Draft Dodger...1961
This could be a book....
.... I call myself a draft dodger' because I enlisted in the USAF....... no money or grants or whatever for further schooling.
Believe it or not, when in electronics class... I taught the teacher. So the Air Force was going to put me into a missile silo, except some physic decided I might push the button out of turn. Kinda like don't piss me off'....
So they sent me to extra combat training.... I went thru AIT, (Advanced Infantry Training) shot every weapon, like I was shooting rats at the dump with a flashlight. Expert!
They gave me a jeep with 23 radios, that I had to be able to fix if any part of the 'machine' IF broke down.... pack the wheel bearings, climb a mountain, fix the radios. They called me a "Forward Air Traffic Controller" FAC for short.
Spent time in Saudi Arabia in '63... nothing but sand, got a nice tan. (took 4 years to get rid of it...long story)... The trip and time spent is another long story. Turkey, Spain, Azores, I had more AIR time than most stewardess's...
Viet Nam bound, with the 1st ID out of Ft Riley, KS....... packed my jeep, (actually boarded it up with plywood, so no damage could happen to it), put it on a train for Calif to catch a ship to VN. and took my family to my parents house for a 6 month stay.
Whilst at my my folks home I'd jumped a gate because it was easier that unlocking it, felt a tweak in my stomach, not a pain.
Had a great supper, and never in my memory had Mom ever served grape juice with supper. Two hours later I passed grape juice, told myself that's not right', and if it happen's again .... as it did at 5 am, passed so much blood that in Sioux City they fed me two pints.
I'm in a hosp across from the St Louis arch....watched it be connected (the halves) (65)... lost 33 lbs in 30 days, they took out half my stomach. (Told me 4.6%) Went back after 29 days, and was told that I'd stopped loosing weight after two days there.
THEN an USAF Pilot who was going with me showed up in the same hospital, and told me that they had changed my orders to not 6 months TDY (Temporary Duty... with extra pay) to one year PCS...(permanent change of station).
He also told me that the jeep I would have been driving (65K1234)(Used to have fun with the Army numbskulls and the sequence) pulled into a Special Forces Camp to the S2 tent (Security) and as my replacement (Named William) went to put up the 32' whip antenna.. only 2 steps, the first mortar shell in his head, and 23 shells into MY JEEP.
....sorry guy, for this part of the book...............
I have my health... no wealth, but everytime I had money, somebody else wanted it... I am a survivor, and still fearless,and my kids are doing great.
The last 30 some years my rifle is a pool stick, don't own anything that uses bullets. I win when I want to... don't play for money... maybe a beer...
posted by Mr Bill @ 1:35 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Talk about a blessing in disguise, huh? You have a knack for being in the right place at the right time. You're gonna live forever...
Even that post doesn't touch the other bullets I've dodged. Hitchiking in Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana the Carolina's , etc... over 250,000 miles... in the 60's. BUT back then it was OK to wear a Uniform.... and I could beat the bus to wherever I was going, and meet a hot date on the way...
Samantha, thanks... and since you are very astute for 20, perhaps you should post more...
If I was to put a book on the net, it'd have to be teaser's, so it wouldn't be free. But then their are 1000's of (and more) who don't have the Internet...
Samatha, when my daughter's got to the age of where 'a kiss is.. upper persuasion, for lower invasion'...
We sat at the kitchen table, and I spoke of my desires when 14 (even though I was a virgin until 19) but I wasn't a girl. Some guys don't play fair. Whatever, I explained that birth control is available (something their Mom didn't care about).
I also made them promise me that they wouldn't get pregnant until they were married, and not to get married until they were 25, or I wouldn't pay for the wedding.
They didn't get married until they were 25, didn't get pregnant for a long time... my youngest (37 has a 3 yr old), my oldest (40, has 3 (under 12) and is due in April.
The oldest is the "Plant Controller" of an International company. She makes the bucks, and her hubby 'house sits' ...
I kinda wish I'd found a woman like that!
Someday, I'll have to explain how I became a Father, or is it Dad.
She and her hubby can't go wrong. They love each other, and the kids are gorgeous. "A" students.
Samatha, you have switched your bloging site. Power to you.
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