A vet's 'labor of love'

Beloved Fort Meade figure marks 60 years of recruiting for Army Reserve

None are so old, Thoreau once wrote, as those who have outlived their enthusiasms.

By that standard, Sgt. Maj. Raymond Moran, the most chronologically advanced recruiter in the Army Reserve, might well also be its most youthful.

"This isn't work; it's a labor of love," says Moran, a beloved figure at Fort Meade who is embarking on his 60th year of doing what he loves most: finding prospects for the Army, then putting his cheerful personality to work guiding their careers.

Moran, who turned 80 last November, never guessed it would last this long. He enlisted in his hometown of Latrobe, Pa., in 1948, did basic training in Kentucky, and shipped out to Japan, where he helped keep the peace in post- World War II Tokyo.

But when the Korean War broke out in 1950, Moran and his unit, an infantry battalion in the 1st Cavalry Division, were called into battle and eventually moved deep into North Korea.

He has been a soldier ever since. He recruited in Washington, Pa., for 12 years; earned a Purple Heart (and his enduring nickname, "The Old Soldier") in Vietnam; and helped get the all-volunteer Army started in the 1970s.

At 60, Moran volunteered to serve during Desert Storm - and did so. He tried to do the same in the wake of 9/11, at 70, but the Army drew the line. "At that age, you have to be a doctor or they won't take you," he says with an uncharacteristic pout.

Over the years, his country noticed his service. Moran, who has recruited well over a thousand men and women, is the only living person after whom Fort Meade ever named a street. Last year, the Army officially dubbed its new recruiters' hall of fame The Sgt. Maj. Ray Moran "Old Soldier" Hall of Fame - and inducted Moran into the Fort Jackson, S.C., shrine that day.

Moran reports each morning to a Fort Meade office so jammed with posters, medals, trophies and autographed photos he has to keep a table in the hall to hold the overflow. He spoke with The Baltimore Sun of a long career, the changing face of his craft, and youth.

Your career really started in Asia, during the Korean War. What was it like there?

In the fall of 1950, everyone thought the war was over. Gen. MacArthur even asked my unit, the 7th Cavalry Regiment, to come back from Korea and "parade" in downtown Tokyo on Armistice Day. Bob Hope had come over to do one of his shows

Then we got awful news. In early November, the Chinese Communists came out of nowhere and attacked our buddies [at the Yalu River, in North Korea; more than 800 were killed.] We didn't even realize that army existed.

We had to go out to find soldiers who'd been killed. Many were shot in the back of the head, their hands tied behind them with barbed wire. That's who the enemy was.

Any good memories of that time?

When I was at the front lines, all I knew about my brother was he'd been assigned to a unit at APG in Maryland. But one day, here came this Army Jeep carrying an enlisted man. It was Sam! The 2nd Mortar Battalion had been sent over.

We sat down and wrote a letter home – he'd write a little in his handwriting, then I'd write a little in mine. My parents kept that letter forever.

You've been recruiting since you returned in 1951. What's the appeal?

[After that war] we had to maintain an Army to defend this great country, to keep it free. And even if war is hard, I always felt I was helping somebody. I'm delighted to talk to anybody who's interested in the military.

They felt I was helping them, too. I've never had a complaint. My [recruits] kept me informed. I still get letters and postcards - but now they're not from Korea or Vietnam, but from Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait.

What's the hardest part of the job?

It's not a job you just do a little bit, then quit for a while and pick it up again. You've got to be [recruiting] all the time - handing out your card, letting people know you're around and available.

If they think kindly of you, if they respect you, they'll refer their friends and family members to you. It works well when you have a good reputation.

Any pointers on that?

I tell new recruiters, "Always bring family pictures and have them in your office. They're a reminder of something precious in your life - a reminder to always tell the truth when you're talking to somebody who wants to serve their country."

There was a big sign in the auditorium of my high school. It said, "The truth shall make you free" And that's exactly what it does. You feel like you're a better man or woman all the way around.

Why is truth-telling such an issue for recruiters?

You don't want to tell anybody an untruth. Today, you don't want to tell anybody, "You're not going to be deployed." We've been in a war for eight years now, and we have all kind of casualties coming back. So you want to tell the truth. And when you do, you're respected for it. They understand.

Your career included the Vietnam War, when popular sentiment ran against the mission. Did you feel that?