6 Kids, 3 cats, 1 dog, Mom, and Dad

Wanted to get married or You're in the Army now.

I was in college, as a music major, and Beautiful Wife and I were engaged. We wanted to get married but the economy was in a tail-spin back in the early 80s and finding gainful employment while in school was impossible.

I took the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test) when I was in high school and scored a 100. I heard from recruiters non-stop but wasn't interested. Now, I was interested. Both of my parents had been in the service and I didn't see it as a bad thing.

My future out-laws freaked. They blamed the Army for the oldest son's drug problem though he was already drinking and smoking pot well before joining. They figured that I'd join the Army and their daughter would be eating dog food from a can because we'd be so poor.

Anyway, I took the test again but this time with a bunch of people. They called us all back in after grading it and read the scores out loud....Smith, 79! Jones, 52! Brown, 63! Barton, 99! Every head in the place turned to look at me like somehow I wrecked the scale. It probably didn't help that I said the test was laughably easy and that only an idiot would have trouble passing it.

I visited each of the recruiters after I got my official results, except for the Marines. I walked into his office, took one look at him and his attitude, turned around and walked back out without saying a word. The only branch of the service that would promise me the exact thing I signed up for was the Army so I went with them

I went to the processing center in Portland, ME to pick an MOS (military occupational specialty) and do the actual signing up. I wanted to do something in the medical field and told them that. They told me about the Special Forces and said I could be a medic and I would get to jump out of a plane. My father was in the 82nd Airborne so I figured if he could do it, so could I.

Just then, their systems went down and I had to stay overnight and come back the next day to make that selection. I called home and mentioned that I was signing up for the Special Forces. My father asked if I knew what I was getting into and mentioned that I might want to check into it a bit more before signing up if I wanted to see my wife at all after getting married.

The next day I asked for more information. At the time, they were using some new-fangled technology called 'laser disc' and I watched the briefing about that MOS. All of the soldiers they interviewed spoke in foreign languages and had their faces blanked out for security reasons.

I left that room and told the recruiter no way. He then noted that my highest aptitude was in the electrical section. Based on the test, I figured that meant I knew how to put in a light bulb but listened to what he had to say. He spoke of this new MOS that dealt with equipment that was basically a telephone company on the back of a big truck.

I signed on the dotted line and then went to basic training a few months later, just in time for winter....but that's another story.

Posted by bbarton at May 4, 2005 05:54 AM