Now if that didn't turn some heads....

Actually, during my Navy training, I finished first in my class in my Interior Communication's "A" school and, as a reward, the Navy gave out 30 days in one's hometown aiding local recruiters. My class in Vallejo for Nuclear Power Training didn't start for a few months anyway and this kept me from playing sit around and wait until then. The Navy could show off one of it's academic stars that was naive as to what the real Navy was like.

We did lots of milling around in the recruiting office waiting for things to happen and occasionally made visits to high schools where we gave feel-good speeches to assemblies and the like. My biggest memory was drinking heavily with these guys. That was the big story of their lives. Who knows if it was the pressure of quotas or that they were just overweight, horny, alcoholics to begin with but a great deal of each day was sitting in dive bars watching these guys hit on really disgusting women and getting plowed.

Now this was all post Vietnam so there were no wars, the economy sucked, and I don't think it was that tough to recruit people. It was a job after all and there was little chance anyone would be shooting at you. Part of that logic is what got me into the military which is why I always laugh when some chicken hawk starts talking about their impression that a large portion of our armed forces are there because they are dedicated to their country. I certainly didn't see much of that. People signed up because it was a guaranteed job, training, 3 meals a day, a way to stay out of prison, etc. Very few I met liked the military or knew or cared that much about politics or foreign policy. Most just counted the days until they could get out. Most of the ones that stayed in got stuck. They had started a family and bills, needed a guaranteed income, and there was no guarantee their military training would get them an immediate job.

Now I met some very quality people as well but they were certainly the minority. Within the Nuclear Power program were some extremely bright and aware individuals that were there primarily for the technical education but the workforce just outside was a bit frightening.

Art