I am getting ready to fly South to spend the remainder of February.
Lately, the lyrics to the Peter, Paul and Mary song Leaving on a Jet Plane, is implanted in my mind.
This song was popular back in the 1960s when I was facing the draft into the U.S, Military Service.
I was 18 and had dropped out of the Williamsport School of Commerce.
Thirty (30) days later I received notification from the Selective Service that my classification had changed from School Exempt to Draft Eligible.
Protests were taking place all over the county.
Four (4) college kids had been shot and killed at Kent State University by our own National Guard.
A good friend of mine had been killed in Vietnam,
The U.S, Navy Recruiter called.
I was ready to do my time and get it over with,
I left for boot camp at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center.
After completion of Boot Camp, I received orders to report to the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), an aircraft carrier homeported in Alameda, California.
The Coral Sea was known as the Ageless Warrior.
They had just returned from a deployment to the Gulf of Tonkin which is located off the shores of Vietnam and were preparing for yet another trip to WestPac.
