I graduated from Napa JC in June, 1966. Not sure of what I was going to do, I applied for admission to Sacramento State College for the Fall Semester. Since my JC transcripts were mediocre, I took the ACT standardized test, to hopefully improve the odds. Lacking the resources or the motivation to go on in college at that point, I decided to volunteer for the Draft instead. It was a pretty sure bet that if I dropped out of school they would find me anyway, but I wanted to get it over with and move on.

I volunteered for the Draft in August, 1966 and reported to Oakland for induction in early September. Starting with the Corporal who met our bus at the Reception Center at Ft. Lewis, WA, life was vastly different from what I was used to at home. For one (big) thing, being yelled at was not what I was used to. It was a constant in Basic, no matter what the activity. Little sleep, lots of fresh air (and rain), and physical training every day were the standard fare. Somehow, we all survived that and moved on to our next military training destination. In my case, that was Ft. Sam Houston, TX (San Antonio) for medic training.

In a strange turn of events, shortly after I started Basic Training I got an envelope forwarded from home. Inside was a letter from Sacramento State College, telling me that I was accepted into their English Honors Program. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Considering how my life developed, I'm glad that I didn't take that offer, because it would have been a waste of time and just would have delayed my exit from school and entry into the rest of my life, but it sounded good at the time.