. He went on to Troy State University in his hometown, graduated and then started working for the Alabama State Forestry Commission.
Finally, after nine years, he joined the military his father had loved for 32 years.
And eventually, it came time for Rawls, who has lived most of his life in Troy, to attend annual training with his unit. It was before that yearly, two-week field duty that Rawls' father gave him the footlocker. Rawls has used it ever since.
But the father and son warriors share more than an antique piece of luggage. They both mobilized for war from the same location.
Rawls said his father left for the Pacific theater of operations during World War II from Camp Shelby, Mississippi. He was on active duty at the time, having answered his country's call to arms.
When he returned from the war, the elder Rawls joined the National Guard and stayed until he retired.
Eventually, the camp, which is the largest National Guard training area in the U.S. changed its name to Mobilization Center Shelby, said Rawls. His unit has conducted many annual training exercises there and it's where he and his unit mobilized from to deploy to Iraq.
If Rawls never gets deployed again, the footlocker may still see a few more annual trainings before he retires. Maybe the footlocker can finally settle into a garage for a well-deserved retirement... and then again, Rawls does have a son of his own…
Photo Credit: (unknown) Defend America: U.S. Army Capt. Charles R. Rawls, a fire direction officer with the 3rd Battalion, 117th Field Artillery Regiment, Alabama Army National Guard, shows off his father’s World War II footlocker. Rawls, who grew up in Troy, Ala., was given the vintage box by his father before his first annual training. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Peter Chadwick
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