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Service Reflections of MGySgt John Street, U.S. Marine Corps (1972-1999)

Service Reflections of MGySgt John Street, U.S. Marine Corps (1972-1999)

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Well, I was a little bored with school for starters even though I was a very good student. If I had followed my older brother’s lead I would have done two years at St. Pete JC in Clearwater, FL. After that who knows; he went into the USAF.
I suppose I was also ready to get away from my life as a shy-loner-dateless nobody in high school. My best friend Jeff (RIP 2006) and I somehow ended up climbing the stairs to the Armed Forces recruiting offices in downtown Clearwater, Florida in the early spring of 1972. We were actually looking for the Air Force recruiter, but I don’t recall exactly what our motivation was. As it happened the Air Force guy was out of the office, but the Marine recruiter, Gunny Bill Goddell, right across the hall, was in.
I’ve always chalked it up to fate. When I was a kid one of my favorite books to check out of the elementary school library, which I now have a copy was ‘Leatherneck’, a picture book about life in the Marine Corps by well-known author C. B. Colby. Quite a coincidence. When we found out the Marines had an Air Force too we were hooked. We delay-enlisted for aircraft maintenance guarantees in April 1972 and shipped to boot camp in October.

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Service Reflections of Sgt James Holzier, U.S. Marine Corps (1965-1969)

Service Reflections of Sgt James Holzier, U.S. Marine Corps (1965-1969)

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I was influenced by the girl that I was dating, her father was a full-bird Colonel in the Army by the name of Col. Austin Yerks. He felt that with Vietnam, it was a patriotic thing for me to do. I was planning to go into the Air Force with a buddy of mine, but at the truly last minute, I got off the bus and went to a Marine Corps recruiter. Joined on my birthday, August 18th, and never missed not joining the Air Force except for the extra pay that they received for uncomfortable living conditions in Vietnam and their unlimited supply of food.

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Service Reflections of LCDR Ed Swift, U.S. Coast Guard (1970-2000)

Service Reflections of LCDR Ed Swift, U.S. Coast Guard (1970-2000)

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Growing up in Delaware, I spent a few weeks every summer at Dewey Beach. I recall seeing a 44-foot motor lifeboat from Indian River Inlet Station on patrol and then working with an HH-52A helicopter from Air Station Cape May, N.J.
Over the radio, I learned that some folks were rescued by the Coast Guard that day and that I had probably seen part of the rescue procedure. One summer, a high school friend and his father were fishing in the Atlantic about 12 miles offshore when their boat sank. They were ultimately saved by the Coast Guard and that made a distinct impression on me.

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Service Reflections of AOCM David Phillips, U.S. Navy (1964-1994)

Service Reflections of AOCM David Phillips, U.S. Navy (1964-1994)

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There were several events that occurred in my life which contributed to my decision to join the navy. The first occurred in 1958 when I was a young thirteen years old. My oldest brother was serving in the Navy; he joined in 1956 and in February 1958 he was on his way home on leave from his duty station in Norfolk, Va.; unfortunately, he was killed in a car accident. In my young mind, I swore I would join the Navy to finish what he had started. You see, he had only been in for two years.

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Service Reflections of QM1 Robert Grant, U.S. Coast Guard (1978-2015)

Service Reflections of QM1 Robert Grant, U.S. Coast Guard (1978-2015)

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In 1977 I was 19 when we returned home from Australia; my father was an SMSgt assigned to the US Embassy in Canberra and stationed at the RAAF Base in Richmond, New South Wales. I entered Solano Community College, living at home, going to classes full-time and working a midnight to six shift. After a year and a half, I was growing disenchanted with my life. I got off early one morning (about 4 AM in early December 1978) returned home and could not sleep. I turned on the TV and there was a thirty minute (public service) advertisement for the USCG (it was now about 5 AM). I became enthralled as I watched it, 2/3 of the way through the topic changed and focused on at sea drug interdiction in the Caribbean Sea – the narrator described this as “The Coast Guard Goes To War.”

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Service Reflections of SSG Michael Kurtzman, U.S. Army (1971-1996)

Service Reflections of SSG Michael Kurtzman, U.S. Army (1971-1996)

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My first look at the military was with an Air National Guard Unit in Mansfield, Ohio. It looked very promising and in an area that interested me (computer programming). They showed me the computer and how it requires to be programmed (wires). But the reason that I didn’t choose to go this route was that they wanted me to cut my hair (still attending OSU) just for a photo. It was still over six months until I would enter basic. I couldn’t let my hair go.
The military draft lottery drawing held August 5, 1971, to determine the order in which men born in 1952 were called to report for induction into the military.
The highest lottery number called for this group (year) was 95; all men assigned that lottery number or any lower number, and who were classified 1-A or 1-A-O (available for military service), were called to report for possible induction. My draft number was 17. I was also classified as 1-A.
26 August 1971 I signed my enlistment contract for delayed entry into the US Army. I enlisted for four years which got me my choice of military occupational specialty (MOS) and where I wanted to be stationed. My choice for MOS was communications, specifically Communication center specialist. My choice of where I was to be located was Europe. It also meant that I entered active duty as an E-2.

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Service Reflections of SGT Thomas Harvey, U.S. Marine Corps (1970-1973)

Service Reflections of SGT Thomas Harvey, U.S. Marine Corps (1970-1973)

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There were several reasons why I chose military service in general and the Marines in particular. My father was an engineer on a B-29 in WWII. He felt that his military experience was a major turning point in his life. He encouraged me to consider military service and actively lobbied that I should apply to the USMA.
I chose the Marines to make a statement that I supported the Vietnam War. I attended an elite college prep school where it was fashionable to be anti-war and anti-military. I supported America’s role in Vietnam and the worldwide battle against communism. Many members of my mothers family lived under communist oppression in Poland and I felt it was my duty to defend the American way of life. I had heard horror stories as to the break down in the Army and felt that Marine discipline, training, and esprit de corps was superior to all the other armed forces. Also, I felt challenged to do something big and demanding. I could have easily hidden out in college until the war was over but I chose a more difficult route.

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Service Reflections of ETCS Dale Hower, U.S. Navy (1968-1988)

Service Reflections of ETCS Dale Hower, U.S. Navy (1968-1988)

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My father James D. Hower, Sr, had a short Navy career of 9 months. He enlisted near the end of WWII and was stationed at Camp Peary, Virginia. He and my mother lived a small apartment in what is now Colonial Williamsburg. When the war ended he was offered an early out when the armed services were down sizing. Throughout my youth, he often mentioned that he wished he would have stayed in.
Although his time in the Navy was limited he encouraged me and my brother to pursue a career in the military. My older brother, James D. Hower, Jr. had a 15-year career in the Navy. He went to boot camp at Great Lakes, obtained an appointment to the Naval Academy from our congressman, went to Naval Academy Preparatory School in Bainbridge MD and then on to Annapolis, graduating in 1971. He separated from the Navy as a Lieutenant.
Through his and my father’s urging, I eventually joined the Navy while still a senior in high school under the delayed entry program. Like my father and brother, we were employed in the textile industry and worked at the same mill. Unlike my father, we had the opportunity to leave the small town Pennsylvania mill worker life and see the world.

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Service Reflections of SSGT Michael Bridge, U.S. Air Force (1986-1995)

Service Reflections of SSGT Michael Bridge, U.S. Air Force (1986-1995)

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Growing up I had always wanted to join the Navy. I love ships and pretty much had my heart set on the Navy after High School. During High School, I ended up getting involved in some things that started me down a path that would have ended poorly for me if I continued on it. I knew that I needed to get away from the things I was involved in and get my act together.
During my senior year, I went down to the recruiting office and spoke with the Navy recruiter. He ended up really being just a total jerk who only wanted to meet his quota and didn’t offer me anything at all. I was very frustrated with this and felt that if he represented the Navy, I didn’t want anything to do with it. I spoke with my father about it and he recommended that I speak with the Air Force recruiter.

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Service Reflections of AEC John Furqueron, U.S. Coast Guard (1961-1981)

Service Reflections of AEC John Furqueron, U.S. Coast Guard (1961-1981)

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I was 19 years old, and it was the Vietnam Era. I had registered for the draft the previous year while in High School in San Diego, CA. I graduated HS and tried going to college, but it just wasn’t for me. So, after a semester, I left college. Now, what am I going to do? I really had no idea. I was thinking of the Navy because my father had served in the Navy during WWII. He had a career of over 22 years and was a BMC. I was going to join the Navy when a friend of mine mentioned the Coast Guard. That had never occurred to me. I was familiar with the USCG Air Station in San Diego and the cutters at Point Loma, and I liked what the Coast Guard did. Not only did they train for war, but they trained for SAR, law enforcement, pollution control, marine safety, etc. I knew that my father would be spinning in his grave as he had passed away, but I went down to the Coast Guard recruiter in San Diego, talked to them, and signed up. After the physical and paperwork was done, I was offered a guaranteed “A” school, YN. I took it and was off to boot camp in Alameda.

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