Heard the Marines had the most challenging boot camp, worst chow, most decrepit facilities, and strictest discipline - but they got the hotter chicks at the end of the day/eve. Sign me up. I did 21 years. Ooorah!

Stayed in school as long as possible and finished masters degree. Had to enlist or get drafted. Auditioned for Army Field Band from D.C. Entered band as E-5 out of basic training. Was a good experience, great fellow musicians, and good pay except for the inferior conductors we had to put up with. They were from a different musical standard called Officers Candidate School.

LOLLLL When I was headed to Afghanistan we stopped at an Air Force base in Kyrgyzstan, not only did they get hazardous duty pay. They had a bar you could drink at, 24 hour chow where you could take two candy bars every time you left, and a cheesecake bar when we arrived.... Air Force has the best food spread by far!

Best omelettes on the planet.

I wanted to jump out of planes and beat the .... out of bad guys.




Also drank beer and honed my bar fighting skills.

fil prodded me into joining USAF. Also got tired of working construction in the mud, cold and heat. Learned a usable career skill.

Joined the Navy before # was pulled out of the hopper. Told if I did would not go to Nam. Became a Corpsman because they told me that was all that was available. What they didn't tell me was that MC was run by the Navy and Corpsmen were their Medics. They saw stupid written across my forehead. All said and done it ended up being the best thing I ever did.

Best Midnight chow for sure!

My uncle Thomas, PFC USMC was killed in the NORMANDY INVASION......My old man was a Marine in WW2. CASE CLOSED

Army, got drafted 1970, really had on choice.

Should have stayed ni school.

A buddy of mine and me signed up in the Army while still in H.S.to go in the delayed entry program and buddy system. He got out of it after having a motorcycle accident, I still went, if I had to do it again I would choose the Air Force.

Wanted to join the Marines for a long time. Turned 18 in Nov. '67, my senior year. In January of '68 I started seeing the Marines at Khe Sanh, getting the daylights beat out of them by the North Vietnamese, every night on the national news. Sitting targets, that bovine scat went on until June or July that year. Had already graduated and we moved to a itty bitty town in Indiana. Parents used the car day and evening to go to work. I would walk to town and try to get a job. Always the same story, you don't have any experience (apparently throwing hay bales didn't count). So in September I decided to call the Navy recruiter and tell him I was ready to go. Got to Great Lakes in October of '68. Got my draft notice in January of '69, which legal took care of. The rest is ancient history now according to my daughters and grandkids.

and with that who choose you?

I grew up in a very small town in CO. All I saw growing up was fields, mountains and cows. I wanted to see the world and my family was pretty poor. So I figured the Navy would let me see the world. Ended up really enjoying the Navy and spent a total of 25 years in it before I retired. By the time I was done, I visited a total of 51 countries. I was right, they showed me the world.

By the time I retired I made 9 combat deployments to the Middle East. My career was as follows:

Recruit Training Command, San Diego, CA
Signalman "A" School, Orlando, FL
USS Abraham Lincoln CVN-72 Pre-comm
USS Pyro AE-24
USS Willamette AO-180
USS Cushing DD-985
Naval Support Facility, Diego Garcia
Naval Recruiting District, Denver
USS Nashville, LPD-13
Officer Training Command, Pensacola, FL
Naval Recruiting District, New Orleans
Riverine Squadron One, Virginia Beach, VA
Coastal Riverine Squadron Four, Virginia Beach, VA

It was quite a career.