Who Influenced You To Take The Oath And Join The Military? - Login & Share to Win!

nobody

I was a teenager working on a family farm and reaizied small farms were on their way out, so I made the decision to join the U. S. Navy in 1956. And never regretted it, not one damn bit!

My local draft board!

This may sound a little cheesy.
1. I come from a long line of line of military members back to before WWI.
2. Having grown up in San Diego Cailf. In the late sixties and early seventy's .
I was about eight years old living in Navy / Marine Corps housing.
When i saw for the first the two dress uniforms getting out of there staff car.
One being a Chaplin ,and then one staff officer. Every one knew what that meant.
I have seen this more times then I can remember.
That is why I Took my first oath of enlistment at the beginning of my senior year.

John Wayne, when I was five years old. My second reason was an article in Reader's Digest in 1963 about a Catholic Priest who brought 200 people into South Vietnam to escape the evil little people (MY mindset) in North Vietnam. Because I was born deaf, I had to sneak past the physical to join the Marines. I wanted to go to Vietnam and fight for the freedom of all people.

My father did. Said it would build character. Then I reenlisted and tried for years to get me out of the Army.

My grandfather and my father.

The district court Judge....1969

My uncles Mike (Navy) and Ron (Mobile Artillery) Vietnam, my uncles Don, Larry (Germany), My dad John Armor/(Nat.Guard), my Uncles Greg (Field Artillery Nat. Guard), My cousins Tim, Wayne, Keith (Marines), Uncle Blackie In (Army Air Corp) as a Crash Boat Mechanic (North Afrika), Uncle Kelly (Navy,) Cousin Jett (Marine Sniper ret.), all were my motivation to serving my country. Selfless service to their country inspired myself and my son too. Maj Shane Ruether. (Check Pilot) on KC-10 Extender Refueling aircraft Active duty Currently serving @ McGuire AFB New Jersey. I am sure as I type this I am forgetting someone. Please forgive me.

I was a sailor, on submarines. I was inexhorably influenced to join the military, not by one person, but several.

My father was an army master sergeant in WWII. That was just yesterday from the perspective of a kid my age. He told tales of various experiences, as a coast artilleryman, and interactioins with Germans. One phrase he recalled was how to treat them: "Don't be cruel to the Krauts." One coast artillery stint was in Oregon, where I was born during his tour there. At my birth, they declared me an honorary corporal. My father said when I was newborn he dunked me in the Columbia River, like Achilles. Much later, my natal hospital was relocated, and the original building became a senior care facility. I always like to think that since I was born there, I could also go and die there. My father had some uniform parts and Germany mementos which fired my imagination. This all gave me an admiration for the miliktary.

I resonated more with the Navy. I had a sailor cousin stationed nearby who would often visit us with a buddy. They were pleasant, looked cool, acted cool, were friendly with me, and told interesting stories. TV was a big influence. The shows "Vicrtory at Sea", "The Valiant Years", "Navy Log", "Silent Service" (submarines), "Hennessey", fascinated me, much more than infantry or aviation stories. One episode of "The Valiant Years" featured the German battleship Bismarck. This was when Johnny Hoirton's song "Sink the Bismarck" was popular. One line went "Hit the decks a-runnin' boys, and swing those guns around." This coincided perfectly, including timing, with a sequence in the program. Another sequence matched "Shells as big as steers, and guns as big as trees." Do you think the songwriter saw that episode?

Movies with military themes were popular in postwar years. Serials of Navy and Coast Guard hero Don Winslow, were loved by us kids. There were many others; I don't recall all of them, or their titles. One phrase of a Korean War movie stuck. When Sarge wanted you to hit the dirt, he cried "Eat rice!" Illogical, but catchy. Of course, there was always John Wayne. And Dwight Eisenhauer.

So, I was well indoctrinated and inclined to be a grand military hero.

People on The Waters filled my head: Ulysses, Jason, Vikings, Columbus, Magellan, da Gama, Drake, Long John Silver, Hudson's Bay Company voyageurs, Jean Lafitte, Lewis and Clark, even Noah, Jonah, Jesus on the Sea of Gallilee, Tom Sawyer, and A.B. Stormalong.

Water fascinated me. I would pore over maps of San Francisco Bay, the Sacramento/San Juaquin delta, the Pacific coast, and various lakes and streams. I loved the names. They fired my imagination. Boats interested me, including construction plans, even though I could not afford the materials. When possible, my play included water. I used to walk home from school in a streambed as much as I could. Or walk through running rain gutteers and puddles.

Ther was a small Navy Reserve facility on my high achool campus. In my seniior year a friend easily convinced me to join the Reserves with him. I was 17 and needed parents' permission, but that was no problem. We got uniforms, a tiny monthly pay, and attended weekly drills, mostly instruction, mixed with colorful tales by the older members, including one salty old chief It was glamorous, and made me feel like part of something big. We went to boot camp during Christmas vacation in 1960. Yes, I was a "two-week wonder". Although in later years I felt vaguely incomplete, it was still an amazing experience, including the round-trip overnight train ride to San Diego. Our company commander was a Master Chief Commissaryman (cook), who was all the stereotypiclal things, although kind at heart. I met him years later as a shipmate, and I was in a poisition to sometimes have a little authority in his world, feeling a little wierd about that. At the end of summer after graduation, I joined the Regular Navy, and started my wondrous six-year enlistment.

So, it was just plainly fate that I was to become a sailor and see the world, partly. I wasted many, but not all, opportunities for education and exploration, mostly due to alcohol. But I did get a good education and professional experience, and, more importantly, learned that in spite of my poor high school performance, I really did have a brain, and could excel in many things. That was perhaps the best take-away, preparing me for the rest of my life. Of course, many a youngster would find himself through the military, and sadly, some would get lost. I left the Navy with gratitude, many friendships, wonderful memories, some regrets, and finally, a goal in life.

But I was always disappointed that, with all the stirring military branch songs, the Navy's "Anchors
Aweigh", starts out with a football game. But at least the "Star-Spangled Banner" has a nautical setting.

Thank You for the opportunity to revisit the memories.

As an aside, some may wonder how someone named Joan would have participated in the exclusively male milieu of those times. That's another story...