Father, son work out plan to become an Army of 2

At the Van Nuys Army recruiting station last week, Gary J. Rankins ordered his son Joseph M. Rankins to drop to the floor and do some push-ups. As the 19-year-old pumped up and down, the 40-year-old father checked out his son’s form.

“You shouldn’t go down so far,” the elder told the younger. “You’ll only wear yourself out.”

Gary Rankins should know. He served in the Army from 1986 to 1994. About a month ago, he got frustrated about his job prospects and decided to enlist again. He persuaded his son to join the Army a few weeks after that.

They plan to swear in together this week. “We’re just waiting on my blood work,” Gary Rankins said Monday.

The father-and-son recruits are one of the rare scenarios possible now that the Army has raised the age limit for new enlistees to 42. Since mid-2006, when the new age limit was established, 665 people over 40 have signed enlistment papers.

The Army does not routinely keep track of parents and children enlisting at the same time, but these pairings are certainly “infrequent,” said S. Douglas Smith, a spokesman with the Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Ky. He knew of one father-daughter pair who enlisted in Florida a few weeks ago.

For decades, the Army did not accept recruits over 35. But the need for more soldiers and the improved physical condition of people over 35 moved the Army to go to Congress to change the age limit, Smith said.

Recruits over 40 still face hurdles, such as getting more blood work done to check for cholesterol and other age-related health issues, said Staff Sgt. Eugene Washington who works at the Van Nuys Recruiting Station that processed the Rankins pair. But older recruits can also sail through other parts of the process.

“They’re not usually on probation or have other issues, like an arrest in their records,” Washington said. “The background check tends to come back on those guys pretty clean.”

Older people have many reasons for joining, but the economy appears to play a role.

“The retirement age is higher now [for civilians] and if you come into the Army, you can retire at 61,” said Sgt. 1st Class William Allen, who also works at Van Nuys. “People later in life want job security, not a quick buck. This is a guaranteed paycheck and medical insurance.”

The economy certainly played a role for Gary Rankins. The Van Nuys resident said he had been thinking about reenlisting for years, but the time never seemed right. He left the Army in 1994 because he had recently divorced Joseph’s mother and wanted to spend more time with his son, who had moved to California with his mother.

For years after leaving the Army, he made good money -- about $80,000 a year -- as a freight forwarder in Simi Valley. When the company folded in February 2007, Gary and his current wife, Susie, lost their jobs. He found work at a local delivery company a few months later, but he makes about $40,000 and has to work more hours.

“I’ve had to start all over again,” he said. “With the economy and fuel prices, anything could change at a moment’s notice. I want something stable, where I’m moving forward.”

He told the family about his plans at a Father’s Day lunch.

“It’s another chance to serve my country,” he said. At the time, son Joseph had no interest in the military.

But a few days later, he quit his job at a printing company, bored and dissatisfied with the work.

His mother, Devie Olivas, 39, thought her son might benefit from a talk with his father.

“I was worried about his car and the insurance payments,” said Olivas, who lives with her son, current husband and five other children in Whittier.

She suggested that Gary bring up the subject of the Army with his son.

“I was concerned about his work, with no place for advancement,” Olivas said. “I wanted something better for him. . . . He needed a little more discipline.”

On June 28, father and son went for a long drive in Gary’s Jeep.

At first, the idea of enlisting and possibly going to Iraq “freaked out” Joseph. But as he started to think about how bored he was with his former job and how the military offered many different kinds of training, including computer training, he became interested.

Father and son went to the recruiting office that afternoon. That night, Joseph Rankins decided to enlist.

“I thought it would help me get started in life,” he said. “Of course I’m going to be scared, but if I have to do it, I’ll do it.”

Father and son got together Monday at Olivas’ house and joked about Gary’s advice on doing the proper push-up. The father also teasingly said that once Army life fills out his son’s slender chest, his push-ups will look a lot better.

This made everyone laugh, but Olivas also said she was concerned, like any mother.

“I guess I’ll have to prepare myself in the next couple of weeks before he leaves,” she said. “I’m sad I won’t see him in a couple of months because he’s been with me since he was born. He still has a curfew.”

Olivas and Gary Rankins just hope that the specialty Joseph chose -- network systems operator and maintainer -- will keep him away from Iraq or at least away from the front lines.

“I have faith in the Lord he’ll protect him,” Olivas said.

Gary Rankins feels he is prepared because he served before. He said he has stopped worrying about his son.

“You can’t protect children their whole lives,” he said.

He hopes he and his son will be assigned to the same base in a few months.

“Maybe we’ll get the same day off,” Gary Rankins said. “Maybe we’ll get to find something for his mom together. Maybe we can go hunting or fishing or off-roading together.”

His son nodded, the excitement showing in his eyes.

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jia-rui.chong@latimes.com