It all began in the spring of 1967.

When I graduated from high school in 1966, I was 18 years old and according to my Dad it was time to leave the nest and start my own life. I tried college at Arlington State College that fall year. I joined a fraternity (Alpha Phi Omega), it was a service fraternity. Right. It was the wrong thing to do at such a young age. Needless to say my first semester was a disaster. I had no idea for a degree program. And since I had little income and not much of a future, I decided I should investigate the military. Many young men did just that back in those days.

The war in Vietnam was starting to heat up and my draft number was looming. To be honest, I wanted more control over my future and decided it was better to enlist than to get drafted and face the sure danger of being a frontline target. I decided on the Navy, because that is the branch my Dad had served in during World War II. He was on an LST that was one of the first ships into Nagasaki Harbor after the Atomic Bomb fell. He never would talk about that war experience.