I received a letter at my parents’ house. I had just traveled that summer to surf in southern California. I called home from a pay phone and my mom read the letter from USAF asking me to join. The letter explained that if I were to enroll in college and hold a “C” or better grade average, I would be exempt for the time while in college, and would later be considered to be eligible for an officer position. I had seen some of my older brother’s friends coming back with only one arm or one leg or not at all. I enrolled in college immediately to avoid going to fight in Vietnam–I had no idea why we were there to begin with . To this day I wonder if I had gone would I be the same today. I now employ a vet from ‘Nam and he has lots of mental issues about life in general, and has a difficult time getting along with people .