Remember when back in those days when you were were asked a question on how you felt our answer was groovy?

There was none of this, “Okay, dude.” or  “Sweet!”

Flower power was in. The war had taken its toll on this country or so I thought. I had taken my oath and was proud to serve my country. I can remember flying back in the plane and all the thoughts in my head. I can remember thinking back about how I used to play GI Joe in the backyard with my brothers. It seems like yesterday.

This time it would be real. I can remember when the plane landed in Rochester, I was the last one off. When I got on the ramp I put my hat on and walked into the terminal. My father, mother, brothers and sister were there to meet me. How proud they were to see me! I will never forget my father how he stood there looking at me walking straight with my dress blues on.

I gave my mother a hug and kissed her, hugged my brothers and sister and turned to my father. I had put out my hand but instead he took my hat off and gave me the biggest hug I’ve ever had in my life. You have to remember one thing about my father, he never hugged anyone!

Going home in the car, he kept looking at me through the rearview mirror and all he would say was , “I love it your hair. It is shorter than mine!”

You see, when I left, my hair was down past my shoulders. Something my father always hated! In his eyes, I had become a man .

When we got home we had something to eat and then talked about some of the things I had been doing in the service. Please also remember in 1968, the drinking age was 18. Gas cost $.65 a gallon. Cigarettes were $.25 a pack. Milk was $.50 a gallon.

I went in the basement with my father and had a couple drinks with him. He wanted to know about basic training. I told him every thing. He looked at me with his little grin and said things haven’t changed that much. I was on a 30 day leave and had no idea what I was going to do. Between my family and friends, they took care of everything. If I wanted to borrow my mother’s car, I would ask her and she would look at me and say, “Have a ball.” I had so many things changed in such a small time. What was going? Everyday it seemed like someone in my family had things planned for me.

My biggest surprise was Bruce. He wanted me to be a director in a variety show in high school. He thought it would be neat to tell everyone I was going to Vietnam. I will get back to that in a moment. You know, I loved my father and I cherished him very much but he never took me anywhere with him. We went to the bowling alley with all his friends all I did was sit there. He would ask me questions and I would answer yes sir or no sir. To him, he must’ve been so proud of me. He looked at his friends and said “My God, they turned my son into a man.” He did the same thing when he played golf with his friends. This was the biggie coming home. From golf he let me drive his car. Believe me, no one drove my father’s car!!  Not even my mother.

My mother would always feed me. She said I looked underweight. I still remember my pants size 28 Waist 32 Length.  I was in the best shape of my life.

In directing Bruce’s variety show, I would always have one girl follow me around wherever I went.( except the bathroom) Her name was Donna and she was two years younger than me. Her brother was in Bruce’s graduating class. My God did we have a lot of fun doing that variety show. It opened on a Friday and Saturday evening the place was packed.

At the end of the show my brother would call me out and tell them about me. This was both nights. A lot of teachers that I had met in high school were there and they shook my hand and gave me hugs and said good luck.

This was quite the change when I left high school. At that time, it  seemed like they were saying,”Get lost and have a nice day.”

Donna and I were always together rides in the country, talking, and making out. She told me she would write me every day. My sister who had switched religions to be with her boyfriend wanted me to be saved at her church. She had switched from Protestant to the Southern Baptist. My sister really wanted this and she needed this so  I told her okay.

You know when I was growing up I was a Protestant, went to Lutheran church with a friend, Catholic church with a friend, Presbyterian Church with a friend, and now Southern Baptist. The way I figured it when asked in the service what religion was I I would answer,”Heinz 57″. With all the religious churches that I had gone to, nothing satisfied my mind or made me feel good at that time.

I really did not know what this meant. I know there was a God and because I could not see him it did not mean he was not there. Before I left, we had a party at the house. My aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sister and friends were there. I will never forget it. Hot dogs, hamburgers, potato and macaroni salads. Lets not forget the chips and soda. For these were things that I’ll would not see for a long long time.

On the day that I left, my father was sad. He would never say anything but you could tell. All my mother did was cry. My brothers and sister did not go to the airport with us. In their own ways they hated to say goodbye,  but hey wait a minute, I will be back!

I think I hoped when the plane left Rochester and climbed into the sky above the clouds, I felt a sudden chill and loss of concentration. My God I am not the little boy. I was I was a man. I was at my crossroads. We landed at Seattle-Tacoma Airport (SeaTac). We had to get more shots. They had to check our gear. There were about 200 people on that flight and they were all GIs minus the crew.

It was supposed to be a 13 hour flight. I was so scared you bet ya,  but I was not alone. Hardly anybody spoke the entire trip. I think everybody knew what not to expect a ticket to Disneyland. I really did not want to look at anybody who was on my plane thinking they might never come back or how many people were looking at me thinking the same. What happens will happen, I kept telling myself. I was going halfway around the world to fight a war for what and you know what I still dont know.