I sometimes tell people I was a “draft dodger”. Those who know me laugh and say, “Come on, you were in the Navy weren’t you?” My response is, “Yeah, I joined the Navy to keep from being drafted into the Army.” That is just about the truth of it insofar as I am able to understand my own motivation. While going to electronics school I and three of my classmates were chewed out by a CPO for some minor infraction and he started asking us one at a time why we were in the Navy to begin with. The other guys all gave him some high minded spiel about how patriotic they were and he came to me last. I told him I joined the Navy to fulfill my military obligation, in other words to get it over with. He looked straight into my eyes and said, “At least you’re honest.”
I was drafted into the Marine Corps....most people don’t know the Marine Corps drafted 800 people in 1966 and 400 in 1967!!! I was lucky enough in 1967!!!