Hung out at the same O’Club for a couple of years. No rocks. Dad said Shepard was bats, but he felt that way about all fighter pilots.
Dad said there were some guys who went into the Navy because they were obsessed with flying. They were the ones who got the great ratings as pilots ... and others were the ones who died. Dad joined the Navy as a pilot because they were recruiting flyers in the late 50’s, and he had good reflexes, but he really wanted to be a military officer. Flying was just the way for a farm boy with a year of college to get in.
You mean he leveraged the system to get what he wanted out of it? Good for him.