A young soldier battles homesickness

Have you ever been homesick?

It’s no fun.

One medical professional describes homesickness as “an emotional state of mind where the affected person experiences intense feelings of longing due to separation from home environment and loved ones. The feelings that are most identified with homesickness are nostalgia, grief, depression, anxiety, sadness and withdrawal.”

A person can be bushwhacked by homesickness. I was.

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The condition’s devastating effects have been noted for centuries. In 1887, a San Francisco newspaper ran a story with the headline: “Victim of Nostalgia: A Priest Dies Craving for a Sight of his Motherland.”

The article reported that an Irish priest became ill with nostalgia after arriving in Brooklyn, N.Y. Shortly before his death, he declared: “I am homesick. My dear country, I will never set a foot on your green shores again.

“Oh, my mother, how I long to see you.”

I experienced the same feelings as a young soldier in 1964.

After considerable internal debate — but no true outside impetus — I decided to join the Army at the age of 19.

I felt it was time for me to make a change in my life. I was a second-year Orange Coast College student who was putting more time into social activities than academics. My grades reflected that.

So, I took the Army entrance exam and qualified for an Army school. In February of ’64 I bid adieu to my college mates, kissed my parents goodbye and placed myself under Uncle Sam’s custody for the next three years.

I reported to basic training at Fort Ord, and promptly fell into a deep funk: homesickness. I hadn’t anticipated that. My first thought was, “What the heck have I done?”

Whatever it was, it was irreversible.

I had plenty of time to reflect on things that first week of basic. I was not yet assigned to a training company, and I spent considerable time performing menial tasks like sweeping the company area, scrubbing urinals and toilets, washing ancient barracks’ windows and pulling KP (Kitchen Police) duty.

As I washed windows, I visualized what my friends at OCC were doing at that exact moment. Most likely they were in the Student Center swilling coffee, playing cards or prepping for an exam. Was anyone even thinking of me?

I longed to return to that Student Center!

One day, I went into a latrine, shut myself in a stall and cried my eyes out, without making a sound. No one heard me.

I felt helpless. Abandoned. My life was no longer my own!

I had no one to blame but myself. It’d been my decision. It was time for me to man up.

I marked time until the fifth week when my family came up from Orange County to visit me. I received a weekend pass.

What a glorious two days in San Francisco! But the weekend flew by all too quickly, and my family dropped me off at my barracks Sunday night. My sister, mother and grandmother all cried.

I regularly wrote home and received letters several times a week. Every Friday night, like clockwork, I went to my company’s day room and called my family on the public telephone. I lived for those conversations!

My homesickness abated with time. Finally, basic training ended and I flew home for a two-week leave before heading to New York City for advanced training.

Though it was great to be home, I felt disappointed. It wasn’t quite as I remembered it.

My friends were happy to see me, but our lives were now on different tracks. They were into their things, and I had my own things. My life was destined for NYC. After my leave, I was eager to move on.

I enjoyed the Army school in New York, and fell in love with the city. I met a New York girl at a USO dance.

Distractions can cure homesickness, and New York was filled with them.

My life took wing!

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JIM CARNETT, who lives in Costa Mesa, worked for Orange Coast College for 37 years.