I joined the USMC in 1970 to avoid being drafted into the Army and immediately sent to Vietnam after completing training.
It worked too as I never set foot on Vietnamese soil. Did see it from the deck of USS Mobile and USS Denver and a mike boat from about 500 yards. I tell anybody who asks it's something I wouldn't take a million dollars to do again or to have missed it. USMC really did shape my life in a lot of ways. Nobody owes me anything for it. And like Duane, I'm proud to have served, especially in that outfit.