Sarah Deutschmann, Leonard Deutschmann, and Jane Deutschmann

[00:03] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: My name is Sarah Deutschmann I am 43 years old. The date is April 15, 2022. I am in the StoryCorps virtual recording booth, and I'm here with my parents, Leonard and Jane Deutschmann

[00:20] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Obviously, I'm Leonard and my wife, Jane. Well, my name is Leonard Deutschmann and I am 73 years old. The date is April 15, today, 2022. I am in the story court virtual recording booth, and I am here with my daughter Sarah, and our friend from Storycourt, Julia.

[00:49] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: Hi. My name is Jane. I am 42 years old. The date is April 15, 2022. I am in the Storycorps virtual recording booth, and I'm here with my husband, Leonard, my daughter Sarah, and our moderator, Julia. Okay, so this first question goes mainly to dad, but, you know, mom, you can jump in. Why did you decide to join the military?

[01:30] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Well, you know, sir, it was a different time back then, and to be honest with you, I've been in the military my entire life, so I grew up in a catholic school, so I wore a uniform my entire life, is what I should say. But basically, the military. I attended a military prep high school for four years. It was a West Point prep school, and then I went to college with ROTC. And joining the military, I never really saw. Don't get me wrong. The draft was on back then. All men, some women, but mostly all men, had to serve. So we really didn't give it a second thought. And all my family was world war two vets, korean vets, and Vietnam vets. So there was no way I could really, the only option would be to go to Canada. I did spend time with some of the protests going on at that period of time, and I also spent time in the ROTC at that period of time. So my entire life, really, has been in the military, so. And I've always loved it. My family is such. They've got a lot of patriotism. There's just no way with a family like mine, I could have ever chosen any other avenue, although I didn't choose to make a career of it until I got involved with it. It was just serve my country for a couple of years, do the best I could, and hope I got out unscathed.

[02:50] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: Okay, so you sort of touched on this, but what was the political atmosphere of the US when you joined, in your opinion?

[03:00] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Yeah, well, you know, one of the problems was I always relate to my father, who did the battle of the bulge and the Normandy invasion. And when I looked, when he came back, there were ticker tape parades and everything. People were so respectful. And he came out and got out in the New York City area, where parades were everywhere. That wasn't a case when I joined in 1970, a lot of disruption from probably 1965 to probably 73, and after probably 1975, and just, bottom line, was just a lot of unrest all throughout the country. So a lot of the programs and things like ROTC and things were deferred because of the unrest. The people that when the president was elected in 1968, the idea was that he would end the war, meaning Vietnam, at that time. And two years later, things were expanding and the general public didn't like the direction it was going. And so I had a lot of turmoil then because I supported both halves, to be honest with you. Look, for there was other ways. Sometimes I thought we could have gone about this with the United nations and things like that. That would have been a lot of fun, but it was a busy times, what I can say. But in terms of the military and stuff, there was no way I would walk away from it, even though I guess I could have walked to Canada, but I would have done that not with my family and the family background.

[04:29] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: Okay, so you said you joined in 1970, and I know because you've been a member of two services that you've. You've joined a few times, but we'll get there. So in 1970, you were 21. How did you tell your family that you were joining the military?

[04:47] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: You know, I had to leave home right after high school, so telling the family was one thing that they were all going to be proud for. My wife Jane, was obviously the first one I was spending lots of time with at that point in time, and I felt needed to know first. And we really worked on it together because she knew the position I was in. She knew I was in ROTC program and things, and she knew basically, I wasn't running away from any of this. And that if she was going to spend any time with me, it was inevitable that sooner or later I'd be leaving. So I think it was a good time then. You know, it kept us pretty tight, as volatile as things were, we had friends on both sides of the fence always, and we were with both sides all the time. So, yeah, it was nice. It was a nice time, actually, as volatile as it was.

[05:40] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: So was there a discussion with your family, or was it just really like you made the decision and continued on with that with mom at the time?

[05:49] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: I guess I really should say there wasn't a decision. The draft was on. I would have to serve no matter what. The only option was to go to Canada, so. But I do say I would have served anyway, so it wasn't something I regret. Finest days of my life was spent in the Marine Corps, so.

[06:04] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: Absolutely. So we'll move on. But you were in the marine Corps and the coast guard, right.

[06:13] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Spent seven years in the Marine Corps, made captain. And the only reason I really got out is because I really worked hard to apply to graduate school and all that got accepted. But when Vietnam ended, there were big cutbacks in the military, and it was costing them a lot of money. So, long story short was I didn't get cut, but I spent so much effort applying to grad school and finishing that I chose to go into the reserves. So I went and enacted reserves, and I left to take a job with Ford Motor Company and finished graduate school.

[06:45] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: All right. Okay, cool. Well, let's talk about mom for a second. Cause that's a big part of being in the military, is, of course, the support of your spouse and family. So how did you meet mom? Well, I'll tell the story, I guess. Could be different versions of it, but I think this is pretty much it. To the best of your recollection, of course. We met in college. I was a sophomore, he was a freshman, and we met at a college mixer. That's what they used to call him back then. And I knew of his family. I knew his last name and my other family members and his immediate family. So we met there and just continued dating. We dated from 68 to 1970, got engaged in 70 and married in 71.

[07:44] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: And all that time I had a beautiful 1965 mustang. That's worth a fortune. Convertible now. And mom used to always put notes on my car, begging me to take her out. Oh, yes, that worked out. Yeah.

[07:59] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: He's the only one that remembers.

[08:01] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: The notes are true.

[08:03] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: But like I said, to the best of your recollection, right.

[08:06] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Yeah, it was a class act.

[08:09] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: It really was. No, we. You know, we were attracted to each other, you know, but over two years, you know, we dated and, you know, took time to get to know each other. And then, of course, he was finishing school, he was finishing college. I was working. And when he graduated, we knew we were leaving for the Marine Corps. At that point. He was being commissioned and we were leaving. What did your parents say about that? They were very proud of him. It was hard. I remember leaving. I'm almost getting emotional. I remember leaving St. Louis, and it was the first time that any of the kids ever, really ever left Missouri or the St. Louis area. And so we were the first ones to go, you know, to serve in the Marine Corps in his family, or really in my family, too, other than, you know, our parents serving. So it was kind of emotional. But what we found out is every time we moved to different bases, my parents were always there. They were always coming to visit. So. So it had. It had a lot of good pluses as far as that went.

[09:31] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Absolutely. Military, too. You have to realize that we really didn't. Nobody was career. We never knew a career.

[09:38] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: And that's true.

[09:39] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Person that was in the military, all of them just served their duty and got out. So we didn't really have that influence. And we never planned on making it a career, as it turned out. But everybody was so proud. As volatile as the time was, and as much as even the proud people didn't support stuff that was going on, they still supported us, which was really what was essential. They supported the military regardless. So that was very important.

[10:07] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: Absolutely. So real quick, back to mom. What was your first impression of mom, dad?

[10:12] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Oh, my gosh. Mom was a class act. When I met mom at college, it was a mixer. Mom doesn't like call a mixer, but I said, that's what a mixer was. It was to meet other young people. We didn't have, you know, the Internet and doing that sort of thing, so we didn't go to the Internet cafe, social media. And the only other way I met people was I'd work in the dairy at the grocery store, and if I saw a nice young lady on the date, I'd wait till grandma came through and she tried to grab the milk, and I grabbed the backside of it and start up a conversation. So if I got, I'd get a date that way, so. But anyway, I was lucky enough that mom at the mixer there, where we were all meeting a lot of folks that evening, of course, mom was all decked out because you know how the girls are for a mixer. I think the guys aren't so. Guys are a little shabby, but the girls all come out to catch a. Catch a thief, so to speak.

[10:58] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: You must have looked good, otherwise I wouldn't have looked at you, right?

[11:02] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Well, mom was a class act. And then the other thing about mom, it didn't take me long. My dad and I graduated the same military prep school and high school. And sure enough, my mother, who could read women like a book, graduated the same catholic school that my wife went to. So whenever I would talk to my mom, she could read those girls like a book. And my mom really liked jane, which didn't put any pressure on me because she was a class actor. There's no way I'd ever let that go. It's like looking at the stars and seeing heaven, you know? I said, oh, well, I gotta go get that. I'll probably never get there, but I gotta go.

[11:42] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: This is archived. All right. So how many children do you have, and where were they born? And I think this is relevant to the military story. I was the one that bore the children. We kind of made a joke about it after we had the three girls. Oldest daughter, Jennifer, was born in Okinawa, Japan. How that came about was when your father. We had gone home, and it was Christmas of 1975. We had gone home to St. Louis. We were stationed in North Carolina at the time. We went home, told everybody I was pregnant. Baby was due in August. We came back, and I remember this to the day, because I remember his expression. He came. He went back to the base to sign in that he was back in North Carolina, and he came home. His face, when he came in the house, he said, I've got unaccompanied orders to Okinawa, Japan. And I was, like, three months, two months pregnant or something like that. And he said, you know, I think it would be smart if I leave as soon as I can. And, you know, that was the way we started in 1976. It was, I think, six weeks after he came home on New Year's Day, found out he had the orders, he decided to leave. And so I stayed in North Carolina. And once he got over there, he realized that more of us wives were paying our own way over. They said we. Nobody said we couldn't be there, but you had to, you know, remain off the scene, sort of, so to speak, not to interfere with what he was over there to do. And so I did go over. He said, you need to come over. A lot of the wives are coming. I paid my own way over there, got my own visa, passport. I was almost seven months pregnant. Got there in June, baby born in August. So Jennifer was born at Kamkui army base in Okinawa.

[13:59] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: You got to remember now, I never saw my classy wife pregnant at this time. So now she's seven months, and she gets off Pan Am Airways. And I'm surprised we didn't have to get her off of the wheelchair. But anyway, I see her wiling down the stairs, and I go, boy, she is never going to have another baby with me again. After doing this tour, getting her prayer and then leaving town, it was like, oh, my golly, this could be a problem.

[14:20] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: So she was born there in August, and we decided, you know, we were young. I think we were 26, 27 years old. We were young and we decided we may never get back to this part of the world again. We put her photo on my passport. We traveled to Taipei. We went to Hong Kong with her and were there for about ten days. Just traveled with her over there and came back the end of December.

[14:52] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: If they would have caught the wives in the Marine Corps, the air force at Kadena had accompaniment, and so did the army and navy. Well, not all the navy, but unfortunately, the Marine corps at that time, again, was still a pretty serious time. Even though the war had ended in Vietnam, it's still very serious. And we were still evacuating embassies over in the Philippines and all that sort of thing. So one of the keys was we really, we couldn't use any benefit. Well, we snuck on the army base to have the baby, but for the most part, we had to keep everything really hush hush. And we buy supplies. We were only limited to what I could take as a single. So when I wanted anything, we really had to live off the japanese economy with the japanese folks who treated us.

[15:33] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: We lived in town.

[15:34] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Wonderful. We had six or seven wines that we snuckd, have to say, snuck over. But that's what I have to say, because we were on a company, and if they caught you there with your wife, you'd be sent on a carrier overseas. They put you on a carrier or destroyer, you're gone. Because they want your wife to go. They can't tell your wife to go home. And matter of fact, that was the first time I should say this, that the women sued the United States Marine Corps. All the wives got together and said, hey, this isn't right. The Air Force, Navy, all these people can bring their wives and they also have housing and everything for them. We couldn't do that anymore.

[16:04] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: That.

[16:04] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: But again, that changed over time. It was pretty special time. So it made it even more fun for us because we're kind of incognito, which was something we really didn't do before.

[16:15] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: So that was Jennifer, Sarah, you came next. And that was Kodiak, Alaska, and march of 1979. And you were born. You were the only baby in the hospital at the coast guard base on us, Coast Guard based Kodiak. Only baby in the hospital. I think the only other person in that very tiny support center hospital was a man with a broken leg. So it was a very small hospital, but so we were there. And the joke goes, every time we got orders, I got pregnant again. And so when we were getting. When we had orders to leave Kodiak to go to Coast Guard Bay's Clearwater, I was pregnant. When we left Alaska, I was pregnant with Liz, and we moved to Clearwater. She was born at MacDill Air Force base in December of 1980. So that's the three girls.

[17:14] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: And when Sarah was born, just for edification, it was kind of a shock to us. But the doctor, nurse doctor, I think, was, like, one of his first or second deliveries. He was a young guy right out of school. But what was interesting is we had all male nurses, was the first time, really, we were getting. Male nurses were really becoming plentiful. So there were a lot of them training and coming into the practice, which I hadn't really seen that much before. But sure enough, four young boys asked if it was okay to come in for the delivery. So we got, like, six guys in the room and my wife having this baby, and it was a lot of fun.

[17:46] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: It was the first time they'd ever seen a birth.

[17:47] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: So, yeah, it was St. Patrick's day. They decorated us with all kinds of green. I mean, it was like we almost forgot what day it was. And it was a big snowstorm that night. When I. Even though it was March 17, it was a big snowstorm, and I had to load Jane up in a four x four just to get her to the hospital in the snowstorm. So it was like. It was a lot of fun. All the guys showed up.

[18:10] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: We were younger. Yeah, I would say. I think I would probably be very scared to give birth in a foreign country or in a military hospital. Like, not anything doctors, but just young. You're naive, and you just. I don't. Maybe it wasn't. It was naive, but it was just. You're just young, and you just. I don't know, it was just a different time. You know, I would probably be terrified. I've had two babies, so I would be terrified. But I think my favorite story is the one about Jen. Not necessarily about Jen, my older sister, but that you were unaccompanied, and that's kind of the key word with the. The first mobilization for you at the time that you were not accompanied in your travel to Japan. You were not allowed to bring somebody. It wasn't going to be paid for by the military. Exactly. So I think that's a key point, is that you still. You made that work, and that. I always thought that was kind of one of my favorite stories that you guys snuck over there.

[19:17] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Well, we should almost have to ask why you became an officer in the Navy, you know, but I won't get into all that unless you choose to, to share some of that with us. But the interesting thing was, during that period of time, I got to commission in college, my best friend that we were in the Marine Corps and the coast guard together. I commissioned his son out of college, and I got to commission sare in Washington, DC, which was really a special day. And so our day, our day ended up that day. To tell you what it was like. It's just we had a really great time down the Navy yard downtown in Washington, DC. And as we walked around, we were still in uniform. We went out for dinner and a nice chinese restaurant there. So we had dinner up in Chinatown. And all the people, I was, like, stunned because I was almost a little afraid to walk around in uniform in some of those parts of town. And I'm going to tell you what, people laying on the street, I don't hate to use the word bums, but that's basically what it boiled down to, okay, just homeless folks that just didn't have any other availability of any help were there, and they were waking up as we walked by, thanking us for our military service, which was just like a total shock as we walked, my uniform. And after dinner, we headed over to Arlington and then visited a bunch of our friends over there at Arlington Cemetery, which was a pretty special night. So just a very special, again, family dedicated with the military, even though nobody planned on careers pretty much an entire life of military.

[20:41] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: Well, so we'll shift gears a little bit. I, the, I've had friends say to me that our family's closeness is uncanny. And they always say, like, how did that happen? And I said, well, honestly, we are a military family. We moved around every few years to a new city in a new state. And the, you know, sometimes the only person that knows you and that, you know, when you're the new girl in school to sit with at lunch is your sister. Know, in my case, because I had two sisters. So I said that sort of, you know, grew that, that, uh, closeness of our family that people have reacted to, they'll, they'll say that to us, you know, gosh, you guys are so close. Like, you know, not in a super weird way, but, you know, um, so what do you, what would you say would be something you wish civilians understood about military service?

[21:45] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Well, I'm going to take some of that. But one thing that they really need to know is, I'm going to give you the bottom line first, then explain it. But there's really no difference between the military and civilians. I think the civilians think there is, but it's because they've never experienced the other half, nor do they have a family member that ever experienced it. So, because it's very limited. But what you'll find is there's no real difference. And, for example, when I first got out of the Marine Corps, spending my year at Ford Motor Company, had the best job of my life, but I didn't fly airplanes then, and that was what really kind of pulled me back to the military. And I was a poor boy, so I didn't have the money. I needed that money, that training, which nobody was going to pay for except them. But anyway, I worked for Ford Motor Company, and I'm going to tell you what, when I got out, I was shocked, because I never had a civilian job before. I worked for McDonnell Douglas as a civilian in college with a college program and stuff like that, but not the same. So this is the first time I had a real job, was the Marine Corps. So when I got out, I thought, I'm going to get a real job. And the military is just. I don't want to say a waste of my time, because it was never a waste. But at that time, I kind of. I was young, naive, and I thought it was. I thought I got to get on with my life. Just serve and get on. Anyway, long story short, when I went to work for Ford Motor Company, there was no difference from Ford Motor Company as there was with the Marine Corps. I mean, it was identical. I never knew that, other than the fact I wore a different unit. I wore a blue pinstripe suit or dark blue, a white shirt, always. That was back then. Okay. Very required. If I grew my beard, which was the first time in life, I said, as soon as I get out of the military, I'm growing a beard. Because I've been in uniform all my life, I could grow it. They wouldn't say a word to me. But I know real quick from the office that I was surrounded with, and everybody in this office had master's degrees, okay? I couldn't get the job without that. Where I was working in Detroit, long story short, you would never go up the ladder now. I would have my chair, I'd have my job. Nobody fired me. But it would be frowned upon because I had to either pick, am I going to be going up the ladder at Ford, or am I staying with the military? What am I doing? And that was from their advantage, even though I was trying to do them both. That was never going to work. But anyway, there is no difference. So when it really boils down to with the civilians and things is you all have to strive for the education, you have to strive for that community of family and things like that, I think the big, big difference probably sacrifice, but it doesn't mean you don't sacrifice as a civilian for some of these jobs. You sacrifice a great deal to hold certain positions in the economy. So I don't see a lot of difference there. Your marriage partner, regardless of the military or civilian, it doesn't matter if you don't have a solid partner. You got a problem. I'm going to tell you right now, I don't know what kind of problem, but you got one. And there has to be a career balance and things like that. And the only thing I'll leave, then I'll let mom add in a little bit on there. But I had a mother and this is probably the only significant thing that might be a little different. That is different. My mother died at 60 years old. My sisters to this day have a very difficult time understanding why I didn't come home and help. And I did come home. Military did allow me to go home at the certain emergency conditions that were going on, but they very much scrutinized that. And at that time there again, pretty much a mail force for any active combat stuff. And I understood that, but they did not understand that. And I, to this day I don't try to explain it because it's very difficult to understand and things have changed a lot nowadays. But in any event, that's one of the things I wish they could understand a little bit. Like I said, I think goes back to the World War Two situation we talked about is that I really appreciated, particularly the timeframe when I was getting spit on being in uniform and things like that. My dad's getting a ticker tape parade. I'm getting spit on being called a lot of wild names and things like that because I'm in uniform and I really hadn't served day one yet. I was ROTC and stuff. But what it was, it was the people that were, they supported the military. They didn't support, they didn't divide themselves emissions because there's a big difference there. But they loved the military and they took care, they liked to take care of us. So it was nice in that sense. I really appreciate those people.

[26:03] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: So, mom, as a military spouse, is there anything you wish civilians understood about military service? You know, I think what they have to understand is every time we moved, you felt like you were still moving within. I mean, you might have gone to a new base or a new area, but you sort of had acquaintances or a community of maybe Coast Guard wives, Marine Corps wives, you know. So there was always that sense of community and in it. And then not only being part of that, but then you also have to go out into your own in areas that we did live, like in Astoria, where we. When our children were. You were in school and everything like that. You know, we were part of that education program and got to know people in the community. But I really think it's. Yeah, it's. It's more or less. You just get familiar with people in your own group, but then you do have to expand outside of that.

[27:17] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Military people are always required to get involved with the community, and it's the only way you could. When you move around every three years or two, whatever it is, you have to rely on the community. You have to get involved right away. And volunteering. There's no place that I haven't been that we haven't volunteered. And you have to do that immediately because you have to be very involved with the children's school because. And church. So I don't want to preach religion or anything, but where are you going to find people that you're going to want to hang around? You go to church. Those are people you're going to want to hang around. There's just nobody there you dislike. So you go to school with all the parents that are really interested in their children. Okay? They're not just dropping them off at Sunday school. They're there with the kids. They're very concerned. You hear them arguing with the teacher. You guys are in the class anyway. You're hanging around good people there. So you really got to get in that community fast when you move. And not only that, you never stick your nose at the community. You live like the community. So I don't go in the community and tell them I'm from Florida.

[28:14] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: I think you blend in. You've got a blend in.

[28:16] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: God, you go to Japan, you act like japanese people do. You sit on the floor, you learn. You learn to use chopsticks. You. You try to do the best you can. I try to learn some of their language so I can say thank you. Please. I always had to learn to get my vanilla and chocolate ice cream, but those would be words I'd learn right off the bat. But anyway, yeah, you just. And again, I don't see that being any different than as a civilian. If you took a civilian with some of the transfers they have, say you're with a big oil company or whether you're going to go international commuter, computer companies, whatever, they have the very same challenges. So they're really people see a difference. And what I'm going to tell you right now is the difference is not the uniform. Everybody thinks the military is the people walking around in uniform. Well, that's, that's ridiculous. The military people are just like World War Two. It's somebody, Rosie the Riveter. It's somebody that couldn't serve because he had flat feet. It's people that supported the military in some fashion or just said hi or invited you over for dinner. My dad in World War Two used to, he'd go to church, and the first thing they do and afterwards is somebody grab a hold of his children, where are you going? Because they had to be in uniform then, so they stuck out like a sore thumb overseas. But they go, where are you going today? And he'd say, well, no, I got nothing to do. You're coming over to our house, meet the family. You're coming over for dinner. Now, that didn't happen to my generation, but the people still supported, when they came out with the yellow ribbons and stuff, it was, it was really a sight for sore eyes.

[29:42] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: So moving from civilians, being a military couple, you know, career military couple, to services, civilian career as a pilot afterwards, do you have advice for other military couples? Perhaps one or both folks are members of the military. Well, it kind of goes back to just what I was talking about. Be, get involved in community. Find a place where you can be part of a volunteer group in your children's schools. Get to know your neighbors. They're going to want to get to know you.

[30:32] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: And young folks call that networking. But it's the same thing, just different words, but the same thing we've always had to do.

[30:40] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: Adapt and network.

[30:42] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Yeah, it's essential.

[30:44] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: It really is. You've got to get to know people, and chances are the children that you're the parents of, the children that your children are in school with, those will be going to be the ones you're going to probably get to know better. Or maybe your children belong to the Girl Scouts or Boy scouts or something like that, and you'll blend in with that group. So now you have six grandchildren and they range from seven months to 16. Yes. Yes. My oldest nephew is 16. So what would you like your grandchildren to know about your military service? And that goes for both of you. Dad service, mom service as a spouse. Right. Right. I think what they need to know is that, is that their grandfather. It was a commitment. That word is hard for some people to understand nowadays because, you know, oh, if I don't like it, I'm just going to quit. Well, when you're in the service and you sign and you take that oath, it's a commitment. You can't just say, well, I'm going to give you my two weeks notice, and I'll see you later. That's not what it is. And I think children and our grandchildren need to understand that commitment means service. It means I'm going to protect my country. I'm going to make a sacrifice, and, you know, it's an honor to do that. And to me, the big word is commitment. That's what I want my grandchildren to remember.

[32:28] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Yeah. It's more like, you know, the commitment goes along with the word sacrifice. It's an, again, we're not any different than the civilian field, career field is going to be okay. It requires all these things. Work ethic, I guess, is what I would call it. You know, it doesn't matter, military or civilian. You need that work ethic and things like that. You also need to be following good people. When you find those good people that you admire, they call them mentors nowadays. We don't really call that. They would just look for some good friends that we're going up the chain, but they take good care of you. And we talk about some of the friends that looked after us when we first had the. Actually, when you were barn, Sarah, when the commanding officer came to my house, and I was a little old junior grade officer, comes to our house on Sunday to meet the baby, to see, you know, take the time out of his schedule, which was extremely busy over there. He had ships, airplanes, he had all kinds of stuff. But the admiral came by to see us and things like that. It was fantastic. So when we're talking about the grandchildren, we hope that they see all that there. We don't push it at all. I've had to be very careful about that, not to push it, because if somebody were interested in it and asked me about it, well, gosh, I just take them under the roof real well and help them out and just push them right around. I've got to mean, I know everybody in every branch. I've served in every branch. As a matter of fact, I was in the army. I was in the air force and college. I was in the Marine Corps during Vietnam timeframe, I was in the coast guard, Desert Shield and so I've been, you know, I've been the Navy. I spent my time at Navy flight school and Air Force flight school. So for engineers. So there's not a service I'm not familiar with. And I love it when the kids talk like that, but almost the first words out of my mouth are always, always, this is your parents. Know what you're trying to do here, what you're doing. I said, would you mind bringing them down? I see you come over my house anytime, but would you bring them along at least for our first conversation so we can just kind of talk and see where we're at on this? Because I get so excited about it that, you know, I could sell it. And thank God I've never been a recruiter because I probably would have done pretty good at that. But in any event, it's a very special thing, in particular with the grandchildren and trying to teach them about patriotism. I was trying to explain the word one day, and I said the easiest way, I can't really explain the word to you, but I said, you know what? We're going to leave from Florida and go to St. Louis. And I said, you just look at the flags on a holiday in the front yard, and what you're going to see right away is as we move north in the midwest area, you're going to see tons of flags. Dealers will be finding flags bigger than my house. So you see, this is what I call patriotism to the United States, okay. And to service for our country and things like that. And it doesn't have to be military again. Could be Congress, senators, whatever, volunteering for your, you know, the mayor's office for a little period of time. So there's not as many differences as the folks really think. And it's really been a proud career for me. But I do have to watch it because it's contagious. I could. I could sell it in a minute, but I'm very careful. And matter of fact, I should kind of end with this kind of tone, is that I know once in a while I have a lady ask me, particularly right now, with all the volatility that's going on right now overseas and somebody be worried about their son or daughter getting shifted out and shifted overseas right now. And I look up on them and I don't know quite how to answer their question. I'm almost afraid to even answer it because again, I'm talking to somebody that doesn't know a lot about the military. And I would look at them and I would just say, I think my simple words were, I don't think there's a finer place in the world. We have the finest military in the United States of America and the entire world. We have the most sophisticated economy, equipment. Our people are trained so well. I said, I just don't think I would waste a lot of time doing so much worrying as I would other supportive things, like just being a good mom and make sure that letter and box of cookies gets over there. Just some simple things, but I know they worry so much, and I hate to see that because. And they're with good people that are going to really look out for each other, which is really nice.

[36:28] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: So for our last few minutes, so let's shift gears one more time and talk about any folks that you might have stayed in touch with over the years, any military friends that you were stationed with. Do you keep in touch with anybody? We are still in touch with a couple that we went through flight school with. So that was probably 1974. So all these years, still keep in touch with them. It's great. We always hear from them at Christmas time. I always look forward to their Christmas card. And, of course, some dear, dear friends of ours that we spend a lot of time with. And I know you remember them, too. And he, unfortunately, is now interned in Arlington National Cemetery, but did a lot of holidays with them, a lot of dinners, a lot of fun time. And you basically grew up with their son pretty much, because they only had one child. And you know, your military, you're away from home, so the military members you're with on base or off base, they become family members. And sometimes you know them, as the years go by, better than your own family members, because you do spend a.

[37:46] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Lot of time with them and the community as well. When we go to school and meet folks, when we'd have a party, it wouldn't be just military. That would be ridiculous. We would love to have the neighbors and generally the people, really, where we met, most of our friends is from school for the children's school. So we'd meet the other parents and they would be part of our party, and we'd have a party over their house and drag a couple military folks. You know, it would really be, it'd be a lot of fun. And nobody really noticed the difference. I don't think we really. I didn't really notice a difference in the military. People draw a lot of differences nowadays that I just don't see or never saw when I was in the military. Military is like a big gumball machine.

[38:22] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: We do. We do keep in touch with quite a few folks. Yeah, we really do. Christmas is a great blend of a.

[38:28] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Lot of beautiful people. Yeah, that's what a gumball is.

[38:31] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: It's nice to see.

[38:32] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: It's a rainbow.

[38:34] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: Well, I'll say that I think that your level of commitment to country, family, and to your spouse has been a great example to me. I know, to my sisters as well. And I think that you may not think that has anything to do with the military, but I think that has a, you know, has colored your commitment to those things was your commitment to the military, and that is why we chose to do this interview today. That was something great to share and to record.

[39:09] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Thank you for arranging it for us all because, yeah, without you and Julie.

[39:13] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: And stuff to put on, it actually helped us bring up a lot of memories and. Oh, yeah, talked about a lot of things that the questions brought up, you know, memories and things like that. So it was fun. It was a little bit of a research.

[39:30] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: We do have a few minutes.

[39:31] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: I actually have a couple questions, if that's okay. So, Sarah, did you say that you were commissioned into the Navy at the. At some point? Are you still in the Navy? I am. I'm actually a reserve officer in the Navy, and I am a career civil servant on federal side. You can see moving boxes. Well, you can behind me because my husband and I are about to take a tour of duty overseas for my civilian job as well. Wow. So was there something about your father's service that made you decide to make that decision in your own life? You know, I would say it was definitely the. The way I grew up in the military, as a military brat, as a classic brat, like people say all the time, well, where are you from? And I said, well, pick a state. You know, I would say that the experience I had growing up definitely influenced me to join the military and to make that commitment also on the civilian side to the federal service. I also graduated college just months shy of the events of 911. So, you know, the combined life experience I'd had up to that point at 22 years old, and then those events culminated in my decision to move forward and, you know, join the federal government at the time. And then years later, when I was really ready to commit, I always say the military is not a country club. It's the military. So then I joined the Navy as a reserve officer. So I would say absolutely.

[41:09] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: When she says the federal government, she means she's a federal law enforcement officer. So, I mean, it's kind of. It's kind of there's a difference between pushing paper in the federal government and law enforcement.

[41:19] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: Right. Everyone's serving.

[41:22] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Absolutely.

[41:23] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: And Leonard and Jane, how did you react when Sarah came to you and, and told you that she was going.

[41:30] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: To be joining the Navy?

[41:32] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: I was a little surprised. I don't think we knew it that far in advance. I don't remember hearing about it that far in advance because she was in Washington, DC, so there was a lot of influence up there. And she worked with some gentlemen in her, in, in the position. She worked up there and I think they had some influence on her. They were, I think, in the reserves. So she had a lot of conversations with them. I was a little surprised. We were surprised. I'm pretty sure we were.

[42:05] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: Well, yeah, but Sarah, at that point in time, by time she joined, not the right term to say, but Sarah was in tight with the admiral from the navy. She also was in tight with the Marine Corps, heavily decorated colonel. So I don't mean to say, but her influence was unreal. And then a couple master sergeants, they've been around and could tell stories like you wouldn't believe.

[42:26] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: Being in DC, it's contagious. You're in that. You're in that environment. Let's just. The circles you're in, the circles you're in, the people that you end up having exposure to had, right? Absolutely.

[42:40] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: It was later in life, too, because back when I served, you couldn't really join after 26. Sarah was older than that when she joined. So it was kind of little bit surprised. I was, we were so excited. I was so excited. This is, I mean, I'm just so excited now that she's going in her, you know, going over internationally. We're very excited about that, too. Although we're going to miss our little grandchildren because it's going to be difficult and expense on retirement, trying to get back and forth. But long story short, we're going to miss, that's probably what we're going to miss the most. But it's one of those sacrifices you deal with for the better good. It's so good for the children. It's just so good. Yeah.

[43:15] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: That's wonderful. Those were my questions. I don't know if there's anything else either or any of you want to, want to share.

[43:24] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: I think we pretty much appreciate it. Julia, we appreciate you hosting us all.

[43:29] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: Thank you.

[43:30] LEONARD DEUTSCHMANN AND JANE DEUTSCHMANN: We love NPR.

[43:31] SARAH DEUTSCHMANN: We appreciate the facilitation.