Last draftee (6/5/06)

Mellinger of Fairbanks, who will turn 53 on June 12, appears to be the last draftee still in the active duty Army.

Lanky, soft-spoken, far more fit than most 20-year-olds, Mellinger is now deployed in Iraq. His work clothes include body armor, helmet and rifle. His office is a Humvee.

Last month he returned to Alaska on leave and spoke at Memorial Day ceremonies at the Veterans Wall of Honor near Wasilla. After addressing the outdoor crowd at the homey but dignified observance, then shaking hands and greeting almost everyone who attended, he relaxed on a bench in the Mat-Su Visitor's Center and talked about his life as a soldier.

'CONGRATULATIONS'

The letter came when he was 19, hanging drywall for a living, the teenage father of a baby girl. "Congratulations. Your friends and neighbors have selected you to represent them in the Armed Forces of the United States. You are hereby ordered to report for induction."

At first he thought it was a mistake. He called on the draft board in his hometown, Eugene, Ore. No, they told him, that's your number, 35-13-53-912.

Then the shock hit.

"You have to figure out what you're going to do with your life, your family, your belongings, " he said -- all at a fraction of what he'd been earning as a laborer.

But, like Jimmy Stewart, Elvis Presley and millions of others, he did as directed, entering active duty on April 18, 1972. And, like millions of others, he found much to dislike.

"The Army wasn't as good as it is now, " he recalled. Drug and racial problems plagued the force in the early 1970s.

Stationed in Germany, he sought to avoid the negativity of the barracks by participating in popular walk/run events known as Volksmarches. He ran -- "two, three, four of them sometimes in a weekend." Bratwurst and beer at the finish line supplied part of the motivation, he conceded, but the exercise may have caught the attention of his officers.

The draft ended in 1973, and nearly every draftee counted the days until his two-year commitment would be up. Mellinger was a couple of weeks from getting out, and intended to, "But my company commander convinced me that I had something to contribute."

The commander told him of a new battalion of Rangers forming. Mellinger re-enlisted and was assigned to the elite corps. There "I found a whole different army, dedicated to physical fitness, weapons, explosives, principals and standards that have stayed with me for the rest of my life."

In the 1980s, after assignments that included everything from clerk to drill sergeant to parachute instructor, he was sent to Alaska as assistant professor of military science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

"When we crossed from Canada to Alaska and I saw the beautiful country, I said, 'This is it.' "

He wound up buying a home in Fairbanks, where he and his wife, Kimberlee, get their Permanent Fund dividend checks. They paid it off last year. Family in the state include his mother and stepfather, Ruth and James Grizzell, in Mat-Su.

PURPLE FINGERS

Mellinger has since been stationed at Fort Richardson, Japan and Georgia, among other places. His current job -- command sergeant major, Multi-National Force Iraq -- is not so different from that of other noncommissioned officers, he said.

He provides communication between troops and officers, ensuring that policies and standards of the commander are understood and enforced. He travels the country fielding questions, dispelling rumors, making sure soldiers use their helmets and seat belts, sharing good ideas that come in from the field and interpreting directives that, in written form, can sometimes be confusing.

But the circumstances in Iraq make this assignment "the opportunity of a lifetime, " he said. His responsibilities extend not only to Army men and women but to U.S. military in all service branches on duty there plus soldiers from 26 other countries participating in the international force.

Mellinger spoke excitedly of "rebuilding a nation, " of the schools, clinics and infrastructure he's observed coming together.

The success of these efforts is an under-reported story, he thinks. The troops take the coverage in stride, he said. "Most everyone who is serving in Iraq, in their heart of hearts, they know that 99 percent of this country supports them."

He spoke with particular enthusiasm about what he saw in the Iraqi elections. "Everyone showing their purple fingers. Kids went with parents to put their fingers in the jar."

Mellinger was on patrol in Baghdad during last year's elections and encountered an old man who seemed to be agitated. He asked if the man was all right.

The man raised his purple finger and said, "I've lived 76 years. Today, for the first time in my life, I feel like a human being."

"That's one of the enduring memories I'll have of Iraq, " Mellinger said.

BORROWED TIME

The enduring reputation of Mellinger will likely be as a consummate soldier.

"(His) professional career is a model for all, " Lt. Gen. John Riggs said in a 2001 speech. "He did what he thought was right, if not popular, and it has been that same driving spirit that has guided his actions through his years in uniform.

He has been through the gates, paid his dues and knows the business of Army standards and caring about soldiers."

Civilians share that respect. Freelance journalist Michael Yon has traveled through Iraq with Mellinger and made a point to reconnect with him during the election.

"I knew that wherever he was, Mellinger would be where things were happening, " he wrote in his well-circulated blog.

But with 34 years on duty, Mellinger is serving on borrowed time. Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, Pentagon spokesman, explained that policy usually requires enlisted men to leave after 30 years, though under exceptional circumstances "CSMs working for general officers in nominative positions can go to 35 years."

For Mellinger, 35 years comes next May. The day he musters out, one can say that the era of the draft has ended.

Presuming, of course, that the Army doesn't change the policy for him.

"I've been asked my thoughts about serving to 40 years, " he said. But after having been the top enlisted man in Iraq's multinational all-service force, his question back is, "What are you going to have me do?"

And the question for himself, he said, is: "What do I want to be when I grow up? I've been a soldier my entire adult life."

He talked about getting an outdoor job, maybe working with wildlife. Or going back to school. "I want to sit in a classroom and absorb everything."

Then there's the trailer that he and Kimberlee bought a couple of years ago, when they though retirement was imminent, before the Iraq assignment came up. A long cross-country trip from the Atlantic to Fairbanks intrigues him.

"I'd like to go see the U.S. now, " he said. "I've seen the rest of the world."

DRAFT FACTS

The Selective Service, aka The Draft, brought millions of men into the armed forces between 1917 and 1973. Induction for draftees was not a matter of choice. In periods of patriotic fervor, such as World War II, few tried to avoid it. At other times, notably during the Vietnam era, resistance became intense.

The Selective Service remains today as a listing of young men who might be called up in case of a national emergency.

1972, the year that Jeffrey Mellinger was drafted, was the last big call-up, of 49,514 men. Most left the service when their two-year term ended. But some, including Mellinger, found reasons to re-enlist voluntarily.

The designation of Mellinger as the Army's last draftee seems accurate though not easy to nail down. It's important to note that he's always been in the active duty Army; the National Guard and Army Reserves have their own timetable ("one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer, " as the recruiting slogan goes) and longer careers.

With regard to active duty Army, though, "The facts are easy enough to check, " Mellinger wrote in an e-mail from Baghdad. "First, the draft ended in 1973." Only 646 men were drafted that year. "So anyone on active duty from 1974 forward is automatically out. Next, the U.S. Navy, U.S.M.C. and U.S.A.F. require exceptions to policy to allow enlisted members to remain past 30 years. I know of no Marines, sailors or airmen past 33 years (there are a few) who are draftees.

"That leaves the Army. I am not only the most senior enlisted person on active duty in the Army by time in service (over 34 years) but by time in grade (over 14 years). And none of the enlisted soldiers still on active duty past 33 years is a draftee but me. That leaves officers. I know of one who left active duty to attend West Point and later returned to active duty."

There are other draftees still in uniform, he acknowledged, but they are in the reserves.

The Pentagon says -- well, the Pentagon isn't exactly sure. "We don't track how many draftees are left, " said Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, a spokesman in the Army's personnel office, who was the Army's Public Affairs Officer for Alaska from 1999 to 2001.

But given Mellinger's dates, Hilferty conceded that he is "arguably the longest continuously serving draftee still on active duty." Less officially, he added, "I would absolutely believe everything CSM Jeffrey Mellinger has told you."

But we'd like to make sure. So, here's the offer:

The first active duty enlisted man who can appear at the Daily News with proof that he, too, is a draftee who has remained in full-time active duty Army service since his induction will receive a free steak dinner for two, courtesy of this reporter.

Daily News assistant lifestyle editor Mike Dunham can be reached at mdunham@adn.com.