Marines
Like most American kids, I grew up hearing stories about Marine Corps training. By age 18, I had read Leon Uris's Battle Cry and my testosterone was surging. I arrived at MCRD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot) just three months out of high school. It was an awakening. I had been a kid full of mischief and bad habits. “Unmotivated” they might call it today. Tolerance for misbehavior or sloppy performance ended abruptly at MCRD.
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The Korean War had ended. The closest I came to an actual battlefield was a crisis in Lebanon (I think in 1958). It nearly came to "lock 'n' load" but was resolved at the last moment. My tour of duty was completed well before Vietnam. I was spared the horrors of war.
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