Retired U.S. Army Col. Paul Joplin knew from his 27-year career in the U.S. Army that he enjoyed working with people from around the world. He had already spent time in Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia and Florida, as well as in Vietnam, Iran and Korea.
"I never really found my niche in the civilian world," Joplin says, "so I was ready to do whatever the Lord wanted. I said, 'I am available to go anyplace and do anything that you want me to do.'"
That vow led him to the things he has found most rewarding.
Joplin had moved back to his hometown, Magnolia, after retirement. He worked in insurance and real estate before running for Columbia County sheriff.
"I guess it was in my blood," he says.
His grandfather was sheriff in Polk County and his father also ran for the post in Columbia County. His great-grandfather, too, was a sheriff.
"I would say everybody ought to run for political office at some point in their lives," he says. "It's quite a learning experience."
Shortly after the ballots for Columbia County sheriff were tallied -- "I didn't win," he says -- Joplin and his wife, Karen, left on a mission trip to Portugal.
They had allowed their passports to expire after his retirement but renewed them in preparation for the Portugal trip. Just a couple of weeks after they returned from Portugal, someone from Samaritan's Purse International Relief asked if he could help build a refugee camp in Albania. His paperwork was in order, and he was ready to go.
He arrived in Tirana, Albania, in June 1999, just as NATO bombing ceased in Kosovo, and he helped start the rebuilding process there.
A few of the men working with Samaritan's Purse were involved in a fender bender. The Albanians in the van they hit were armed and demanding money well beyond the cost of damages. One of the men was held hostage while the others were allowed to return to camp to get Joplin.
Joplin, at the scene of the wreck, said a prayer and flagged down a passing patrol truck. The lieutenant in charge directed both parties to follow him back to patrol headquarters, but they were ultimately told to sort out the issue among themselves.
Joplin signaled his guys to head for their vehicle.
"I knew my way around Hamallaj [Albania] well enough by that time and I gave the slip to the Albanians. That's how we got out of that fix," says Joplin, happy to have been able to help.
He left for a five-year stint in Egypt just a month after returning from Albania, contracting with the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command. After a short break back in the United States, he returned to Egypt for another three years.
"We were there when they had the revolution in Egypt," he says. "We were evacuated from Egypt because I was attached to the U.S. Embassy."
In 2014, Joplin offered to go on a medical mission trip to Rwanda, if there was a place for him. For that trip, he learned how to fit people with eyeglasses.
"I put glasses on a lady and she looked and said, 'No, not those,' and I put another pair on her," he says. "All of a sudden, the biggest smile broke out on her face and she looked up and she said, 'I can read my Bible now.'"
Joplin hadn't mapped out this rewarding experience, but he had learned to trust that sometimes things just fell into place.
He joined the U.S. Army in 1961, after graduating from Ouachita Baptist College (now University) in Arkadelphia. He expected to serve two years in the Army followed by six months in the Army Reserve.
Beyond that, he says, "I had no plans."
In 1964, he applied for flight school, almost on a whim. He got in, did well and became a pilot instructor in Fort Rucker, Ala., before he was sent to Vietnam.
In the 173rd Assault Helicopter Company, Joplin's duty involved flying infantry into areas where Vietcong were present, or suspected to be, and then resupplying those men as needed.
"One unit was out in the field and we landed, and while they were off-loading supplies, one of the young soldiers came running up to the helicopter," Joplin says.
The soldier handed Joplin a postcard he had written for someone back home, asking if he would mail it for him.
"That was very special," Joplin says, his voice cracking with emotion, "that I could do that for that soldier."
Joplin ran his first marathon at 75, and has run two more since. While training to run, Joplin discovered yoga, which helps counter the effects of a back injury he got in a helicopter crash during training in 1965.
"Yoga seems to be helping me stay in good physical shape and not have the problems that a lot of folks my age have," he says.
He's grateful for that, and for other opportunities life has afforded.
"I was very fortunate in the things that I was able to do, and I worked with some good men, for some good men," he says. "I've been so blessed by being in the military."
If you know an interesting story about an Arkansan 70 or older, please call (501) 425-7228 or email:
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