First Things, First!

I'm a military career person. I enlisted into the United States Air Force at the age of 18, after gaining my parents signature and blessing. The year was 1969 and the Vietnam War was in the finishing stages and the draft was still in effect. A boy had three choices when he came to his graduation from high school at that time and they were: (1) go to Canada (2) go to college or (3) enlist into the military. Well, needless to say my dad was a WWII veteran and going to Canada would be "death by dad" if I ever came home and since my older brother had used all my parent's funds for his college, there was nothing left for me. So, off to the recruiting office I went. Enlisting was much better than getting drafted, at least, you were offered a choice. I did have a draft number and I remember it well; 222. I was a 1A rated candidate which was ironic because my brother failed his physical so I thought my chances were good to fail as well. Wasn't happening! I didn't know until years later that my brother and I had different fathers so the health issue that disqualified him was not present in me. So two months after enlisting at 18, my draft number was picked the month I was turning 19. Too late, I was already enlisted and in basic training at Lackland AFB in lovely San Antonio, TX. It appeared that their criteria for the draft at that time was how many men and women got killed the day before. If 200 got killed in Vietnam yesterday, 200 more were drafted and sent notices today. If I would not have enlisted, I would have been drafted anyway. Well, I'm probably one of the only ones in the Air Force that ever got what he wanted. I scored so high on my induction test that the recruiter told me I could probably have any job in the Air Force, so I said, "How about missiles?" Well, after basic I found myself in missile mechanic school at Sheppard AFB, Wichita Falls, TX. After a lengthy tech school in the summer of 1970, I was stationed at McConnell AFB, Kansas where 18 Titan missiles and silos resided. It was sure different being in the central plains with all the flat terrain as opposed to where I grew up as a child in the mountains of Pennsylvania. I would continue my active career for another 10 years, doing everything from turning the wrench on the missile to manning about every staff function behind the scenes as well. The 1980's saw the phasing out of the Titans, so that's when I phased myself out of the active military as well and separated in the winter of 1980, several months shy of eleven (11) years in the military. But that's not the whole story. More to come ......