When growing up one never knows what external influences can randomly come along to pull you one way or the other. I did not come from a military family, and I also did not grow up with any desire to join. It wasn’t on my radar at all. I did not think ‘military’ was a job people did. That sounds silly, but that’s the way it was. I did not know anyone in the military.
I’m the oldest of 5 siblings and we grew up back east, Upstate New York and New England. The summer after graduating high school my dad moved the whole family to San Francisco. We caravaned across the country, 3 vehicles (including a Ryder truck) driving 3,000 miles westward on I-80.
Once settled in San Francisco I got a basic job, and where I got off the bus on Market Street (at Market and Third) on my commute there was a recruiting station on that corner and in the windows were brochures showing the airplanes and ships I built as plastic scale models as a kid. Cool pictures! Interested in those pictures, I stopped in to look, and some military guy in a uniform I didn’t recognize was very friendly and saying hello. A nice enough guy, so we chatted a bit.
I was sooo naive. I didn’t know what a recruiter was or did. I didn’t even know there was a Marine Corps. (Marine Corps? What’s that?) I only came in to look at the pictures of the cool airplanes. And the rest, as they say, is history…
This was November-December 1979, and that congenial guy was Master Sergeant James, USMC. Once I realized I was seriously considering enlisting, I stepped back and looked at the different branches and what they had to offer. I’d taken the ASVAB and scored decently well, so I could pick any service and any MOS I wanted. I spoke with recruiters from all four services and learned about the differences in the services and their missions. I ended up choosing the Marines because I wanted the most challenging boot camp.
I’m the first in my family to serve. I ended up serving 13 years, from 1980 to 1993. I got some nice reenlistment bonuses, some decent training, and financial assistance for my degree. Once I finished my degree, the time separated from my wife and kids was becoming a hardship so I was done with it. It was time to transition to a real civilian career.
I’m glad I joined and all in all while there were some crappy times, I’d do it again. And the older I get (it’s been more than 30 years since I got out), as the great baseball player Ted Williams put it —
“It’s a funny thing but as the years go by, I think you appreciate more and more what a great thing it was to be a Marine. I am a US Marine and I’ll be one ‘til the day I die.”