Wow. The Seventies were hardscrabble for a lot of people. I remember a lot of rusted cars and retreaded tires. (I look around when driving the highways today and often think “Boy, this sure isn’t the Seventies! All the cars are shiny!”
When I was in the USN in the Seventies, I did a few labor pool stints off the base to get a few more bucks. That was crazy. But I needed the money. When I got out in the late Seventies to go to college, I couldn’t find a part time job while I was going to school. I applied to a boat load of places, and the last place out of about ten I applied to was a Parker factory (ballpoint pens) and they never called me.
I just said screw it, I was going to see if I could stretch my GI bill money going to to a state college and living at home...my parents always said If I went to college they would forgo room and board. I sometimes think they never thought I would actually go...:)
I had a great time in the Seventies, even though I know it was tough on a lot of people.
Your post demonstrated that.
By the way, thanks for serving. You did damn well making E=5 in that time. I made it in three years IIRC, and I thought I was Sierra Hotel for that...you did it in far less!
I am still proud of that, though. That was a big thing for me. I realized I could succeed because I was dedicated to the job, principled, and...well...stubborn.
Before I went in, it wasn’t like I was a screw up, but it was hard for me to do damn near anything right. I was physically and mentally awkward, physically I was always getting hurt doing stupid things, and mentally, I was awful in school. Had to go to summer school for a few years. Even when I went to college, nothing ever came easy to me, I didn’t really enjoy it, but I finally did well, and I owe it to the military.
But when I got into the military, I had grown up a brat, and it felt familiar, and I found out I was good at being a mechanic and a sailor generally. I was always on time, always did the job right, didn’t get in trouble, and worked hard to advance.
It was great NOT to feel like I simply couldn’t do anything right. It was like a millstone on my neck.
So, I owe my country for letting me serve. I got so much more out of it than I think it got out of me, overall. And I am grateful.
Funny. After I had been a civilian many years, at work I was involved in some kind of team building exercise at work, and when your turn came, you had to take a coin out of your pocket, look at the year on the coin, and tell them what was important in that year of your life.
When my turn came, I pulled a coin out, and it was a quarter with the year 1978 on it.
I was overcome with emotion and was unable to speak. I think some people were puzzled by that, but they didn’t know that for me, 1978 was the year I felt like I made the full leap to adulthood. I had one year left and had decided to go to college. Before that, never in a million years would I have wanted to go back to school, but I made the transition from a lowly Airman Apprentice to Plane Captain, to QC mechanic, to flight deck troubleshooter, to special project guy with a representative who went on the cruise with us from Rolls Royce/Detroit Diesel Allison, and they had a pilot program where our planes were one of two squadrons being fitted out with special systems to monitor the condition of the jet engines to predict and prevent failures. The guy was also teaching college level math courses on the ship to the crew, and offered to tutor me personally at no charge. Just amazing. I failed math nearly every year I was in school, or rarely, a “D”. He taught me.
And I realized that I could be successful at things if I applied myself. That was a major revelation, it opened up my whole future to me, and I realized it.
So when I opened my hand and saw “1978” on that quarter, I felt again that amazing feeling of revelation where the world really did seem like it was going to be my oyster!
I never would have made the transition like that anywhere else but the military, and I am grateful beyond words for that.
(Sorry to get wordy there, reading your post about the Seventies made me very reflective...I know pride is not supposed to be a good thing, but when I was a kid, that was a hard emotion for me to come by...:)