Friday night Elena is going to pitch the tent on the deck and sleep all night long. I refuse to get involved in camping. It goes back to 1967 and the Vietnam war. 85% of the deaths took place in the US Army and US Marine Corps infantry. (You actually had a much higher probability of being killed or wounded in the Marines)
I was facing the draft. I did some cold-blooded analysis. If I got drafted into the army, I had a good statistical chance of staying away from the infantry if I could score decently on their aptitude tests. I even went and talked to the US Army recruiters and they gave me a battery of tests. I scored high and they said that I was qualified for the Army Air Defense Command. I would have to sign a 4-year enlistment. But my duty would be either in the US or Germany. I would even be allowed to go to college while on active duty. The US Army people were super nice to me. I was tempted but hated to sign up for 4 years.
My nightmare was getting drafted and getting on the US Army bus to Fort Polk, Louisiana. All of a sudden a US Marine Corps gunnery sergeant would come on the bus. He would walk up and down the aisle of the bus and start pointing at people with the deadly words" You, you you,you and you, you're in the Marine Corps now." To me this would be like being in court and having a judge sentence me to death.
So while I was still a high school senior I enlisted in the US Navy on March 19, 1967. I avoided the infantry but not the patrol boats. A Purple Heart certificate hangs on the wall in our study.
I still have a great fear of the infantry. That is why I refuse to go camping with Elena.
I was facing the draft. I did some cold-blooded analysis. If I got drafted into the army, I had a good statistical chance of staying away from the infantry if I could score decently on their aptitude tests. I even went and talked to the US Army recruiters and they gave me a battery of tests. I scored high and they said that I was qualified for the Army Air Defense Command. I would have to sign a 4-year enlistment. But my duty would be either in the US or Germany. I would even be allowed to go to college while on active duty. The US Army people were super nice to me. I was tempted but hated to sign up for 4 years.
My nightmare was getting drafted and getting on the US Army bus to Fort Polk, Louisiana. All of a sudden a US Marine Corps gunnery sergeant would come on the bus. He would walk up and down the aisle of the bus and start pointing at people with the deadly words" You, you you,you and you, you're in the Marine Corps now." To me this would be like being in court and having a judge sentence me to death.
So while I was still a high school senior I enlisted in the US Navy on March 19, 1967. I avoided the infantry but not the patrol boats. A Purple Heart certificate hangs on the wall in our study.
I still have a great fear of the infantry. That is why I refuse to go camping with Elena.
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