Col. Smith reflects … on owning a red Corvette

Translog: Journal of Military Transportation Management, May-June, 2002

You might be wondering how one gets his wife to buy him a Corvette. Ever Since I was old enough to know about cars, I have always wanted to own a Corvette. I had even gone as far as getting a price quote on one exactly like the one I have now. I tom the dealer it was too expensive at this time and thought nothing else of it until they sent me an email telling me it had arrived. They had gone ahead and ordered it anyway, thinking I would buy it. My wife and I drove the car, discussed back and forth, and decided not to buy the car.

We returned home and discussed it some more, and called back 90 minutes later to : find out it had been sold.

We decided it was not meant to be. Well, my wife felt it was her uncertainty that kept' me from getting the car. At that time, I was commuting back and forth to Fort Eustis, as I was off mobilization orders and performing regular drill days. She was wide awake one Saturday morning for some reason as I was getting dressed at about 5:30 a.m. As she heard me put on my dog tags, she said later, the thought formed in her mind that for nearly 32 years I had been getting up on Saturday mornings, putting on my uniform, and driving anywhere from 50 to 110 miles to duty while others slept in, got up, went fishing, played golf, or whatever, and I deserved to have a Corvette if l wanted one.

She went out that day unknown to me and ordered it. She said that on the way to the dealership, she'd pulled up to a red light and then just drove on while it was red because she was so nervous about doing this. The salesman's mouth fell open when she walked in and told him she wanted to buy a Corvette for her husband. She noticed he was speechless for a while--then said he hadn't thought he would ever see her in there again.

The MTMC Operations Center folks had a retirement luncheon for me March 1. She came down to it and brought me a girl. It was a model Corvette--and she then proceeded to tell me what she had done. She immediately got several proposals that if she chose to get rid of me, a number of men would be glad to take my place.

And so it goes.