Enlistment Reasons

https://getpocket.com/the-girl-in-the-kent-state-photo?utm--us

I now realize that the events at Kent State on May 4th 1970 set it all in motion.  That and the popularity of the murders with mainstream America which I found both surreal and a reinforcement for my growing cultural alienation.  In those 13 seconds the Army ROTC scholarship I expected to finance my final two years of college went off the table along with my interest in a military career.  Not because it wasn't still available but because I withdrew from consideration when I returned to school in the fall of 1970.  The next few months would be ones of indecision and re-evaluation as I processed my shattered illusions and long-standing career plans. 

 I also have a separate Kent State page:

https://sites.google.com/view/2013babyboomerblog/kent-state

Of course this built on my unease over the My Lai Massacre - the news of which had started slowly coming out five months earlier.   

https://ofinteresttome.quora.com/William-Calley-The-Quiet-Passing-of-a-War-Criminal

Ten months later (March 1971) I have one of those moments of clarity and suddenly realize that in going to school part-time I am rapidly pissing away my college experience;  what with trying to pay for my education with part-time employment,  student loans,  summer jobs, and guilt-inducing financial help from my parents.  This left me with little disposable income,  chronic indecision about my career direction / college major,  and in a general state of disillusionment and depression.  It was time to take some time off but a middle tier (#164) draft lottery number meant it was not prudent for me to just drop out of school.  

I had been playing the destitute student that school year while attacking the biggest obstacle to receiving a Geology degree,  the two-year (four semester) foreign language requirement; daunting as I have a type of hearing dyslexia which makes it difficult for me to identify speech sounds.  After dodging the requirement for a year I had finally jumped into it with both feet,  utilizing an option to take four semesters of German in one year.   By April it actually seemed possible that I was going to finish off that requirement,  against all expectations I would get a "B" for my last semester of German.  But the nirvana I had imagined for my future was not filling me with much enthusiasm.   In fact I think that my focus on the panacea of completing German had caused me to take my eye off the bigger picture.  And suddenly I was confronting the reality of a future that left a lot to be desired,  including two more years of college without the time or resources to afford any social life. 

I was working in the school's sports information office and had become friends with Tom, an older married student who was one of our photographers, a skill that given my father's lithography job interested me.  Tom's occupational specialty in the Air Force had been photography and he directed me to the Air Force recruiting office which was downtown on the square.  The Air Force would not be a career but a place where I could take some time off while learning a useful skill.  

My initial visit involved my introducing myself and saying I was there to look into becoming an Air Force photographer,  I then took a lot of written aptitude tests and was given an armful of recruiting literature.  A week later they had my test scores back and the recruiter said he was impressed,  informing me that I had aced all four tests (the worst one being 90 out of a possible 95,  the other three perfect scores).  He told me that with those scores I could have any enlisted occupational specialty in the Air Force.

But he felt that my best opportunity was the Airman Education & Commissioning Program (AECP),  which I qualified for with my test scores and college credits;  this would lead to my becoming an officer.  I could apply for the program after basic training and if accepted would be sent back to the college of my choice where the Air Force would pay my college expenses for the remaining two years.  College would be my active duty assignment during this time,  I would be paid during this time as an E-5 (staff sergeant) and the two years would count toward my retirement.  This was tempting,  the program was a perfect fit with my circumstances and I imagined being a big shot on campus with plenty of money to throw around.  But the opportunity was not immediate,  I would have a year or more to make an assessment of the Air Force before I was even eligible. 

Air Force veteran Tom was a bit more realistic,  pointing out that the recruiter had stopped short of offering any actual guarantees,  but the photography career field was realistic.  And if not my test scores would give me enough options that I would end up with a challenging job that would leave me with a employable skill to supplement the G.I. Bill benefits I would have when I was discharged and returned to college.  We spent time combing through the recruitment book rating the desirability of the various career fields based on his experience so that I would be able to intelligently navigate the process.

If much of this sounds like a contradiction it was not. Enlisting was never expected to itself be a solution to the moral dilemma My Lai and Kent State had plunged me into at age 19 and 20.  Instead it offered a lengthy chance to simply spin in place for a while until I could formulate a way to resume moving forward with my life.  

By the time I had signed up and taken my induction physical my concern was solely with surviving basic training,  that the only opportunities available to me after basic training would be undesirable seemed highly unlikely.  It would be illogical for the Air Force to waste their opportunity to get the greatest contribution possible from me (wasn't that what all those tests had been for?).