Milestone

Ultradog MN · Jul 22, 2021

50 years ago today I was sworn into the Navy at noon.
6 weeks earlier I had found out on the day of HS graduation that I would have gotten an unsigned diploma because I had flunked 12th grade English class.
I knew I would not survive my father's wrath so I went home, gathered what small money I had, packed a small suitcase and ran away to my uncle's house in Portland Oregon.
When I turned 18 a month later I went to the Selective Service Board and signed up for the draft.
It happened to be that all of the recruiters were in the same building so I went to the Air Force and asked how long it would take to get in. The guy there said about 2 months.
So I went to the Coast Guard and asked the same question. He said about 4 months.
Then I went to the Navy and asked and he said if I wasn't BSing him I could be in in 3 weeks. So I said let's go!
A couple of hours after the swearing in they took the 4 of us to the airport and we went to San Diego for basic training.

I did 4 years - to the day.
It was a great experience for a kid from a small town in central Minnesota with few prospects and no sense of where he fit in in life. I belonged to something that was far greater than the sum of its parts.
I still belong to it, in a way. It broadened my horizons in ways that nothing else could. And I got to go to so many places that a dumb kid with no education and no prospects could ever have gone.
It let me grow up, a little - in a safe but disciplined environment.
It was the best thing I ever did.
I am sure there are many here who share that sense of belonging to their branch of the service even today. And I'm sure they have a good story to tell.
I would be glad to read it - if they write it.
This was just mine. From 50 years ago today.

Vito · Jul 22, 2021

Did you ever get a signed diploma? Never liked English class. Went to summer school for it after sophomore year.

Vito

Johnny Farmer · Jul 22, 2021

Thanks for your service. That is a good story, I enjoyed reading about your young life experiences. Glad everything turned out for the best for you.

wingnuttx · Jul 22, 2021

UltradogMn I couldnt have said it better than you. I feel the exact same way. I was quickly exposed to so many things that I would have never otherwise experienced at that time in my life. It made a man out of me rather quick. I was Navy too. Even a Shellback to add to my experience. Sailing on the South China Sea is something a fellow doesnt forget. Especially at sunrise and sunset. Im so proud to be an American Navy Veteran. Wingnut~ Keith

Gtidwell · Jul 22, 2021

X2 Ultradog.

DoubleO7 · Jul 22, 2021

="Ultradog MN"](reply to post at 19:00:42 07/22/21)

Sir,
I too thank you for your service and willingness to "volunteer" for potentially dangerous situations on our behalf.

Especially so in that time period.

Your post was well written and thought out.

Crazy Horse · Jul 22, 2021

Great story, and well written, well done for a guy that flunked high school English. My dad joined the Canadian army in WW2, well he did but then was rejected because of a hernia. Wend down to the naval recruiting site the next day and joined the navy, their medical was less demanding. Ended up on the east coast in Halifax and they did the surgery, came out repaired and spent the rest of the war down east on a Corvette and some other convoy escort vessels. Met my mom while he was down there and I resulted from that. Always some good news from what seems like a dead end situation.

Dean · Jul 22, 2021

Thanks for sharing, UD, and thanks for your service.

Perhaps serendipity, perhaps luck, but somehow you were able to make a good decision at a very young age, one that has served you well for the past 50 years.

Dean

larry zielkowski · Jul 22, 2021

(quoted from post at 23:00:42 07/22/21) 50 years ago today I was sworn into the Navy at noon.
6 weeks earlier I had found out on the day of HS graduation that I would have gotten an unsigned diploma because I had flunked 12th grade English class.
I knew I would not survive my father's wrath so I went home, gathered what small money I had, packed a small suitcase and ran away to my uncle's house in Portland Oregon.
When I turned 18 a month later I went to the Selective Service Board and signed up for the draft.
It happened to be that all of the recruiters were in the same building so I went to the Air Force and asked how long it would take to get in. The guy there said about 2 months.
So I went to the Coast Guard and asked the same question. He said about 4 months.
Then I went to the Navy and asked and he said if I wasn't BSing him I could be in in 3 weeks. So I said let's go!
A couple of hours after the swearing in they took the 4 of us to the airport and we went to San Diego for basic training.

I did 4 years - to the day.
It was a great experience for a kid from a small town in central Minnesota with few prospects and no sense of where he fit in in life. I belonged to something that was far greater than the sum of its parts.
I still belong to it, in a way. It broadened my horizons in ways that nothing else could. And I got to go to so many places that a dumb kid with no education and no prospects could ever have gone.
It let me grow up, a little - in a safe but disciplined environment.
It was the best thing I ever did.
I am sure there are many here who share that sense of belonging to their branch of the service even today. And I'm sure they have a good story to tell.
I would be glad to read it - if they write it.
This was just mine. From 50 years ago today.

Good story I joined the Navy in November of 1972 signed up for a 3 year enlistment best decision I ever made i was a engine room electrician and spent the next 50 years making a living at it time flies doesn't it

big tee · Jul 22, 2021

Anchors Away fellow Sailor!--It will be 50 yrs this Dec I got out of the USN--Time flies!---AT-2 Tee--Go Navy

Fawteen · Jul 22, 2021

52 years ago this past February. I knew well before I graduated high school that college was a non-starter and enlisted on the delayed entry program. My ASVAB test scores got me guaranteed Electronics Technician school for a 6 year enlistment.

One thing led to another and I retired from the Navy 31 years ago this coming September.

That one decision has made my life quite comfortable. The retirement check gave me the cushion to (mostly) pick and choose jobs that I wanted to do versus taking what I could get because I needed the money. It also gave me the liberty of saying Yeah...no. I quit a couple of times.

old · Jul 22, 2021

I also did the 6 year thing and was an E.T. in the Navy. Started on subs and then went to a carrier

Tom in TN · Jul 22, 2021

I, too, did an enlistment in the Navy. I enlisted while still a senior in High School. Graduated in early June 1962 and left for Navy bootcamp in San Diego on June 26, 1962. My only plan for my life was to be an auto mechanic in rural Ohio. A personnelman in San Diego told me to sit down an shut up. He decided that I was going to Electronic Technician A school and then become a Communications Technician. It was the best decision I never made.

When I finished my enlistment, I interviewed for a job at IBM as a field engineer and immediately began a life long career.

The Navy was very good for me and to me.

Tom in TN

SDE · Jul 22, 2021

I believe that being in the military deepens your love of country or patriotism. But it is one of those intangible elements that can not be quantified or proven. Maybe you put it better when you said you have a sense of belonging to something bigger than yourself.

greenmech · Jul 22, 2021

I too am a Navy BT2, served almost 4 years. Got out Jan 1970, Ron MN

37 chief · Jul 22, 2021

I wasn't in a real hurry to enlist. Graduated high school in 1960. About that time Dad stopped farming. I got a job in a factory in town. I was having a good time, every thing was good. A few years went by, then that four letter kept coming up. The draft. Around age 22 I started getting anxious. After talking to a few of my older friends who had been in the Navy. That was my choice. My recruiter gave me a choice of great Lakes Naval train center, near Chicago. I thought being from California that would be a fun trip. I should have checked what the weather was like in March. I took some tests. From those tests I had a high mechanical abilities. The Navy thought I would make a good air craft radial engine mechanic. Off to school in Memphis Tennessee in July. From extreme cold to extreme hot. The Navy was a good choice. I would do it again. I was on a ship, a sea plane tender only one month out of four years. I was on Naval air stations the reminder of the time. Spent time in the Philippines, Viet Nam, Japan, San Diego, And Moffett field near San Francisco where got out. They did give me a chance to get another stripe if I would reenlist. Next duty station was Adak Alaska. I hear it gets cold there also. No thanks. Stan

SleepyFarmall · Jul 23, 2021

Joined the Army Sept 11, 1985. Why? Because I needed a job. Dead-end jobs around my area were bout all there was.
I was 30 when I went to the Air Force recruiter and they told me I was too old. Went across the hall to the Army and they said they would take me. Ended up staying 28 years and retired as a WO.
It was a good experience but I could have taken better advantage of it. Looking back I can see where I could have done better and more. Serving the country seemed important knowing my predecessors were counting on me to do it. My appreciation for the luxuries we enjoy and the constitutional rights we have grew tremendously because of serving. Michael

paul · Jul 23, 2021

Nice thread all around, thanks all!

Paul

Farmall plowboy · Jul 23, 2021

4 years navy, BT3

SimonRidout · Jul 23, 2021

The Naval fellowship goes beyond national boundaries, I served 21 years in the Royal Navy. Met quite a few USN personnel, the fact that your ships are dry and ours are not probably helped! Like most things in life, there were good times and bad times, often very close together. My abiding memory is watching an A4 Skyhawk drop some bombs and thinking that they were coming straight at me. They were. I had a swim but lived to tell the story. https://hmsardent.org/ardent-our-falklands-war

Gambles · Jul 23, 2021

I graduated from high school in May of 1980. I was enrolled in a local vo-tech school for auto mechanics starting in August.
A couple of days after high school graduation, I got a call from the local county army recruiter. He asked me about my plans and I told him what they were. He then asked if he could come out that day and talk to me about all the plans that the army to offer. I was open to the idea of joining the military and I told him that I would at least listen to his sales pitch. He asked if I resided at the address he had on file and I told him that I did. I was there on the farm all day. He never showed up and I never heard from him again. So I went to auto mechanics school instead.
My story can't compare to you military men, so I guess I just want to say thanks for your service.

Mark-Ia · Jul 23, 2021

Thank you Veterans

Kansasredneck · Jul 23, 2021

Thanks for your service Ultradog.

greenmech · Jul 23, 2021

Nice to see another snipe! Ron MN

GregtheDC · Jul 23, 2021

Thanks to all for your service to give us the life we get to have. Many sacrifices made by all of you. I didnt serve, spent my entire career in the Fire Service but my youngest just finished 8 yrs in the USMC, so very proud of him. THanks again to all who serve for the rest of us

indianabuckman · Jul 23, 2021

First off I like to thank all of you who served for our country, I enjoy reading your stories, myself I did not join the service but I have been working for Uncle Sam for the past 37 years and I'm still going strong. Another 2 or 3 years and hopefully I'm going to retire and play in the dirt. Mike

Hay hay hay · Jul 23, 2021

Your comments reminded me of the words of my mother. She was a teenager in the early '40's when the draft was calling up a majority of the young men for WW2. She had great respect for what a stint in the armed forces could do to develop a good reliable citizenry. She said she watched so many fellas go away as boys and come home a few years later as men. Twenty years later, some of my classmates that did not apply themselves in high school, enlisted, and got the message while in the service. Most came home as disciplined and valuable citizens.
Yours is a great story, thanks for sharing.

Usedtobeiowadave · Jul 23, 2021

6 years Navy, MM2. Stories of entire Navy enlistments without going to sea much, or at all, amaze me. USS Sacramento, haze gray and underway, been in pieces for years (or a reef somewhere) for years now. Another 26 years as a National Guard Artillery redleg.

IHC pickups · Jul 23, 2021

I graduated from High school 1965 registered for the draft which then was a requirement. Started to work running an alfalfa dehydrator 12 on and 12 off. At that time your employer could get you a defferal (SP) if you were involved in farming or any type of AG. My boss helped with that finally I asked to forget it and went into the Army. Boot camp at FT. leonard wood, MO. ATI in Fort Polk, LA. then to South Viet Nam for 12 months.
I grew up a lot and I believe it helps young people mature.

37 chief · Jul 23, 2021

in my case I wanted to be an engineman. Working on engines. The Navy thought better, and I ended up as an aircraft mechanic. Just the the hand was dealt. Stan

old · Jul 23, 2021

I went into active service in the Navy on July 8th 1974. My draft card came up 1A So I joined to stay over of combat while in boot camp the draft was shut down. I signed up for 6 years. I spent time on the SSBN 633 and then transferred to the JFK CVA67 I got out Jul 10th 1980. I have been in Scotland England Spain, Italy and Egypt and also under the arctic circle

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