Former Baldwin resident Frank Westgate left the U.S. Navy under less-than-ideal circumstances in 1981, and spent the next two decades regretting it.

Now at age 43, Westgate has been accepted into the Arizona Army National Guard.

“It was always a matter of pride,” Westgate said from his home in Yuma, Ariz. “I knew I could do better; that I was better than that.”

He’s not alone.

Topekan Dan Hutchinson served three years in the Army and nine years in the Army National Guard before getting out in 1991. Hutchinson, who also is 43, re-enlisted in the Kansas National Guard again last October.

“If you are poor like me and have a mid-life crisis, you join the National Guard instead of buying a sports car,” said Hutchinson, a dump truck driver for Green Acres Truck Service in Topeka.

As America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq grind on, the country’s old soldiers don’t fade away – they’re rejoining the fight.

Old soldiers

The Army and Army National Guard recently raised the maximum recruiting age for someone without prior military service from younger than 35 to younger than 40.

Military officials have reported an increase in the number of older, even middle-aged recruits and the services are finding ways to accept them. Topekan Dan Hutchinson, 43, shown above, re-enlisted and was sworn into the Kansas National Guard last October.

The Guard and Army make exceptions for people 40 and older if they have prior military service or specialties that are needed, such as medical skills, said Joy Moser, spokeswoman for the Kansas Adjutant General’s office. The Guard offers a $2,500 signing bonus for individuals with critical skills joining designated units. There also are a variety of other bonuses.

Recruiters at the Lawrence Guard recruiting center often get inquiries from people 40 or older interested in joining, said Sgt. Robert Williams. The problem, he said, is that many of them can’t meet height, weight or body fat measurement requirements. But older recruits are welcomed, he said.

“Forty-year-olds who think they are not good enough, don’t think we don’t want you,” Williams said. “We want them for their maturity.”

Individuals as old as Westgate and Hutchinson who want to get into the military are rare, however, said Richard Kolb, editor and publisher of VFW Magazine. But after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, a majority of the people who called recruiters were older men, he said.

“They were Vietnam veterans, and they were willing to go if somebody would take them,” he said.

In 2004, about 25 percent of the 343,000 people in the Army Guard were 40 or older, according to Pentagon statistics. At that time there were 3,952 Army Guard members older than 50 in Iraq, according to the Pentagon.

Mistakes made

Westgate joined the Kansas Army National Guard unit in Lawrence in 1978. After about a year he joined the Navy and served aboard the USS Constellation, an aircraft carrier. In 1981 he left the Navy and received a general under honorable discharge, which means he left with honor but with his record marred by standards of duty and personal conduct.

“They just said it was due to substandard performance,” Westgate said of the Navy. “I was drinking and doing things I shouldn’t. I was being an immature kid out on the world with money in my pocket.”

The under honorable discharge kept him from being eligible to re-enlist in the Navy or get into other military services, he said. The Navy finally gave him an honorable discharge when he was 37.

Westgate now drives a school bus in Yuma. He said he joined because he was ready for a change, and he wanted the money and bonuses the Guard offers.

The National Guard has built into its system a way for individuals who previously served in the military but made some mistakes early in a career to re-enlist, said Cpl. Chris Dempsey, a Guard recruiter in Yuma who signed up Westgate.

“In Frank’s case, he got to hanging out with the wrong crowd, and it caught up to him,” Dempsey said. “Now here he is 43 and he thinks, ‘You know, I’ve got a chance to finish something I started years ago,’ and thankfully the Guard was able to help him out with that.”

‘Physically fit’

Hutchinson said he spent nine years raising his three sons by himself and then decided to re-enlist.

“I got them raised up. They just didn’t like to hang out with old dad anymore so I needed something else to do,” he said.

Neither Westgate nor Hutchinson were too worried about surviving physical fitness training, even though they are much older now.

“I’m physically fit,” Hutchinson said.

The possibility of being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan, both men said, wasn’t a major concern – but their attitudes have changed.

“I found out I don’t look forward to it like I did when I was younger,” Hutchinson said. “In my 20s I was raring to go.”

“If they said go today, I’d go,” Westgate said. “After driving a school bus and the way I’ve been living, I’m ready to go. There’s got to be something better. Driving a school bus is crazy work.”

Mike Grammer, a longtime friend of Westgate’s, was surprised by the enlistment.

“It really shocked me that he wanted to do that,” said Grammer, owner of Don’s Auto Center Inc., 920 E. 11th St. He said Westgate ought to be good with an M-16 rifle with a little practice.

“We used to hunt a little bit. He was a pretty good shot,” Grammer said. “Hopefully he won’t have to use that.”