I Was Going to Join the Air Force My Senior Year in High School but This Happened

First off, let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed my four years in the Air Force, and in my opinion, if you don't have a career path already set the military should be one of your first choices as you move forward in life.

So I was going to join the Air Force while was in my senior at Butler High School. I met with the recruiter, and I along with three other classmates, went to Kansas City to take our ASVAB tests. In case you don't know, these tests were taken so you could see where you excelled so they could help you in your career placement decision with your chosen branch of the military.

So we, four 17-18 kids, traveled to stay over night at the President's Hotel in downtown KC. Needless to say we had a fun-filled adventure that included 3.2% beer from Kansas and water balloons, but that's a story for another time.

After getting my results from the tests, I realized that my chosen path would be in avionic electronics. So I was getting ready to sign up in the late fall/early winter of 1976 in the delayed enlistment program. That is until I felt some pressure from my recruiter to do so.

At that time I didn't realize how big a deal it was to sign up before December 31, 1976. I did find out later and I still kick myself for not joining at that particular time. The reason he was trying to get me to join before December 31 was I would have been included under the old G.I. Bill. This would have given me many educational opportunities along with others that I was never able to realize.

Now I did finally join the Air Force in May of 1978 and finished my military career in the spring of 1982 after serving at Whiteman AFB.

So, that's one of my Air Force stories...more to come.