I was the youngest man in the Air Force when this photo was taken. I enlisted at 16 and inducted just after turning 17. Back then, to be in the Air Force at 17 without a high school degree, you had to score 80% up in Armed Forces Battery Exam. If you were 18 or had graduated, (or enlisting in Army or Marines) you only needed 40%. This was to discourage not finishing high School. I’d only completed the 9th grade.
I scored 92.8% and should have bought a lottery ticket that day – if they’d sold them back then. The test overwhelmed me – so I colored in random dots. They called my recruiter (who felt I didn’t have a prayer and was disinterested in me) to tell him I was a genius. He raced to the Federal building to walk me through the physical and sign papers before I changed my mind. He then drove me to my Dad’s work and then home to sell my parents and to get them to sign the minor waiver. Then to pizza. I got an induction date for just after I turned 17.
They were all shocked that I wanted a guaranteed job as a truck driver or mechanic – instead of something high tech. They thought they had a genius – and I knew I was in over my head. When Vietnam ended and there was a “reduction in forces” I traded my 4th year in 1975 for 2 years of Active Reserves – and was a weekend warrior until March 77.
