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

I decided on my own after a conversation with my recently widowed mother

Ends Aug 31, 2021. Good luck everyone!

My dad. WWII USN Diver and a patriot. I never thought of NOT serving.

My brothers played an influence on me joining as an Officer. Both were enlisted.

As an immigrant, I, myself, decided to join the usarmy to become a complete citizen, just as others did before me, where i came from and where i am now . and i dont regret an instant of it and i am forever grateful for what the country gave me .

Everyone in my family before me had served. Starting with the civil war on up. It was just a family tradition.

My High School Guidance Counselor

My brother

The Draft Board was burned and my School Deferment was cancelled in 1969.

My interest in military history spurred me to enlist in November 1974. The Vietnam War and my support for the US Military.
1. Indirectly my paternal grandfather William John Field Ford who served as a British Army Lance Corporal during the Great War [renamed to WWI after WWII] in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey and later on the western front in France.

Image: 1915 Grandfather - British Army Lance Corporal William John Field [1884-1963] Ford during the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey in 1915 died on December 7, 1963
Thank you my friend Maj Marty Hogan for mentioning me.
My paternal grandfather was a Great War [WWI] veteran of the British Expeditionary Force from Gallipoli, Turkey through the western front in France and Belgium
Image: 1915 Grandfather - British Army Lance Corporal William John Field [1884-1963] Ford during the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey in 1915. He died on December 7, 1963 which was six months after he met me and my younger sister for the firs time as we traveled with our parents to visit family in England.
My parents were pacifist having survived in London during the Battle Of Britain.

I enlisted on November 11, 1974 for 12B Combat Engineer.
As a child my goal was to become a US Army officer. I turned down an offer to apply to USNA, Annapolis and enlisted as a soldier. I did well on some tests and after graduating from 12B AIT and being assigned to Fort Campbell, KY I received orders to attend the United States Military Academy Preparatory School at Fort Monmouth. I completed that program and received an appointment to the United States Military Academy, West Point from the local congressman where my parents lived in Upper Darby
FYI SSG Donald H "Don" Bates Cpl Vic Burk SSgt Clare May SSG Donald H "Don" Bates CWO3 Dennis M. SPC Douglas Bolton Cpl Vic Burk PO3 Charles Streich PO3 Edward Riddle LTC (Join to see) SSG Bill McCoy SSG Samuel Kermon PVT Mark Zehner SFC Jim Ruether SGT Tiffanie G.CPL Patrick RasmussonMAJ Byron OylerSPC Maurice Evans LTC Stephen Conway]