In 2003, in spite of his age, he officially left the reserves and returned to active duty with the objective of going to Iraq. “I told (the Army): ‘I’m 56 years old and I can make coffee with the best of them,’ ” he said with a grin. He left the States in April 2003.

Before reaching the Middle East, news of his impending arrival preceded him. When he reported in Jordan, the first person to spot him quipped, “So . . . you’re the old soldier,” Ker said. Everyone else was younger by far, which didn’t bother him in the least.

Ker was sent briefly to Al-Jafr with the same outfit he had served with in Vietnam.

“It was like being on the surface of the moon,” he said of Jordan. “There wasn’t a blade of grass anywhere.” He worked in the control center as part of the staff that controlled action on the battlefield.

While there, he received additional training to bring him back up to speed to prepare for invading Iraq.

“If you think about it, I’d trained the entire time. I’m always training,” he said. “But in the reserves, you only have a short time to train.” So, when Ker reached Jordan, hard work helped him to “get back into the mindset of, ‘Hey — we’re fighting here,’ ” he said.