A family of service to the country, I volunteered during the Vietnam War. My Dad, older brother, brother-in-law, and several uncles served in the Navy, Air Force, and Army. My desire to serve my country and help others was an easy choice during our country’s most troubled times.
A classmate introduced me to the idea of joining the Coast Guard, something I knew little about at the time. Curious, I met with a recruiter, and after watching their video, I was sold. It looked like a great opportunity to serve while furthering my education. My friend and I planned to enlist together through the “buddy system,” but in the end, I got in, and they didn’t. Looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
My dad served for 27 years and retired from Jack C. Brennan RMC in 1974. Through his influence growing up and seeing him put on his uniform every Monday afternoon, I wanted to do that someday, too. When I was a senior in high school in 1971, I heard through my dad that the Coast Guard reserves had just opened up for enlistment. My brother, who had graduated in 1970, had a low draft number and was looking for the correct service to join. He went to the recruiter, took the test, and qualified to go to basic training in April. I went as well, still being a senior in high school, and took the exam as well. I failed the first time, but I later retook it and passed. I was to go to Alameda, CA, in May 1971.
I was drafted into the military during the Vietnam War and decided to join the Navy instead of entering the Army. My late uncle, a career Navy man, said to me when I was young, “Son, if you ever have to join the military, join the Navy. “You get three squares a day and a dry place to sleep!” I remembered those words, and when it came time to enlist, it was the Navy for me. The strange thing is that I realized that I really did find a home once in the Navy. I enjoyed the self-discipline you had to have to succeed in the military and found that I really liked my job and the shipmates I served with. I was out of “A” School and at my first command for about a month when I was ordered to sea. I enjoyed sea duty, especially the days steaming underway. I found the solace of being at sea very enjoyable. I was having such a great time in uniform, and I decided to keep re-enlisting and ended up with a wonderful 24-year career.
I thought after high school that I might go into the Navy. However, my brother was killed in an accident in the Army, and my mother did not want me to attend, so I didn’t. I floundered around for two years, trying college, working for Transcontinental Bolt Company selling tools, nuts, and bolts door-to-door to farmers in western PA, and then working at Wendy’s. My father was a Marine during WWII. After a bad day at Wendy’s, I went home and announced that I was going to the Marine recruiting station. Dad, would you like to go with me? He did, we went, and I left for the Marines shortly thereafter.
In June 1971 I planned to enlist in the Navy Reserve as a Personnelman, which was guaranteed because I was a Navy Sea Cadet and did US Navy Reserve Boot Camp in 1968 and did a 2 week cruise on the USS Lexington (CVT-16). A complication for my future is that I decided I wanted to become a Hospital Corpsman. That meant Class A School, then Fleet Marine training and then 2 years active duty. Well, I was 6’3″ and weighed 136lbs.. Me hauling a Marine out of a firefight was laughable with my physique and I had my first existential crisis.I. The only logical thing to do (given my age and the fact that my draft lottery #32) enlistin the Air Force for 4 years and by the grace of God and my big mouth, I bypassed Air Force BMT and did the briefest amount of medical training the Air Force offered: Medical Helper. It was pretty amazing Drill Sergeant, I don?t intend to be disrespectful, but I already know this stuff; in fact I taught it in my Navy Sea Cadet unit?. His response: Would you like to become an assistant drill Airman or some such thing (I got a 100% on the test)? No Sergeant, I enlisted to become a medic. A year or so later I found out that the Air Force took my entire BMT Flight and made them all Security Policemen. My evidence was a Security Clearance form with the AFSC for Security Police. Thank you, Jesus, for giving me my assertive and fearless mouth and mind to seldom take for an answer.
Just a few days after graduating from high school, I left for college for the Summer Quarter at Ohio State. I wasn’t ready for college. I was only ranked 51 out of 99 in my high school class. I was in Pre-Med and took Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. I lasted three quarters and then flunked out. They called it Academic Dismissal. I knew I would be drafted since it was in 1966, and all healthy, able, non-students without wives and families were feeding the war machine in Vietnam.
I was honored to serve when my country called on me. I really didn’t think they would draft me. I was hoping to get some college behind me to have more options. I did not have good grades in school; my dad had me working at “The Big Cone” fast food restaurant, which we owned when I was fourteen to sixteen years old, so I didn’t have time to study; it was after school every day till 10 pm and every weekend. At seventeen, on September 8, 1968, I was in a single-car crash that claimed four friends: Max Pearson, Mickey Rushing, Nancy Ingram, and Kathy Lewis. I was not driving, and Mickey was driving. I was the only survivor. I made no plans to avoid the draft; in fact, I thought I would not be accepted, even if I tried to enlist, because of my injuries, both physical and mental, from the accident. What a miscalculation on my part! I believe I went through BCT and AIT with a compression fracture at the eighth thoracic vertebra from the car crash less than three years earlier. The crash and injuries are clearly documented on my entrance physical exam. I guess it was true that “All you need is a trigger finger.” Project 100,000, also known as McNamara’s Misfits or McNamara’s Morons, was a DOD program in the 1960s to recruit soldiers who would previously have been below military physical and mental standards. The number mobilized was 320,000-354,000, and they died at three times the rate of others serving in Vietnam. The program ended in December 1971.
THE MILITARY DRAFT. In 1971, the Vietnam War and the draft were still going on. My number came up, and before my draft notice was issued, I joined the Navy. The next thing I knew, I was in NTC Orlando, FL, for 11 weeks.
I was in high school at the time of Pearl Harbor. I had never heard of Pearl Harbor and didn’t know where it was. That was true for many of my friends, but we sure found out quickly. We all became Gung Ho and were ready to enlist; however, we had a couple of months left before graduation, so I opted to finish school. Many of my friends did enlist, going into the US Army Air Corps to become pilots. That was my desire also, but my father said “NO.” He was in the First World War, captured by the Germans, and gassed. He was shot, and he lost three fingers on his left hand.
There is no doubt in my heart that it was the Lord God and the encouragement of a dear/beloved friend who influenced my decision to join the US Army. Here is the quick story: In our senior year in high school, we had the opportunity to attend George T. Baker Aviation Technical School, a trade school where we would become aviation sheet-metal and power-plant mechanics. After a year at the trade school, my buddy on a particular day saw an Army commercial on TV, “Be All You Can Be In The Army” campaign. Influenced by the TV commercial, he went to the recruiter’s office and signed up. The following week, when I saw him at the trade school, he told me that he had joined the Army. I remember plainly saying to him, “Are you mad!” My buddy explained to me the military incentive the Army was offering him once he completed Basic Training. I was so encouraged by what he shared, especially the financial incentives the Army was offering for college (The GI Bill). Pondering what my friend had told me, I prayed to God for guidance and direction about joining the Army. Given the peace, the following week I went to the recruiter’s office and signed up, and joined!
I was in high school at the time of Pearl Harbor. I had never heard of Pearl Harbor and didn’t know where it was. That was true for many of my friends, but we sure found out quickly. We all became Gung Ho and were ready to enlist; however, we had a couple of months left before graduation, so I opted to finish school. Many of my friends did enlist, going into the US Army Air Corps to become pilots. That was my desire also, but my father said “NO.” He was in the First World War, captured by the Germans, and gassed. He was shot, and he lost three fingers on his left hand.
