Vaughn Barsby has had an extraordinary career, both in and out of the US Army. From 1967 to 1972, Barsby was in the Army Reserves in Sioux City, Iowa. He served as the Battalion Commander’s Jeep Driver and when he wasn’t doing that, he was on KP duty. “They really didn’t know what to do with me at the time so KP was the one place they always needed extra help,” he added with a chuckle.
In 1972, he enlisted for active duty in the army as a tanker. He ended up in Baumholder, Germany working on M60-A1 tanks. He started out as a loader and then was able to move up to the gunner’s seat.
“I also became a drug and alcohol specialist, one of the first. Back then, they would check the soldiers by pulling up their numbers, in what today would be random drug tests. I was the guy who went around and told them they had to pee in the bottle. Of course, the commander could test anyone he wanted at any time. And then there were the ones who had gotten too deeply involved in the drugs there and we just shipped them out. Baumholder had a lot of heroin traffic at the time.”
In 1976, Barsby re-enlisted. “At that time, the higher ups decided to enhance my career, as they called it, and they sent me to drill sergeant school. I was one of the first sergeant E-5’s drafted into drill sgt. school in that way,” he continued. “I’ve had a lot of ‘firsts’ in my military service.
“I was then transferred to train basic trainees in Ft. Knox, Kentucky. I did that for a year before I was training basic tanker.”
While he was there, in 1978 he got married. “I took off Friday, for Carol and I to get married. Then we had a weekend honeymoon and then I picked up more trainees on Monday.”
New orders took him back to Germany, now working on tankers in Wurzburg Germany. Carol was able to join him there and their daughter Careen was born in Germany.
“We worked along the Berlin Wall. The Army rotated people in and out of Berlin. We were on the border, with the Russians and East Germans just on the other side. It was a nerve-wracking time, a lot of tension for all of us. We were convinced that they were going to come over that wall at any time.
“They would do things that made everybody nervous like cut off all traffic for seemingly no reason. Then all our supplies had to be airlifted in or brought in by train when the roads were closed.”
After the Army, Vaughn and Carol moved back to Iowa, this time to Onana, IA where they bought and ran the Montgomery Ward store. After a year, they sold the store and moved to South Dakota right after their son, Jerry was born. Vaughn went to work for the State University there and he and Carol both earned their teaching degrees while there. Vaughn became a high school science teacher in Dixon, Mo. and Carol went on to be a reading and later, history teacher.
“After five years of teaching science, I had a heart attack in the classroom and that pretty much ended my teaching career. The VA retired me in 1998. We have 6.5 acres in Pulaski County and for a time I raised goats and donkeys. I no longer have any animals but I help my daughter, Careen who has a nearby 9 acre farm and raises goats and donkeys.
“Meanwhile, Carol with her degree in remedial reading and I wrote the state’s first high school program for at risk students. These were not special ed or disabled students but rather those that teachers could identify as most likely to fail due to lack of family support, classroom difficulties or other reasons. We wrote a similar program for Summer School.”
Together, they won an award from the state for their efforts. For the last six years, Vaughn’s wife, Carol has been the executive director of the Laclede County Literacy Council, teaching adult literacy and the HiSet program, which allows people of all ages to obtain their high school diploma. Vaughn helps her in any way he can which includes support for their many activities. Their daughter, Careen who has a degree in special education serves as the council’s assistant director and Carol and Careen work as tutors for the literary programs involved. The local literacy program also sponsors twice a year meal pack campaigns, packing instant meals that are then distributed throughout the area through various volunteer groups.
The VA and high school where Vaughn once worked, may consider him retired but somebody forgot to tell Vaughn. He is still busy working wherever he can and continuing to serve—his country and his community right here at home.
