smoke-'em if you got-'em
Part IV

Phase IV of my personal smoking saga... The United States Army! I graduated from St Francis School of Radiologic Technology in September 1966. A year of so before that, I had signed up with the United States Navy for a four-year tour starting in December 1966. When I graduated, I accepted a position at the Sante Fe Hospital here in Topeka... where not only all of the staff smoked, but all of the patients too. They worked for Sante Fe Railroad, and they were men! y'know. In late September, I get a notice from the draft board. Yay! They want me! I explained to them that I had a prior commitment to the Navy, but they were not impressed. No, that would not do, not at all. They wanted me in November, so what the Navy wanted was impossible... I would be an Army Man by then! At first, I could get nowhere with them. Then some guy realized that I hadn't had a physical for, like, over a year. Well, the draft wouldn't take me until I had a physical and all the reports were back... I had joined the Navy because... all the Franklins were Navy Men. My dad, my uncle Murlin, my brother Dan... I wanted to be a Navy Man too! Or did I, really? Four years was a long time... something like 20% of my life up to that point. A long time. And the draft... well, that was two years. If I had another physical, they couldn't draft me until January. I would be in the Navy by them. Shit. So I waived the right to have another physical and I was drafted in November 1968. Two years. Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Cold, miserable place, cold miserable people. I was completely brainwashed. I was in the best physical shape that I would ever be in. I smoked two packs of Marlboros a day. Brainwashed. I wanted to kill gooks. Me, the pacifist... I wanted to KILL GOOKS! No matter that I didn't know what a gook was or why I shoulf kill them... nobody else seemed to have a clue on the matter either, or at least they weren't telling me. Everyone smoked. This is what Army Men Did. Smoke. Drink. Kill Gooks. I was totally into it. Shortly after I got out of basic, I realized what had happened. Shit, I didn't want to kill gooks! Or anyone else, for that matter... OK... so I'll go with the smoking and drinking. I was well qualified on both counts. By the time my two years were done, I was smoking three packs a day and drinking a quart of whisky. I was well qualified.

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

All material ©1998-2003 by Doug Franklin

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