WHY I JOINED THE NAVY

It was 1967. I was nineteen, enrolled at Lycoming College up in Williamsport, Pennsylvania — and like a lot of nineteen-year-olds, I wanted a car more than I wanted another semester of school. So I took some time off to work and save up for one.

That car nearly cost me far more than I bargained for.

A notice arrived from the U.S. Draft Board. The instant I stopped being a full-time student, my 2-S deferment vanished and I was reclassified 1-A. Translation, circa 1967: get ready for the Army, and very likely Vietnam. That was emphatically not on my must-do list.

There was also a promise hanging over me. I had told my mother I would be the first in our family to go to college and actually earn a degree — seven kids (I was #2), a father who had left, and that promise was mine to keep. No excuses. Getting drafted was not the road to a diploma.

So I went looking for another way, and I found the Navy. I sat for their battery of tests, and the recruiter laid out something that sounded almost too good to be true: "We can't promise anything, but here's a path — A-School, Nuclear Power, NESEP, and a commission as an officer. Sign up for six years now and you're on your way."

Then came the fork in the hallway.

Someone mentioned the Marines offered NESEP too. And my brilliant nineteen-year-old brain lit right up — I could be a bad-ass Marine and keep my promise to Mom. So I marched across the hall to the Marine recruiter, who confirmed that yes, NESEP was available. But then he did something I have never forgotten. He told me the truth: "Remember, Curt — in the Marines, you are always a rifleman first and foremost."

Rifleman first. In 1967, that phrase carried exactly one meaning: Vietnam first.

I thanked him, walked back across the hall, and signed the Navy paperwork.

I have thought about that Marine many times over the years. He could have closed the deal and let me find the fine print the hard way. Instead he gave me the honest answer, even though it cost him a recruit. That kind of integrity has stayed with me ever since — and the six years I signed that day turned into a forty-nine-year Navy career.

(Aside: NESEP = Navy Enlisted Scientific Education Program – each year, the Navy selected about 200 (of about 20,000) enlisted members to attend a 4-year college to become an officer, all expenses paid along with the enlisted salary and benefits in exchange for a commitment of 6-years service following graduation – one of the best deals in history. Criteria - Navy Record; College SATs; Several Interviews by Navy Officers. Lucky me. )