I don’t doubt you did well. The exact score doesn’t matter much. Above a certain score you qualify for everything. After being in the military for awhile I got to hear some real recruiter war stories. For every one person they put in they turn away for various reasons at least ten that want to join. Getting the minimum score allowed on the ASVAB doesn’t seem that difficult but a surprising number of people fail miserably. I remember the recruiter giving me a short practice test and when I answered everything right his attitude perked right up.
When I turned 18, the Vietnam War was still raging. I saw American soldiers being captured or killed almost daily on the news. As a result, I had no interest in joining the armed services and fighting in Vietnam.
My father had served during WWII, and said it completely changed him seeing so many of his army buddies killed in France. He was training to be shipped over to Japan when they dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, and he ended up staying in Europe providing employment for Germans rebuilding Frankfurt post war.
My older brother avoided the draft by receiving a college deferment, which didn’t seem fair to those who didn’t have the grades or money to go to college. My grades were just good enough for college, but when I was eligible for the draft, college deferments had been eliminated and there was a draft lottery system instead.
I vividly remember sitting in the lounge of my college dorm with about a dozen other guys watching the lottery on TV. One of them got a draft number below 10 and cursed loudly as he stomped out of the room. I impatiently sat and waited for my birth date to get called… and waited… and waited. It finally was called, October 19th, the last date selected for that particular draft lottery. My draft number was 365.
By this time the war was beginning to wind down so I knew I wasn’t going to get drafted. I never regretted not getting drafted, although I probably would have tried to enlist in the Navy or Coast Guard if I had gotten a low draft number, assuming they would have taken me.
I was the first person to respond to the OP’s first link. I don’t want to repeat all of that, as it still stands. I will reiterate, however, that I was a Navy Seabee for 23 years, reaching the rank of Chief Petty Officer.
Reading this thread made me curious about all the people talking about being pressured into going into some kind of nuclear service. Why was that? Was that something most people didn’t want to go into?
tldr version: Failed draft physical kept me out of Vietnam and the Air Force. Ten years later, I needed a job, went to work for the Army (as a civilian) for 37 years in ammo and explosives.
1969 was my draft year. I had already signed up for the Air Force, getting my last two years at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ('Tute) paid for in exchange for a six year commitment. My number was low enough to require a draft physical - a basketball injury had rolled up my knee. I got a 6 month temp deferment (1Y); at the next physical the doc went, “How are you walking on that thing, you’re not marching in the Army son.” 4F. That also put the kibosh on my AF plans. (shhhhsssh, I was supposed to be billed for the one semester they paid for - never got a bill).
Ten years later, I was working for a home builder - 14% mortgages killed off the market. I took the Civil Service PACE exam. The US Army Defense Ammunition Center and School called. Would I like a job? I had only fired a few rounds at YMCA camp through a bolt action .22 cal. “I don’t know anything about ammo and explosives.” “We’ll teach you everything you need to know -for the next 20 months.” “Do I get paid?” “Yes.” “Sign me up.” Career Program 20 for government types which had mandatory mobility which I enjoyed the heck out of.
37 years later, I retired with all my fingers and toes (I are an expert!).
Starting with Desert Storm, I spent 9 different vacations spread about Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar… - 6-1/2 years total in the sand boxes. Lived in Italy, Japan, Philippines and all over the US. My jobs involved everything from bullets to Army Tactical Nuke Weapons, missiles, a smidge of toxic chemical weapons (training) that I studiously avoided from then on.
Ancient History: German grandfather came to America, joined a Connecticut reserve outfit around Spanish - American War time, never called up. Felt it was his duty to his new country. WWII - he and my dad (high blood pressure and too old) converted the service station in front of our house to a machine shop (rationing killed off much of the auto stuff). Demands were so high, more machines were installed in the basement of our house. The pillow block supports and floor lugs are still there. Mom and the aunties did all the QC, packing and shipping.
My uncle was a carpenter so the Navy put him in a 5"/38 twin turret in the Pacific for three years on a destroyer. Right now, one son medically retired from the Army, switched to the other side of the desk in civies doing the same cybersecurity job. Son-in-law is a Command Sergeant Major in the Army engineers heading for 30 years.
I joined the Navy in 1981 a year after I graduated from college. I couldn’t find a job in my area and was bored.
I went to boot camp in Orlando, “A” school in Meridian, Mississippi and landed a great spot at a duty station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba before anyone had ever heard about the place. (I’m joking…it was miserable).
I lived there for a year.
My father had been in the Navy at the end of World War II and I tried to do the things he had done.
I always loved living near the ocean and I thought the Navy would deliver in that area.
It’s hard. Life sucks. I mean, life at sea sucks in general, but even more as a nuke. I’d sooner go back to Iraq* (or pick your place, as long as it’s dry land) than out to sea again. And in the end, it was life as a nuke that broke me.
*Ok, one caveat. I regret participating in an unjust war. As a moral matter only—setting aside physical comfort or other psychological concerns and just focusing on the moral concern, which I think must predominate—I suppose I’d have to pick going out to sea again over projecting violence within the borders of another sovereign nation. But frankly even ships at sea are engaged in the projection of force against other nations. Truth be told, I just wouldn’t be in the military again.
And just to expand a little more on that, it has a very high ASVAB requirement (or the right combination of college grades and major for officers), meaning the pool of potential recruits is much smaller. A security clearance is also required (so on top of being smart, you have to have an even cleaner record than just the baseline).
It’s a hard job, and the people who can do it are liable to have other options both in life and, even if they are set on the military, the military as well. If you’re smart enough to be a nuke officer, you’re more than smart enough to be a pilot, for example. So assuming your eyes are good enough, why not go and be a low-level rock star rather than toil away in the bowels of a ship or (arguably worse) submarine. Me, I was crazy. I actually wanted to be a nuke (on surface ships, though), but like I said… nuke life broke me where even Iraq did not.
AIUI, it’s extremely difficult (cerebrally) to be a nuke technician; the Navy has a whole Nuke School set up for it and it’s highly intense, academically speaking. The Navy tries hard to skim the top of the ASVAB scores for the best brains.
It doesn’t help either that civilian nuclear reactor jobs often offer much higher pay than the Navy (and, of course, are much more laid-back, being non-military,) so the Navy is always at risk of losing its nuke talent.
Mandatory where I grew up. Ten months of basic army service. I could have refused and done civil service instead, but there was a base where I lived, and a friendly guy in the administration who made sure I got there, so I took the route of least resistance.
Most of my HS friends had to register for the draft. I beat the deadline by a rather narrow margin (turned 18 before draft registration was re-instituted). And even so, with my rather fucked up eyesight, I do not think the military would even have me. Not to mention my attitude. I was almost desperate enough to consider trying it once or twice, but I got over that feeling.
I was in the area then, too. My dad was an RPI Troy professor. I was in elementary school, growing up in nearby Latham NY.
Hijack down memory lane:
Latham circle and all my old haunts. I was in the area a few (counts…) many years ago. Big changes, new roads, new everything. I wonder if Cocca’s Diner is still down the hill in Watervliet?
…checking I see he/they died some time ago. There’s was bookmaking/gambling etc… involved in the family business. I remember he (Frank or James?) always in a corner booth pouring over the Racing Form and other sheets.
back to the thread…
Man, I hate that. It makes them so hard to read, and they just fall apart in your hands.
I’ve been to a couple of those as well, however, I was probably headed to the CAF regardless. My dad was a pilot in WW II, and my friends and I were those typical high school military and history buffs/nerds.
In one of my last years in HS I joined the Governor General’s Foot Guards ((GGFG) one of the regiments that participates in the Changing of the Guard) but spent that summer learning to be an Infantry private.
After that I went to Royal Military College (RMC) and became a naval officer.
I was never strongly encouraged to join the military but it was always a thing in my upbringing. I’ve never been the most gung-ho military guy but I was reasonably good at it and I did, for the most part, really enjoy it. I would also say that it was something of a gift to me as I never truly have had any great drive to do anything in specific. As I’ve mentioned in other threads, I only recently discovered that I’m high-functioning autistic. Without the military there’s no telling what would have happened to me.
I was encouraged by two high school classmates who graduated and joined up before I did. It would have been a way out of the unemployment wasteland of the New Orleans area as well as an opportunity for some higher education if I had managed to stay in.
No real strong military tradition in my family but I do have relatives who served. Dad enlisted in the Navy in the spring of '42, giving them a false birth year; he was actually 17. That was the branch I chose; I went to Great Lakes, same he did 44 years prior.
My oldest sister & brother are single-tour Vietnam-era vets, Marines and Army respectively, but never went to 'Nam. Sis was assigned to Quantico and bro to the Berlin Wall.
One great-grandfather was in the Civil War, 12th Wisconsin Infantry.
I also have younger cousins who served in the Marines, Gulf War-era. Last I heard, one was a recruiter in Cincinnati.
I did have some vague thoughts of joining the military when I was in my early teens, based mostly on the idea that it might be something like Star Trek (hey, the ranks were the same!).
By the time I would have been old enough to actually join, I knew it wasn’t for me. I barely managed to make it through high school gym class. There’s no way I would have survived boot camp. Picture Vincent D’Onofrio in Full Metal Jacket, but even more out of shape, and that’s me.
My father was a career Air Force Pilot and I grew up with a love of all things aviation.
I joined the Air Force Reserves during college; on weekends I worked on the flight line of a fighter squardron, and the Air Force paid for my education.
During that time I realized I was to much individualist to make the USAF a career, but overall I am glad I did it.
I went to boot camp with a guy who was there because those were his choices. I don’t remember what his crime was.
The military can sure throw together people from all walks of life.
The program is very difficult, with good candidates few and far between. Once I finished the nuclear power program, when I eventually went to a proper university after getting out of the military, it took little effort to graduate with a 4.0 GPA. The guys I served with were sharp, and I would expect any other Navy Nuke to have a similar experience. This may be a consequence of the program or a consequence of the selection process, or a combination of both.
I don’t know about these days, but in the 80s there was a signing bonus and the recruiters benefited (e.g. one nuke candidate recruit worth two regular recruits in their quota or some other benefit).
To answer your question, I suppose it’s like the flashier fields such as aviation and special forces, where there are some skills (or skill potential) and physical traits that are necessary in a candidate, so they have to sift through many many potential recruits to find one that is a good fit.