Off to Boot Camp

Continuing with the story from yesterday, Joe enlisted in the U. S. Navy and we got married, knowing we had 120 days before he reported to boot camp.  We had a wonderful summer, despite the unknowns hanging over us.  We had a long weekend honeymoon in Lake George Village, a long weekend camping at Thousand Islands, and a final long weekend camping at Expo '67 in Montreal.

Joe left for boot camp the first week in October.  He was due home just a week or two before Christmas.  Early in December, he phoned.  It seemed that the Navy recruiter hadn't been entirely truthful about what he'd offered Joe.  There was no guarantee of an illustrator-draftsman position, and, in fact, there were only 300 such billets in the entire Navy!  There was one vacancy and if Joe wanted to be considered for it, he had to waive the Class A school he was entitled to and compete with everyone else who wanted that spot.  If he was not selected, he'd be sent to corpsman school and immediately go to 'Nam as a medic supporting the Marines.  And he'd have to stay in boot camp an extra week before he would find out.

It was a very long week.

Finally another phone call came.  He'd be home for Christmas, and with about three days to spare!  And he'd received the illustrator-draftsman position!   The shore duty part had turned out to be true!  He'd been assigned to Pensacola, Florida, for a year, and was due to report the first week in January!