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Education, Army were tickets to a better life

As a boy growing up in St. Petersburg, he wanted more. As a man, he got it. He wants to inspire others.

By NICK BIRDSONG
Published July 10, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Early on, Harry Williams knew he wanted out.

He wanted better than what St. Petersburg had to offer. And he didn't want to be consumed by what he calls a "rut system."

"You get in debt and you get a job, or you get involved in illegal activities. And I didn't want either," Williams said, explaining what he saw as options available if he stayed in the city.

Williams, 44, now a colonel in the Army and a recent graduate of the U.S. Army War College, in Carlisle, Pa., also knew something else back then.

"I knew that being educated was the only way out of here," he said.

Williams said he was willing to sacrifice what he wanted to do for what he needed to do.

He wanted to escape so badly, just the thought of being average evoked deep emotion. One evening while his mother, Mattie Williams, was preparing dinner, Williams, on the brink of high school, walked into the kitchen and plopped himself on a stool. She looked up and saw her son weeping.

He told her he didn't think he'd be able to get A's and B's anymore. But he did.

"We didn't have a lot of money, me and my husband (the late Clayton Williams)," she said. "So when he graduated from (Boca Ciega) high school, he got student loans and went on from there."

Had it not been for an enticing advertisement for the Reserve Officer Training Corps, Williams may have never enlisted.

"I saw a sign that said, "You want to earn $2,500 for six weeks of training' or something like that, no obligation," Williams said. "It was an opportunity to take a break from school for about six weeks during the summer and go do something different and adventurous."

So he signed the ROTC contract, graduated from the University of South Florida with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and earned his commission, but he didn't intend to make the military a career.

When he and his new bride, Jackie, his high school sweetheart, were in Germany on his first assignment, they decided to "just hang around."

And so he stayed in the Army - for 22 years.

He has been hanging tough ever since that first assignment, remaining competitive and always getting promoted on time. He said that of 1,000 senior leaders eligible for the war college, only about 250 are chosen, based on performance. The 10-month resident course hones the skills of selected military, civilian and international leaders.

Williams reported to his new assignment at the Pentagon on July 1.

In 1998, while attending Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Williams linked up with Andre Kirnes and William Sanders, two other local men making moves in the military.

Kirnes, also 44, is a lieutenant colonel working in ammunitions at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. The former Northeast High School student and college track standout said his promotion board meets this summer. Kirnes said that although he is interested, he is still debating whether to attend the war college, if selected.

"I'm more concerned with the promotion," Kirnes said.

On July 2, Williams came home to the house at 37th Street and 29th Avenue S, where he returns every year for the Fourth of July and Christmas.

As a military man, the Fourth means a lot to him. But not as much as Memorial Day.

"We in the armed forces, we who have served and we who are serving, all give some and some give all," Williams said. "And Memorial Day is a day to honor those who gave all. We have soldiers every day giving all. They deploy to the Middle East and come back in a body bag."

Williams, his mother, any number of his seven siblings and a host of other relatives barbecue and let off fireworks. And it's all on Williams.

Despite having skyrocketed him into a lifestyle that may not have been feasible had he not signed on to serve his country, Williams said he wouldn't encourage any of his three children to join the Army. The quality of life is better in the Air Force, he said.

Daughter Sharonda Jones is in the Air Force and already works at the Pentagon. Williams' other daughter, Jacinta Williams, followed in her father's footsteps, graduating from USF with a degree in criminal justice in May. His son, Harry Williams Jr., a top prep baseball prospect, is taking an entirely different route. If the 16-year-old senior left-fielder at Potomac High School in Dumfries, Va., doesn't make it to the big leagues, he wants to become a sports agent.

Williams doesn't plan to be in the military much longer. He wants to retire in three years to go into real estate, starting in northern Virginia, where he lives, before making his way back to his hometown.

"I'll come back here to live," he said. But he's still grateful he got up, got out and got something better almost 25 years ago.

More than anything, Williams wants to be looked at as an inspiration and not an anomaly.

"(I want people to say), "Well, heck, if he can do it, I can.' "

[Last modified July 9, 2005, 23:35:17]