Slidell residents, servicemen, veterans and raw recruits gathered at the Slidell Municipal Auditorium last Friday to celebrate a very important birthday, that of the U.S. Army.

The Army is 233 years old this month, and as one of the oldest branches of the service, probably one of the most important.

“We wouldn’t be here today without the U.S. Army,” said Sgt. Michael Croft, commander of the Slidell U.S. Army recruiting station, who organized the party. That sentiment was echoed by Slidell Mayor Ben Morris, who served in the Army for 32 years and retired as a full colonel. There were also three young men who had just signed up to serve in the Army, and Morris gave them a short history of his time in the service and what it meant to him.

“It was the best experience of my life,” Morris told the recruits. During his stint in the military, Morris served in the Middle East and Somalia and participated in Desert Storm.

“Serving is not about gimme, gimme, but how to give,” Morris said. “It’s a great thing to choose to serve your country, and now it is especially important,” he said, referring to the war on terrorism.

Morris said the Army taught him discipline, which he said is lacking in a lot of youth today.

“We should reinstate the draft and instill discipline,” Morris said.

That need for discipline was at the core of why Slidell High School graduate Nick Klusener recently signed up with the Army.

“I needed something real,” Klusener said. He plans to be in the airborne infantry. He ships out for boot camp on Sept. 3, and when he gets out, he wants to go into law enforcement.

That is a familiar route for Morris. After he left the Army, he worked for the Drug Enforcement Agency then was elected Slidell Chief of Police before running for mayor.

Even after all that, Morris still has fondness for Army life.

“I’d go back in a heartbeat if I could,” Morris said.