Having graduated high school with a 2.5 GPA my prospects for going to college was zero to none.\u00a0 Their was still a draft at the time.\u00a0 The lottery for my age group, had not\u00a0yet taken place. Didn’t want to go to Nam’ but still I had to do something. So my big idea was… to apply to the U.S. Coast\u00a0Guard.\u00a0 That was the ticket. Learn a skill.\u00a0 Travel to far away places. Get clothed, fed, medical care, and get paid to boot and stay far away from rice paddies.<\/p>\n
Of course the Coast Guard being the smallest branch of the armed forces (all C.G. personal could fit inside Fenway park) they\u00a0could pick and chose who they wanted to take and there were a lot of fellows like me who had the exact same idea.<\/p>\n
But I was accepted. and in late fall I headed to Cape May N.J. . Anyone who has been in the military already knows what it was like. Especially that first day.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=miY4B4GZ-TM<\/p>\n
Of course when I was in technology was primitive compared to\u00a0today. No cell phones, no internet, no laptop computers.\u00a0 We also did not train with women, any women.<\/p>\n