I wasn’t an exceptionally bright child, but I was a bit stubborn.  I stuck it out in high school and graduated when I was seventeen.  The highlight of my high school years was being stood up for my senior prom by a man I should never have been dating.  Larry, you broke my heart.  I didn’t know what else to do so I hopped on my motorcycle and started to ride.  I kept on riding until the motor seized because I forgot to put oil in it.  That capped off a perfect evening.  Before I graduated, the strangest thing happened to me though.  I had been visiting colleges, as if I had the money to actually attend college.  One day at softball practice an Air Force recruiter showed up.  He watched us play, I was the starting shortstop for the varsity team, and as I came off the field he came over to me and pitched his line.  “You know, the Air Force will pay you to play softball.”  Really?  Do tell.  I wanted to hear more.  I made arrangements to meet with him.  Then I had to get my parents’ permission.  I wouldn’t turn eighteen until September and it was only April.  I invited the recruiter to the house so he could pitch to my parents, but he would have to sell them differently than he sold me.  They would want to hear something more than I was going to play softball.  The recruiter was good at his job.  He sold them and me.  Wow, I’d learn a trade, get paid while learning, travel, get tuition to go to college if I wanted, good health care, and still get to play softball.  I was ready.  Mom was reluctant but signed anyway.  I was in the delayed enlistment program.  The only thing my recruiter left out that I still fault him for is the six years for two stripes deal.  I would have taken that deal if he had offered it to me, but I didn’t find out about it until some other Airmen told me about it later.  So I graduated high school in June, spent the summer with my friends, and went off to the Military Entrance Processing Station in Albany New York in September before entering the Air Force.  I had my full physical and selected my job based on the results of the physical.  I wanted to be in Security Forces but I didn’t lift enough weight, or so I was told. That turned out to be a blessing.  So I chose ground radio maintenance.  I was off to basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio Texas four days after my eighteenth birthday.