Duty Calls

It started oh, so many years ago. I was a wife and mother with two young sons—one a newborn, the other a toddler. My husband was in the Army Reserves, but his position was full-time active duty. He was teaching the ROTC students at Ball State University. In many ways, it was one of his most enjoyable assignments, but also very challenging. That summer the young men and women he taught were scheduled to go to summer camp for six weeks—but my husband didn’t have to go with them.

Until suddenly he did. He came home and said that his boss decided that he needed to go to summer camp with the students. He had to pack and leave that evening for Ft. Knox.

Now, I was no stranger to this kind of thing. This happens to Army families all the time. It’s part of the job, like moving every two or three years. Husbands deploy, for months or even years at a time, leaving wives to “hold down the fort.” That does NOT mean that I was particularly happy about it. He went up to pack, and I decided I had two choices: Mope and whine, or do something constructive. So I got out my guitar and my tape recorder, and wrote a song. I recorded it into the cassette recorder (remember those, boys and girls?) and when Chuck came down, lugging his duffel bag, I handed him the tape.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“It’s a song I just wrote,” I told him. “Play it while you’re gone. It’s called ‘Duty Calls.’”

Well, that song has been played for a lot of military folks over the years. I’ve been asked to perform it countless times, in small gatherings and larger venues. When we moved to Quantico so Chuck could attend the Marines’ Command and Staff College (he was the first Army Reservist to be accorded this honor), the Commandant’s wife fell in love with the song and had me sing it at every opportunity. One of the last things I did before we left Quantico for Chuck’s new assignment at Ft. Bragg was sing it in the Marine Corps Chapel.

A few months later I got a call from one of the chaplains at Quantico. He wanted permission to use my song as part of his invocation at the annual Marine Corps Ball. I told him to be my guest. I had given him a cassette of the song.

Well, they must have had a heck of a sound system at the Marine Corps Ball that year. I got a call the following Monday from the chaplain. My song had been a big hit. In fact, he told me, the Commandant of the Marine Corps had made a beeline towards him immediately after the invocation, tears streaming down his face, demanding to know where that song had come from. Senator Warner and the ambassador of –I forget which country—also came up to express their appreciation. I even got a letter from the Commandant of the Marine Corps telling me how much he’d loved the song. I thought that was pretty cool, but I guess I didn’t really grasp the significance. Chuck had the letter framed. Apparently the Commandant of the Marine Corps is kind of a big deal. Something about the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I think…

But what means more to me, is the number of people who asked to purchase copies of the song, so they could give them to their sons, their daughters, their husbands, or wives, who were going into harm’s way, or for the families who stayed behind. That is perhaps my proudest achievement. That’s why I wrote the song.

He shines his boots, he cleans his brass, and heads out of the door.

His little sons can’t understand what their daddy’s leaving for.

And there are those who say that there’s no need for him to go.

Still, he packs his bags and leaves, when duty calls.

Duty calls, and it’s freedom’s voice grown quiet.

Duty calls, though most people will deny it.

And if no one heeds the words, will freedom fall?

Not as long as someone answers duty’s call.

He spent a year in Vietnam; he lost some good friends there.

And sometimes the things he’s had to do were hard for him to bear.

But he served his country proudly then; he serves it proudly now.

So he packs his bags and goes, when duty calls.

Duty calls, and it’s freedom’s voice grown quiet.

Duty calls, though most people will deny it.

And if no one heeds the words, will freedom fall?

Not as long as someone answers duty’s call.

When he was young, this nomad’s life was not what he had planned.

And it takes a special kind of woman to know and understand.

The sacrifice we’re making helps to keep our country strong.

So we pack our bags and go, when duty calls.

Duty calls, and it’s freedom’s voice grown quiet.

Duty calls, though most people will deny it.

And if no one heeds the words, will freedom fall?

Not as long as someone answers duty’s call.

No, not as long as one man answers duty’s call.

POST SCRIPT FROM LINDA'S BLOG MANAGER: If you'd like to hear this song, e-mail me at phoenixtalon9@yahoo.com and I'll send it to you as a download.