Yup after all the beatings and step-dads (fifteen later in life) I had literally been on my own earning nickel and dime jobs since age 12 or 13 mowing lawns for 50 cents if I could get the jobs. So at age 17 I walked away and said to myself, "Self, you've been taking care of yourself since around age 12 so let Uncle Sam take care of you for the next twenty years." I joined the Air Force in 1961 and still remember the new smell of shoe polish, clothing and talk among the barracks personnel that were part of my Flight, sitting on a footlocker polishing shoes and guys asking each other, "How'd you get them to shine like that?" We used spit, water, cotton balls and later alcohol to shine them shoes. Those were good times and good people, I'll never forget some of them. Especially E.A. Bory. It seems he had enlisted in the Navy and was discharged or kicked out for some reason and then he joined the Air Force. They got him for fraudulent enlistment and in early December of 1961 he told us that he'd be leaving. I distinctly remember him sitting on his footlocker singing Tony Bennett's "Ill Be Home For Christmas" to all of us and we all laughed and had a great time. Twenty something years later I bought a loaf of bread and walked into my Mom's house and said, "Here's that loaf of bread you sent me for twenty years ago." She didn't have much of a sense of humor.
