05/10/2026
The Adventures of Spave and Hobo — No More Formations by Ken Birks
https://booksbyken.com
The Army finally decided I was beyond rehabilitation. And honestly, they were not wrong. Not long after, the discharge process began. I was headed home.
But those last months were their own kind of battlefield. Something new, spiritual had begun stirring inside me. Values I did not yet understand were rising up, clashing violently with the choices I was making. I knew I was manipulating the system to get out. I knew my motives were muddy. And yet, in the quiet moments, I prayed. Not eloquently. Not confidently. But desperately. I asked God to someday straighten out the crooked road I was walking. He did. But not then.
I had enlisted for three years. After just twenty one months—on June 21, 1971—I was out for good – walking away from the Army with my discharge papers in hand. No reserve duty. No more formations. No strings attached. A general discharge under honorable conditions, with full benefits. It was more than I deserved
