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I went to high school at a small, private military high school in Kentucky in the late sixties. For some strange reason, in those days, I wanted nothing more than to be a career military officer, preferably in the infantry. (Yes, I did drink a lot of kool-aide in those days, why do you ask?)
Each year, in the spring, we were inspected by active duty army types where they came in and did a complete look at the facilities, curriculum, and our overall military bearing and each year we achieved a ranking of "Honor MIlitary School." At the time, because of the Honor ranking, we were authorized three direct appointments to each of the service academies. (I don’t know if this is still the case and der Google has failed my attempts to find out). Knowing that I would most likely flunk the physical, I accepted the appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. I figured it wouldn’t look too bad on my record while also knowing there was no way I would actually attend a military college after spending four years at a military high school.
As it turned out, I had to go to Chicago in late October for the physical (Glenview Naval Air Station). I completed the physical and as expected was advised that due to my eyes, I had flunked (I was 20/400 corrected to 20/20 and the worst your eyes could be at the time was 20/100 corrected to 20/20).
My bus back to Kentucky was not going to leave until about 8PM, so there I was in downtown Chicago, in my JROTC uniform with about six hours to kill. I wandered around for a bit and found myself in front of a small theater showing Alice’s Restaurant. The movie had been out for a couple of months by this time but hadn’t quite made it to my neck of the woods so I decided what the hey and went in.
We’ll just call it one of my early steps on the path from potential war monger to DFH.
Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the video:
33 Comments
Thanks I need to rent this again:)
Yeah, it’s a good one for the occasional re-watch, for the music if no other reason.
Heck of a story DK, and thanks for all you do and provide to us with your thoughtful musings.
A Thanksgiving wouldn’t be complete without Arlo’s gift . . . I’ll just wait till it comes around on the guitar again and join in at the top of the chorous.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, yours and all at The Seminal, News Desk and all FDL and her many partners and supporters in the comments.
dakine01, thanx for the life experience
I have a theory, one of the reasons we all want a soul mate, we share these experiences, tell of our lives, tell of our days and we increase our lives two fold
you’ve increased mine
happy holiday
I went the other way. Inducted in Chicago on my 17th and then the “Last Train to Clarksville” and wonderful Ft Campbell in November 66.
Tumultuous times for all of us.
I spent a couple of summers (including the one just after I graduated) hanging out at the local Dairy Queen trading shots of bourbon with friends who had been in-country. They helped me on my path to DFHness.
Great! We were a scruffy lot.
Yep.
I got to know one guy when we were Sociology majors at WKU. I’d first seen him going bat shit crazy at one of the local bars a couple of years before we met. I mentioned that day to him after we’d been acquainted for a while and he remembered it as he’d been six weeks back from serving with the Marines. It was part of his decompression after having gone from combat status to civilian college studnet.
I have multiple stories like that from Champaign-Urbana. With 10 days between the Nam and the U of I and 100 hits of mescalito on my pocket from my stay over in SF I was a model citizen!
great song, man arlo got better with age didn’t he
Thanks for putting this up Dak, a time-honored tradition.
Bless you guys.
I remember being a teen on a passenger train with my church choir group, on our way to a big choir festival in PA and I talked to two guys who had just gotten home from Vietnam. One had a knife wound, freshly bandaged, and he told me the story of how he got it maybe 15 times. I think it helped him to talk about it.
Watching the Lions they just said the Silverdome and all the surrounding hundreds of acres sold for $583,000!!!!
Methinks it was sold to a Greek Billionaire living in Canada.
Expect a 60,000 Seat Tim Horton’s to open shortly ! *g*
Joe Buck said they’re going to use if for soccer (my favorite sport).
It’s in Pontiac, which is pretty depressed. I’m not surprised by the low price. It would probably cost more to tear it down. I live nearby, in Flint.
Some time in 1971, I think, I failed my pre-induction physical in Detroit because of a high pulse rate, which was greater than 100. The orderly taking my pulse turned conspiratorial, and said, “Hey, what are you on?” I said “huh??” He said, “Drugs, man. I wanna know about different ones…”
Good times….
Fortunately, I “won” the Lottery not too long after that, and my draft board got even with me by making me 4F. Had to explain that a number of times over the years.
Ah yes, the old days, I on the other hand was a 17 year old volunteer in 1968-for the Air Force, not the Army, I was not a dummy-and wound up in Vietnam anyway in 1970. The biggest songs were the antiwar songs, I made a tape(which I still have, along with my tape of a Shadow Support mission -AC-119 Gunship-where I hooked up a cassette recorder and recorded the entire mission, one of many) and one of my all time favorites was Alice’s Rest. I had 20-400 vision corrected to 20-20 and passed my physical with flying colors(Detroit, May 1968). A quick story from Basic where everyone else in my unit was a college grad and I was the youngest one there. One fellow in my flight passed his physical had a glass eye, which was not discovered until we went for rifle practice-2 hours that, fired off 20 rounds, had a hot casing drop in my eye behind my glasses, a burned eye is something that takes quite a while to heal-and still another recruit was rather standoffish, was a bit slow in following the orders of the DI(he was in the flight next door, we were all in WWII buildings in San Antonio, Tx in Aug with no AC) My DI was from PR and swore at us in spanish, the fellow overheard him and finally started speaking, he was from Mexico, did not speak a word of english and really had zero idea what was going on. Arlo brings back many memories with all of his songs as do all the other folk songs of the era. Just because many of us actually volunteered did not make us war lovers or anything else, I had always wanted to be a tech working on Airplanes, I did that and also learned to fly, got certified in Boeing 737 and 707 along with a couple of other military planes like the C-47(still flying in the AF in 1970) As for myself, I had a great time, went all over the world, visited over 60 countries, traveled from Norway to Turkey by car(went thru some eastern block countries on the way, never had a passport, used my military ID everywhere) When I wanted a lift somewhere simply went to US or Brit air base and bummed a ride. Traveled all over and never went thru customs. Had an amazing time. Then again I did all this before I was 25 and finally understood how stupid it was to drive thru the communist countries in europe just on my military ID
Welcome home bro.
thanks
Yeah, the 20/400 corrected to 20/20 was fine for army and ROTC, just not for the Naval Academy (or AF Academy for that matter).
When I finally enlisted in the AF, I wound up in one of the last flights to go through in the WWII era barracks
Thanks for the good tales from the past.
In the middle 60s, I toyed with going into some officer training program for the Air Force; I also toyed with Law School and Business School, but I stuck with engineering, came out to Stanford, dropped out after a year of grad school, got a job in a bookstore and burned my draft cards in anti-war demonstrations. Also, I refused induction into the Armed Forces; showed up in black pajamas, a coolie hat, a painted face, and handful of anti-Vietnam War leaflets and a sign that said “Support Viet Cong.” A few of my friends came along too. We were all told to leave the Induction Center. I expected to be prosecuted, but never was. The Selective Service System draft board had ignored my appeal of a request for Conscientious Objector status, so I guess that my case had legal problems.
Still trying to end US imperialism forty years later.
People handled it in different ways. In “The Things They Carried” Tim O’Brien says he was “to embarrassed not to kill”, meaning when it came down to it he couldn’t split from the draft because of the impact on his family. I personally thought it took more courage to stand up an say no but who is to say?
Thanks dakineo1 and thank you Raven, Norske and everyone who served and is serving.
Happy Thanksgiving Day !
This time next year, I hope to have my Nephew and all our children, home and out of harm’s way.
Thanks to JFK’s late-September ’63 draft exemption for married men, I became prime meat in my fifth university semester and too late to beg for a college exemption. As a come-what-may, happy-go-lucky type of guy I said what the hell and reported for pre-induction testing in San Antonio, TX.
Always a smooth hand and usually able to have my way with tests, this time was no different. Except now they wanted to me to stay overnight and take more tests the next day ‘cause only one or two guys a year maxed the first test at that South Texas induction station and they likely didn’t want a cheater in that crowd.
After testing the next day, the station commander – a Bird, which I probably didn’t know enough to be impressed at the time – told me he would get me a direct commission if I would commit to the Army. Told him you do and I will. Just one little problem, he said, those two times you spent a night in jail. They have to be waived and I’m not sure that will happen. Told him those nights were made possible by folks who couldn’t appreciate my possession of abundant melanin. Didn’t matter. Obviously wasn’t material for an Officer and a Gentleman; became – quite unceremoniously – an E-1 couple of months later.
Just saying, two years later I turned down a re-enlistment offer for OCS as nothing more than an opportunity to get fragged in ‘Nam. What a change in a short time. And now, they waive felons and put guns in their hands? And hire mercenaries without character parameters? Really Imperial of them, ain’t it.
Late in responding but I was one of those “character parameter” outliers, the judge gave me the choice of the Army or the joint. Too bad all the really smart, honorable, moral people weaseled out of the service leaving the shit to us punks.
Went in in 61. Just crazy is all, at least that’s what the VA said.
Hey man. I went to the Vietnam Vets memorial in Aplilachicola and the sign said it was dedicated to all the “Southern” men and women who served so valiantly. Doesn’t say that on their website.
http://www.threeservicemenstatuesouth.org/
I sent them an email asking just wtf that was supposed to mean.
I ain’t no senators son.
it ain’t me
Great to hear some good music. Theres little enough good new music, but hasnt Arlo Guthrie himself become sort of a Right Libertarian, anti peace freak old coot?
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