I heard on the radio, a few days back, that Walmart would be hiring 100,000 military veterans over the next five years. The broadcast stated that as long as the soldier wasn’t dishonorably discharged, Walmart would hire him or her. A dim light came on in my dim brain and I thought, “That can’t be right.”
Not every bad actor in the military has a Dishonorable Discharge. So I checked on the internet and found I was right. Walmart is going to hire 100,000 military veterans over the next five years who have received an Honorable Discharge. Big difference. In between the Honorable and Dishonorable are other types of discharges and I would doubt that Walmart would want some of these characters. The names change through the years, but the nature of the individuals stays the same.
The least offensive of the inbetweeners is the General Discharge (under honorable conditions). This is the guy with two left feet. He’s trying, but he just can’t hack it. He is a disaster and it is best that he and the military go separate ways.
Back when you couldn’t be a homosexual in the military, we discharged them with General Discharges. When we went to “don’t ask, don’t tell,” if they told, they got a General Discharge. Now that it is OK to be gay in the military, I guess it’s Honorable. An old sarge told me that he was in when it was illegal, then, he went through “don’t ask, don’t tell. Now that it is OK, he has decided to retire, before Obama makes it mandatory.
The next category is the “Other Than Honorable” Discharge. Sounds a lot like not honorable or dishonorable. But it doesn’t mean dishonorable, it means other than honorable. I hope you’re confused. You should be. The funny thing is we used to call it an “Undesirable Discharge,” but somebody decided that sounded bad (it’s supposed to be bad!). So let me say this as succinctly as I can. Undesirable sounds worse that “Other Than Honorable,” which is not honorable, but not dishonorable. Well, we got that taken care of. Anyway, Walmart is not going to take any of these turkeys.
The General and Other Than Honorable Discharges are administrative in nature. That means someone may get one without going to trial. A trial by courts-martial may result in a Bad Conduct Discharge or a Dishonorable Discharge. Definitely not Walmart material. However, they are still eligible to be Walmart customers.
I thought I went to my first Walmart in 1958, when I was a student in Columbia, Missouri. The store was downtown, not too far from campus. The thing that got me excited was that everything had two prices on it. It had the retail price and the Walmart price. I could see what a great deal I was getting. I was young. This whole experience is so vivid in my mind. I figured that the store might have been one of Sam’s early ones. So I looked up Walmart history. The first Walmart store was in 1962 and the first store outside of Arkansas was 1968. So, that ruins my fond memory.
There’s a lot of people out there who don’t like Walmart. The big box store. “It killed the quaint little stores.” I loved the little stores in the downtown area; the hardware, the office supply store and the delicatessen. I’m sorry they went the same way of Kodak film. But people will go where they can get the widest selection at the best price. Home Depot will never be as romantic as that old downtown hardware store, but we need to get over it. Walmart isn’t just a big box store; it’s a very, very successful discount and grocery store. It’s the largest grocery store chain in the country. If someone else were selling better bananas cheaper, people would go elsewhere.
So, I tip my hat to Walmart. Doing something for military veterans in good. Giving them a job is great. Just one more reason the GI should strive to get an Honorable Discharge
Witten by PJ Rice at www.ricequips.com
