I Was a Marine For a Short Time --Part 2

Like I was saying, I was going to be drafted and in all likelihood, going to Vietnam. I figured that if I was going, I might as well go as an officer, so I started looking around at officer candidate programs in the Armed Forces.

I selected the Marine Corps which offered me a second lieutenancy upon graduation of college and six months more of basic. I would have to go to two six week courses at Quantico, Va., outside of Washington, DC. The first between sophomore and junior year and the second between junior and senior.

I signed up and spent six of the hardest weeks of my life in 1971. The first three, I just could do anything Corps-style and had enough drill instructor time to last a lifetime. Those guys were rough. Fortunately, I had gone through pledging a fraternity and with the treatment I got there, I was able to handle the stuff they'd do and in-your-face. Other guys in my platoon had not pledged and found this difficult.

I transferred from Northern Illinois University to the University of Georgia for junior year. I was known as the "guy with no hair" because of my USMC haircut. Remember, this was still the time of the hippies. I decided to finish college at Northern, but had to take some extra courses at Georgia the summer between junior and senior years so contacted my person in OCS, Officer Candidate School, and thought I had it worked out so that I would be able to do my six weeks after graduation and then the six months of basic.

However, I must not have, because several months later I received my Honorable Discharge. Evidently, with the war actually winding down, believe it or not, they didn't need that many more second louies.

With such a short service, I really don't consider myself a veteran, although I can still join the American Legion.

So that Was My Short Time in the Corps. --RoadDog