Is your name really Legion ?
No lie at a National Lab my boss said in my review that single handedly I was "like an army of technicians."
Also a friend at Grumman where I worked who was a Navy SEAL during the Vietnam War asked me if I was in the military. When I said no, he made the comment that I had all the right stuff to be a SEAL. We talked a bit, and I asked him why, and he explained I was the right size and I had the right mindset that he recognized right away.
My friend "Zingo" was about my size 5'10" and lanky. I asked him wouldn't a bigger more muscular guy be better starting material? Zingo said, "The big powerful bodies work against the bigger guys. In the end they get weeded out because they end up not having the stamina of the smaller man. Also the smaller man has the advantages of speed and agility which are two of the three best assets to have in a fight. The third asset BTW is experience.
Ethnically I am Cantonese, and to be Cantonese is to be distinguished in a manner that New Yorkers are a separate breed that are distinguished from other Americans. Canton is surrounded by a ring of mountains and geographically it is a natural fortress. Feudilism thrived in Canton while the rest of China was unified for almost a thousand years, as Canton and the Cantonese were deemed ungovernable.
In 1960 the U.S. Census recorded less than 238K Asians in the U.S. About half those recorded Asians were ethnically Chinese, and of the Chinese recorded 95% were Cantonese. There is some truth to that we kinda look a like. In the past we all came from one small provence, but like Pit Bulls were were bred for fighting.
At Grumman I worked with many veterans, but because of my background I experienced mucho vicarious trauma. My friends used me in a way to confess the things they did. I learned what it was like to do those things they did, and I understand.
You see the first thing I learned in school was how to fight, and by third grade I learned how to be good at it. I had to endure and survive racially motivated attacks that would be called hate crimes today. Sadly this all was exacerbated because I lived in lillie white suburbes where my family did not fit in, meanwhile I grew up during the Vietnam Era... looking like the enemy.
The strange irony is that my dad was able to become a naturalized American citizen because of his service in the U.S. Army during WWII. In 1943 there was a loophole in "The Chinese Exclusion Act" and 1428 Chinese were allowed to become naturalized citizens via their military service. In 1952 again the Chinese would be considered the enemy due to the Korean War.
My oldest brother was drafted and fought in Vietnam in 1967; my second oldest brother was the Nuclear Operator on attack submarines; and my little brother was in the Air Force deployed in the Stratigic Air Command.
Sadly I did not have to learn how to fight in the military: I learned fighting just growing up. Know that I had to fight alone.
Cal
