Only A Game?
Guideposts|May 2019

Find out what swinging a golf club has to do with helping vets with PTSD.

Arlinda Mitchell
Only A Game?

I STARED DOWN AT THE GOLF BALL atop its tee. My hands tightened around the grip of my club. I tried to recall the coach’s advice on how to actually hit this thing.

I swung my arms downward as fast as I dared. Thud! The club bit into the grass just shy of the tee. A total miss. I could feel the eyes of the seven other female veterans on me. “What am I doing here?” I muttered.

It was the same thought I’d had 20 years earlier when my unit landed in Saudi Arabia.

I’d joined the Army Reserve on a whim, looking to inject a little excitement into my life. The training exercises were one weekend a month. I was 35. Single. A phlebotomist at a hospital. I knew Reserve forces were the first to get the call if the U.S. were ever in a full-on war. But what was the chance of that? It was 1987. There hadn’t been any major military conflict since Vietnam. Besides, I imagined there’d be some kind of exemption for an older woman like me.

I made it through basic. My unit was the 350th Evacuation Hospital in Canton, Ohio. My job in radio communications was to deliver messages from combat units to hospital staffers. Our weekend exercises were only drills. Still, it felt good knowing my superiors put that kind of trust in me. I loved the challenge and the camaraderie with the other men and women in my unit.

Two years after I signed up, I met a guy I really liked. He thought it was cool that I was in the military, and we soon got married.

In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, not that I paid much attention. Seemed like those Middle Eastern countries were always fighting.

Just before Thanksgiving, I got a call at work. I had two days to report for duty. My hand was shaking so badly, I could barely hang up the phone.

“I’ve just been called up for active duty,” I told my husband. “Like for a real war.”

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 2019 من Guideposts.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 2019 من Guideposts.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من GUIDEPOSTS مشاهدة الكل
What prayer can do
Guideposts

What prayer can do

POWER IN OUR DAY-TO-DAY LIVES

time-read
1 min  |
Oct/Nov 2024
Rejoice in All Things
Guideposts

Rejoice in All Things

My husband and I had an annual tradition of celebrating the high points of the year. This time, he wanted to try something different

time-read
2 mins  |
Oct/Nov 2024
Special Delivery
Guideposts

Special Delivery

A month after my wife died and my life felt so empty, the only thing I had to look forward to was Amazon

time-read
5 mins  |
Oct/Nov 2024
A Prayer for Cullen
Guideposts

A Prayer for Cullen

Even in a family crisis, I had trouble quieting my mind enough to listen for God

time-read
4 mins  |
Oct/Nov 2024
Blackie & Rosebud
Guideposts

Blackie & Rosebud

What would happen to my friend's cats now that she was gone?

time-read
2 mins  |
Oct/Nov 2024
The Kids Are Alright
Guideposts

The Kids Are Alright

My twin boys and I had always been close. I thought they needed me. Now I wasn't so sure

time-read
5 mins  |
Oct/Nov 2024
Kindred Spirits
Guideposts

Kindred Spirits

I thought the nose ring gave it away—she was just another teenager. I couldn't imagine how she could help me

time-read
5 mins  |
Oct/Nov 2024
A Boy Named Sue
Guideposts

A Boy Named Sue

In 1969, Johnny Cash and his wife, June, threw a party at their house in Hendersonville, Tennessee, a “guitar pull,” where guests passed around a guitar and tried out new songs.

time-read
1 min  |
Oct/Nov 2024
Active Duty
Guideposts

Active Duty

I'd tried everything for my knee - physical therapy, gel injections, a cumbersome brace. Everything except prayer

time-read
7 mins  |
Oct/Nov 2024
Living an Abundant Life
Guideposts

Living an Abundant Life

A conversation with spirituality and health researcher Harold G. Koenig, M.D., on what makes people truly happy

time-read
8 mins  |
Oct/Nov 2024