US Navy 1975 - 1980. Honorably Discharged. I had a tiny little bit of ucmj trouble after a great night... that somehow turned into a great week.
Then I found myself hungover, broke and hitch hiking back to my ship from 3 tick infested states away. I paid the month long penalty given me at Captain's mast with a smile.
I still smile about it.
The draft ended 2 weeks before I turned 19. Almost all my friends got called and I had some shame when the draft ended.
I never once thought about going to Canada.
I was 15 in 1969 and remember how mad I got at the lousy hippies spitting on my friends and other guys coming back and calling them baby killers. Even back then the cronkites and other assorted media vermin were televising this kind of stuff in an effort to popularize leftist ideals. It made me as sick then as it does now and my first vote was for Richard M. Nixon in 1972.
I hung out for a few years but I felt like scum about not having enlisting yet. I enlisted in the Navy and wound up having to get on the bus to Buffalo on opening day of Whitetail season 1975. I did boot at Great Lakes and A school at Treasure Island and San Diego. I eventually became a shipfitter on a sub tender with most of my time spent fabricating low security steel items and installing them on fast attack subs. I was never aboard a sub while at sea.
Thank you, Combat Guys, from the bottom of my heart.
