Arkansas’ Democratic gubernatorial primary got even more interesting on Tuesday, when Wood responded to a question from The Washington Post’s David Weigel on Facebook about his past, including his 14 years as a combat veteran.
Wood served in the army for two years and went to the Special Forces Detachment 3, he said. He recounted being taken to an orphanage in 1943 as a 10-year-old boy.
“This was my closet to a home,” he said.
When he was 14, Wood ran away from the orphanage and went to live with a woman he identified as the “coach,” until a chase by police ended in his being arrested and charged with shoplifting some books. According to Wood, the judge held him in jail for a month and sentenced him to reform school.
“We escaped and went to the woodshed every Sunday and I didn’t pick up a pen,” he said.
Wood went on to serve in the army for two years and went to the Special Forces Detachment 3. He said he used to find great escapism from combat as a child, working and playing with snakes and go-carts and the like.
“I never knew it wasn’t,” he said.