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Patrick Wigginton and family members get together after his graduation from Basic Training at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. Wigginton, 38, joined the Army National Guard after the age-entry maximum was raised from 35 to 39 in March, 2005. (Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Eric Wedeking)
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FORT SILL, Okla. - Patrick O. Wigginton of Tupelo, Miss., always wanted to be a Soldier, but his busy career as a construction contractor prevented him from enlisting.
But when both the Army National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve jointly announced in national media last March they were raising the age-entry requirement from 35 to 39 years old, Wigginton, 38, literally “marched down” to his Mississippi Army National Guard recruiter and signed up -- after getting permission from his wife Debbie, of course.
“I thought he'd flipped out,” Mrs. Wigginton said on June 24, the day her husband graduated after nine-grueling weeks of Basic Training with Echo Battery, 1st Battalion, 19th Field Artillery at Fort Sill, Okla. “I wanted to keep him with me longer, but I'm really proud of him though. ”
Anyone who has undergone the rigors of the U.S. Army's Basic Training will testify the long hours, exhausting drills and screaming drill sergeants will take their toll, even on fit and trim 17 and 18-year-olds. How did a 38-year-old construction contractor keep up with a much younger generation old enough to be his own offspring?
After his feet developed fallen arches, one pulled ham string and a strained groin muscle later, Wigginton said he “had to overcome some adversity,” but he maintained his focus like a true Citizen-Soldier and soldiered on to accomplish his goal ¯ graduate from Army boot camp.
“I told the drill sergeants, ‘I refuse to move backward, I'm moving forward,'” he said. “I kept on with the mission. I wanted to prove to these young men that this old man could hang with them. I had a lot of good memories. It's an experience I'll never forget.”
During his graduation ceremony, surrounded by his large family who made the long journey from Mississippi out to the Great Plains of Oklahoma, a sense of jubilation and euphoria pervaded the Wigginton family.
“It feels really good to be a soldier,” Wigginton said immediately after putting on his black beret for the first time completing more than two months of Soldier training. “Now, I don't have to think to myself ‘What if?' anymore. I did it.”
Wigginton represents one of dozens of more than 35-year-old recruits who successfully graduated from Basic Training after the Reserve Components announced in March they were eligible to enlist up to the age of 39 years old.
Renee Hylton, chief of Historical Services at National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Va., said it is not unprecedented that the National Guard or Army Reserve raised the entry-age limit during wartime.
“There have been (historical) periods where people enlisted in their late 30s,” Hylton said. “It's not anything unusual. It's happened before. Back in World War I, the National Guard raised the entry-age limit to 45.”
Even though Wigginton's case may seem unusual, “tens of thousands” of National Guard and Army Reserve privates more than 35 years old have entered the military decades before.
Still, after quickly acquiring the nickname “Grandpa” from his fellow recruits, others were still amazed by Wigginton's feat. The most astounded was the Battery's youngest trainee, U.S. Army Pvt. Jarod Garns, 17, of Minden, La., The high school senior said Wigginton brought a great deal of maturity to the battery, which helped the younger Soldiers.
“He was physically able to do it. He wanted to be here and he was mentally fit better than anyone here,” Garns added. “I talked to him all the time. It was like going and talking to my own dad. He always wanted to help out.”
Asked if he'd train or go to war with soldiers between 35 and 39 years old, Garns said without hesitation: “I think it's something viable.”
Oddly enough, Wigginton's son Malcom P. Barker, now serving overseas with the U.S. Army Reserve, graduated exactly a year before in Echo Battery's sister unit, Battery D, 1st Battalion, 19th Field Artillery.
“My son has been very supportive. My son told me: “I know if I could make it through Basic Training, I know Dad could make it too,” Wigginton said. He also received a lot of support from his civilian business partner at Jeff Bruff Construction Co. in Ercu, Miss.
Capt. Kenneth York, Wigginton's battery commander, noted the irony of a father literally following in his son's exact footsteps.
“His son went through here a year before. It truly is a small world,” York said. “It's been a strange (Basic Training) cycle.”
While pulling down private first class pay for three months of total training, Wigginton said he was forced to sacrifice a “big differential in pay” after temporarily leaving his civilian employment. But money was never the issue.
“I've always wanted to join. My father was in the National Guard,” Wigginton added. “I did it for duty, honor and getting a chance to serve my country as a Soldier.”
Because of his years of construction experience, Wigginton signed up under the Army National Guard's Civilian Acquired Skills Program as a “General Construction Equipment Operator” and is presently doing “On the Job Training” with the Company B, 62nd Engineer Battery headquartered on Fort Sill. The Soldiers here are presently performing construction improvements to a dirt airstrip designed to receive C-17 cargo aircraft at Fort Sill.
The engineers welcomed Wigginton's expertise and maturity.
“Send him on over. We can always use the help,” said Sgt. 1st Class Rowan Dunnaway, acting first sergeant. “He'll probably teach my guys how to use the equipment with all his experience.”
After returning to Magnolia State, Wigginton hopes to be activated with his unit, Headquarters (Company), 155th Combat Engineer Battalion based in Meridian, Miss., however, that is unlikely since the unit will soon be returning from deployment. Still, Wigginton hopes to volunteer to be sent overseas so he can join his son in Iraq.
“I think that's a great story. I put it in my speech,” said Lt. Col. Michael Endres, Wigginton's battalion commander and who was keynote speaker for the graduating 88 battery mates and their 288 family members. “Today, these soldiers join a distinguished lineage of brave and courageous men and women ¯ it's named the profession of arms. It's a calling that not many will or can answer, but your soldiers did.”
Rather than being an act of desperation to shore up recent recruiting shortfalls, leaders say bringing in older and more mature Soldiers makes the Reserve Component a better-quality organization.
“I think it's a great day for the military that somebody thought of the idea that a 38-year-old could make a great soldier,” said Sgt. Maj. John W. Griffin, U.S. Army Artillery Training Center senior enlisted advisor and senior Reserve Component Liaison. “He'll make a great sergeant some day and he should make sergeant soon because of his maturity.”
Even active-U.S. Army leaders are impressed by what the National Guard and Army Reserve jointly decided to up the age limit to join the oldest military institution dating back prior to the United State becoming a sovereign nation when the first militia was formed in 1636 at the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
“I think it's a good thing. With those older soldiers graduating ¯ that says something. They want to serve their country,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Paul Cherry, 1st Battalion, 19th Field Artillery command sergeant major. “When I deployed, I've met Reserve Component soldiers in their 50s and they can perform their mission just as well as younger Soldiers. Plus, they're more mature. So far, we haven't had any real problems with the older Soldiers.”
Wigginton trained alongside two other “older” Army Reserve Citizen-Soldiers, including Pfc. Joseph M. McGlaughlin, 36, of Niles, Mich., said he also suffered through some minor physical ailments, but somehow managed to overcome them and graduate. Another 40-year-old Army Reserve did not fair as well when Army doctors found a pre-existing medical condition was hampering his training and discharged the Reservist.
Fort Sill and four other Basic Combat Training installations throughout the United States should still see more “older privates” coming for training based on the enthusiasm shown by both McGlaughlin and Wigginton. Looking from his perspective, McGlaughlin said he'd do it again if given the chance.
“Dealing with the younger privates reminded me of having to raise my own kids all over again. It was a real chore,” said McGlaughlin, who is also in the Army Reserve's Civilian Acquired Skill Program as a military truck driver with the 542nd Transportation Company headquartered in Kingsbury, Ind. “But they were all a great bunch of guys. I'd want everyone of them for my battle buddy if I go to war.”
McGlaughlin's young son, Joseph McGlaughlin Jr. beamed as he proudly admired his father in his new-Class A military dress uniform.
“I think it's cool,” Joseph Jr. said. “I know with my dad graduating from Basic Training, it's a dream come true for him.”
© 2005 The Army National Guard. All opinions expressed
in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those
of Military.com.
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