Rob Slane has spent his life serving others. He enlisted in the army when he was a senior in high school in 1987. Three years later, when he was honorably discharged, he became a police officer in Ohio. Now, he drives school buses for Hoover City Schools. For Veterans Day, I asked Rob about his service and how it has formed the person he is today.
Enjoy Hoover: What branch did you serve in? What was your job?
Rob: I was in the infantry. I spent my three years in Washington, DC. Our tagline was the army's official ceremonial unit and escort to the president. I did infantry training throughout my three years, just like other infantry soldiers would. But then, when we weren't doing infantry training, we were doing ceremonial training, and we conducted ceremonies and funerals for deceased veterans.
EH: Why did you decide to enlist?
Rob: I signed up in the summer between my junior and senior years of high school. I just had a tremendous sense of patriotism. I had an uncle that I was very close to. In fact, he was the best man at my wedding, and he served in Vietnam in the army. And then, I had a great uncle who served in the army in World War II in the South Pacific. Both of those men were very, very pivotal in my upbringing. As a teenager, I felt that it was my honor and my duty to get to serve my country. It wasn't something I had to do, but it was just something that I was honored to get to do.
EH: What was your most memorable experience?
Rob: After 13 weeks of training in Georgia, I showed up to Washington, DC, on November 2nd. Well, that’s nine days before Veterans Day, and here I am, the low man on the pole at 18 years old. And, at the time, Ronald Reagan was president. Nine days later, on Veterans Day, a huge snowstorm hit the area. And so, early in the morning, all of us new guys are awakened, told to put on our camouflage clothes, and that we're going to Arlington Cemetery to shovel the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is where every Veterans Day the president will go and lay a wreath.
Once we finished that last shovel and we knew the president was on his way, we were told to get out of sight. They didn't want to see us because we weren't in a fancy uniform, but they wanted us to be close by in case we had to shovel the walkway again. And so, me and another guy, we go around the building, and we're just kinda hanging out under this overhang of a door. And the next thing we know, this door opens up.
Ronald Reagan had a very distinct cadence to the way he talked. I held the door open, but I could hear the voice of President Ronald Reagan. I hear him as he extends his hand out, and he shakes the hand of the guy that's there with me. And then I'm standing there very awkwardly, and I'm realizing I'm an 18-year-old kid who just finished basic training, and I'm literally holding the door for the President of the United States. He was like, wow. Thank you both for your service. I'm so glad to see you. So that was my introduction to the presidential honor guard. It was like, oh my. Here's the President of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, and he's standing here. And then when the door closed, the guy that was with me, we're both kinda looking at each other like, did that just happen? And then we were scared to death because we were told not to be seen by anybody. Well, not only were we seen, we were seen by the president.
I tell you all of this because you asked what the most memorable thing is, and you would think it would be that. But one of the things that we did the most in my three years there was funerals. I can’t even begin to tell you how many funerals I was a part of; I mean, it’s in the hundreds. If a veteran was being buried, they could request that the third infantry, my infantry, come and do the firing party and present the flag to the next of kin. When I was fairly new, I was up at one of these funerals. I remember as we're standing in line waiting for the hearse to pull up, there were no other vehicles. Just the hearse. And I remember thinking, well, this is kind of crazy. Well, somebody said it before I did. He’s being buried, and he’s alone. And the guy leading the funeral overheard and said, “He’s not alone. That’s why we’re here.”
EH: What have you been doing since then?
Rob: When I got out of the army, I became a police officer in Columbus, Ohio. And I tell everybody, I didn’t see combat overseas. I saw combat here on the city streets. I just felt like it was the most natural progression. I felt like, hey. I served my country. Now, I'm going to serve my community. Well, now I serve as a school bus driver. And I see it as an extension of, like, again, serving my community. That's just kinda been the common theme in my life.
EH: How do you plan to spend Veterans Day this year?
Rob: There are three days throughout the year that are very special to me. Memorial Day, Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Day, and Veterans Day. The memorial days can be about somber reflection, but Veterans Day, for me, is about celebration. I know that as a veteran, had I given my life in service of my country or in service of my community as a police officer, I wouldn't want people to walk around with ashes. I would want them to celebrate.
We live in the greatest nation in the world, and that's made possible by sacrifice. I don’t have any specific thing that I do on Veterans Day, but I will usually connect with some of the guys that I served with. There is always a phone call with my best friend that I met on my first day. I celebrate by having fun, by doing something with the family, or having a barbecue and thinking about those that I served with and laughing about some of the things we went through. I fondly remember all the time we got to share together.