By Don Hall
News-Leader staff
With the Fourth of July upon us, we need to think about more than barbecue and fireworks. We need to think about how America won and how we have kept the freedom that we often take for granted.
This is the first in a series of articles where we look into the history of patriots from Nashville, Ark.
Citizen-soldiers have been at the heart of the U.S. military since the American Revolution. They answered the call of George Washington in 1775, and they have been answering the call to serve as volunteers since then.
These men and women, our friends and neighbors, are not always career military; they sometimes serve full-time in the armed services for a few years, or they may go into the Reserves (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard), while others go into the Army National Guard or the Air National Guard before or after active-duty service.
Scott Reeves graduated from college in 1977 at 23 years of age.
He wanted to be a paratrooper and serve his country, and, degree in hand, he enlisted in the U.S. Army.
After infantry training and jump school, he was accepted into Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets. Scott went on to become a HALO (High Altitude,
Low Opening) Special Forces paratrooper.
Scott recalls his first jump at high altitude, being afraid and keeping his eyes shut in freefall until feeling someone knocking on his helmet. It was his officer, who had flown over and signaled to him, “Open your eyes!”
Scott went on to log more than 300 freefall jumps from 12,000-30,000 feet, parachuting with oxygen and not opening his ‘chute until 1,500 feet above the ground.
Over the next few years, Scott spent time in El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, and Guyana, training in the U.S. or in foreign countries for 3-4 weeks each month.
Scott left active duty in 1982, remaining in the Army Reserves until 1986. He is a retired rancher near Highland, having raised his four children just outside of Nashville with his wife Diane (aka Sweetie).
