AFRH-W Veteran Highlight – Sheldon Shorthouse
By Christine Baldwin, Librarian      

Sheldon Shorthouse was born in Michigan. He was one of four children and had a normal childhood. His first job out of school was being a bartender. When the bar wanted to cut his hours, Sheldon decided he would join the U.S. Army instead. His choices were photography or being a Military Police. He decided on becoming an MP. After graduating from Basic Training at Ft. Knox, KY and going to MP School at Ft. Gordon, GA, Sheldon wanted to get stationed to Hawaii. This was denied, but since they were reactivating a division at Ft. Ord, CA, he went there to the 7th Infantry, 7th MP Company. Sheldon’s next enlistment was supposed to be to Holland, joining the Allied Forces Central Europe (AFCENT). Here he would deal with international police duties with NATO.  Unfortunately, the Army changed the orders to send him to Germany. Sheldon was not happy with this and went to his Brigade Commander and said that he was going to get out of the Army, unless he went to Holland. Fortunately, the orders were changed and Sheldon was sent to Holland for the next three years. While there he married a Dutch woman. His next reenlistment was to Ft. Bliss, TX and along with this he had one year of recruiting duty at Anderson, IN. Following a one year tour to Korea and 3 more years at Ft. Bliss, including a six month joint duty deployment with Joint Task Force Bravo (J-TFB) to Honduras, it was off to Germany. Here Sheldon was guarding nuclear warheads! When the Gulf War started, his job was changed to escorting ammunition on the German trains to Bremerhaven and Amsterdam. He continued this assignment until March 1991. Sheldon was then sent back to Ft. Dix, NJ, where he retired in 1994. In his service, Sheldon received many awards including the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Army Achievement Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Good Conduct Medal with Silver Knot, the National Defense Medal, the Korean Defense Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon with #2 and the NCO Professional Development Ribbon.

Sheldon moved to San Antonio, TX and stayed there until 2015. He had originally looked into the home when he was 58. When his rent went up in 2015, Sheldon took another look at the home and decided to come onboard. Lucky for us he did! Sheldon is now our RAC Chairman and he has also used his skill from his first job and is the premier bartender at the Defender’s Inn.