A long time ago, when I was a boy, I wanted to be a marine or a soldier. My friend and I practiced hand to hand combat. We were going to be a marine or a soldier. He never joined any service, while I enlisted in the navy. As I think about it these days, I realize that I would never have made it through marine or army boot camp. I barely made it through navy boot camp and it was a lot easier than either of the other services was back then.
I’m happy to have served for 11 years. I had so many interesting and exciting events during my time in service. I look back to those years and how much I enjoyed my time as an air crew member, as a radio and navigation repairman and as an instructor at the navy’s aviation electronics school in Millington, Tennessee. I got to see the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Midway Island, Wake Island and a one day trip into Vietnam (where we came under a mortar attack) that was scary for us, but to the regulars, it was just another day. The worst thing I experienced was standing Shore Patrol watches. Those lasted 12 hours of walking around and looking for trouble. I was never cut out to be a policeman.
The funny thing about Veteran’s Day is this: most men and women in service never get to celebrate the holiday, while government pencil pushers get to have the day off with pay. After my service was done and I went to work as a civilian I never got to have the holiday off. One time, while working at Burroughs in San Diego, I took a day off and I took Annie to the veteran’s ceremony atop Point Loma, California. It was a wonderful ceremony and the view from there was magnificent! We could see San Diego bay, North Island naval air station (where I spent a lot of time during my navy years) and the entire Pacific Ocean. I’ve never seen another view quite like it.
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