Active fighting in the Korean War ended on July 27, 1953, just a few months into my training at Fort Meade. That seemed to make it less likely that I would be sent overseas, but it actually worked the other way. 

My MI battalion continued training for some months after that, but there were rumors that the unit could be deactivated and its manpower reassigned to regular infantry. Even though the active war was over, infantry units continued to rotate into the Korean theater. So my father’s fear that   I might be sent was not so far-fetched after all. 

In early 1954, the rumors proved true and word came that our battalion would be deactivated. I called my father and told him there was a possibility I would be reassigned.