Citizen Journal: Prestigious Army award finalist bridges old and new

Sgt. 1st Class Kara Wait is young, good-looking, intelligent and trying to win the Sergeant Audie Murphy Award competition that recognizes deserving soldiers of the U.S. Army. Wait is stationed in Spokane. And our family friend.

Old guys like me remember that Sgt. Audie Murphy had been to hell and back. Murphy was one of the most decorated soldiers in World War II. He played himself in the movie “To Hell and Back” released in 1955.

I recall sitting in Garland Theater watching Murphy crouched while gripping a machine gun mounted on a burning tank turret. Murphy was mowing down charging hordes of Nazi soldiers.

Spokane’s Wait has survived the winnowing process to become a finalist in the Murphy award contest.

Her military assignment in Spokane is to recruit medical people, like doctors and nurses, into the U.S. Army. Her affable manner is a requirement, but her endearing ways don’t explain why she is up for promotion to master sergeant at a 30-something age. My memory of master sergeants is old, square-jawed misanthropes who complained that the very sight of me made them “wanna puke.” When she is promoted, Wait will be the first master sergeant who doesn’t hate me.

Even with all her charm and competitive spirit, I still can’t quite see our Wait crouched on a burning tank, shooting down rows of crazed German soldiers. Maybe I don’t know heroes. Let me be honest, I served as an order’s clerk on a general’s staff in my Army days. My only service injury was a pinched finger while removing the printing ball from an IBM Selectric typewriter. So maybe I can’t identify true grit when I see it and maybe a different kind of grit is required for today’s Army.

Our friend is part of the New Army where brains win more battles than brawn. Action soldiers like Audie Murphy would be comforted that marksmanship is still required in his namesake contest. Wait is a crack shot. Physical fitness is required. She is fit. Mental sharpness is required. During this contest she must recite Audie Murphy’s personal life and detailed military history. Entry in the contest also requires an unblemished service history.

However Wait’s biggest worry is singing the old song “Shutters and Boards,” a song of divorce regrets recorded by Jerry Wallace in 1961. That song was on the pop charts back when I was a kid listening on KNEW which later became KJRB. “Shutters and Boards” was written by Audie Murphy with the help of Scott Turner. Wait admits she is not a singer, but belting out a reasonable version of that sad old tune is required of contestants who are serious about winning the Audie Murphy Award.

She also must name Audie Murphy’s children and his wives, one of whom presumably inspired the sad song “Shutters and Boards.”

So, if you are in some Spokane doctor’s waiting room sitting across from an Army sergeant humming “Shutter and Boards,” give her an encouraging word regarding the Audie Murphy finals coming up in August. Try to forget that she’s there waiting to recruit your personal physician into the U.S. Army.