The Summer Before

We were four tough guys, two white, two Mexican (actually Chicano), who decided to check out how the soul brothers were faring during the Watts riots. A brick through the windshield convinced us we were at the wrong place at the wrong time. A quick u-turn and the cops moving in is the only thing that saved our skin that day.

Poor Danny was picking glass out of his penile area for a week. The last few weeks of high school were in June. We had all turned 18. The school was having job fairs for us in the gym featuring companies, colleges and the US Marines and other armed forces.

The war Stories January to June

Some of the kids who were in classes ahead of us had survived Vietnam and shared war stories at the parties we had after football games. The four of us were all varsity players. We took in the stories about Vietnam that always ended up--go, don’t go, it’s a mess, it’s crazy, go, don’t go.

Marine recruiters were both trained killers and closers. They had the pitch. You four amigos will go in on the buddy system, train together, be assigned to the same unit, get a delayed entry until school starts back in September, and while you are surfing at the beach you can call yourself a Marine! Damn son…you don’t want to wait until you’re drafted.

Later that June, we reported to the induction center in downtown Los Angeles. None of us told our parents as they would have freaked out. Here were our stats:- Quarterback had a heart problem that had never been detected- One of us didn’t pass the mental test- One had to lose a ton of weight- My eyes, nearsighted, were borderline good enough for the Marines, but a real Doctor would have to make the final decision at three o’clock that day.

High Noon

At noon we rendezvoused in the lunchroom where my three buddies shared their stories that they were out of the selection process. They wanted to leave and asked me if I wanted to go. I said, “You guys are my ride, so let’s get out of Dodge."

We left and not one of us looked in the rear view mirror as the induction center disappeared into that gray smoggy L.A. skyline that afternoon.

Should there be a Chapter 2

I guess my file got set aside when I didn’t return for the eye exam and was filed in a pending draw for about a year, that is when the FBI came knocking on the door…Up next Chapter 2: Door Gunner on a Huey? Officer Candidate School? College Student Anti-War Protester? A Student for a Democratic Society?

#History