Al Skinner

Albert Cameron Skinner, "Al," age 80, died on July 2, 2012. I found out only recently. Al and I were in Vietnam together. He was a terrific combat chaplain. What I always liked about Al was that he was irreverent, meaning he couldn't stand pious, hypocritical, "holier than thou" attitudes. Al was the first chaplain that I'd ever known who cussed. Now, this may not seem like a biggie to most but to me, it was colossal. I cussed all the time but it was always in my head. Al actually cussed out loud. We are not talking heavy duty stuff, mainly damns and hells and on occasion, f..k. It was always appropriately placed. For me, I could say damn or hell and it sounded out of place (I admit that I've learned. I call this my cussing blog). I just couldn't learn how to do it. Al had it dialed in. Where Al and I really hit it off was the year we were together at the Chaplain's School at Fort Hamilton, New York. (in the old days, the military sent career officers to a year of specialized training)
As part of our "Course", we took "masters" work at Long Island University. Al could never get over the fact that LIU was in Brooklyn. He loved Brooklyn and hanging out on Flatbush Avenue. We had this one deli where we would get these giant kosher pickles. When I started talking, Jacob, the Jewish owner always laughed. Al loved it and always said something like, "don't you know that Yankees think you Southerners are dumb." He belly laughed. We had the most fun.

Al and I were both country boys and Al, had grown up in upper State New York, on a dairy but was schooled in the ways of the world. He could cuss for goodness sake. But, I didn't have a clue about many things. Al delighted in telling folks his Southern buddy thought gay meant happy. Al Introduced me to the White Castle hamburger place. We had some great discussions sitting and watching traffic on the Verranzanos Narrows Bridge. I was in a Masters program in Sociology and Al was in one on Counseling. We laughed about the classes and the instructors. One female Prof. In particular gave me a hard time. I am going to use some of Al's language, "The problem you are having with her is simple, she simply doesn't like your sorry ass." We would die laughing. Al should have retired a Colonel. He never sucked up and was always his own person and was without a doubt, the most authenic human being that I've ever known. Al, thanks for the memories.