Enlistment
by John Musgrave

It was a cold day on the eleventh of February, 1966, when I entered the Post
Office in Independence, Missouri.  I was going to the Marine Corps Recruiting
Office to get some stickers and to see if the recruiter had the latest issue of
“Leatherneck” magazine.  Gunnery Sergeant Matthews sat behind his desk in
dress blues and greeted me with a smile since I was a regular visitor who’d been
saying for years I would enlist.

He looked me straight in the eye and said, “You ready to sign-up today?”  I
could tell by the tone of his voice that he was serious.  Suddenly I felt like I did
the first time I stood on the high dive:  I wanted to jump but wasn’t sure I could
take that big step.

“But Gunny, I’m only seventeen years old and I’m still in high school.”
“No sweat,” he replied.  “We’ll put you in on the 120 day delayed entry and you
leave for boot camp after you graduate.”

I couldn’t just walk off the end of that diving board, I’d have to take a running
leap to make it.

“Let’s do it , Gunny,” I said with a voice that sounded detached from me, as he
pulled out a large stack of forms for me to sign.  I reminded him of my age and
said that this would be all for nothing if my parents refused to give their
permission for my enlistment.

Gunny Matthews looked a t me a moment and asked me just how bad I wanted
to be a Marine and I replied in all honesty, “More than anything else in the world.”

The Gunny smiled and told me not to worry about it because once my folks knew
how I felt he was sure they’d give their permission.

Is this really happening, I thought, as I looked at the stack of forms.  I’m really
enlisting in the Marine Corps: I’ll be fighting for my country in that place in Asia
called Vietnam.

Gunny told me I had a six-year military obligation: That I could serve in the
reserves, a two-year, three-year or four-year enlistment and I replied, “Give me
six years and I’ll make it a career.”

The Gunny smiled and told me we could start out with four years and after that,
if I still wanted to make it my career, I could ship-over.

My head felt light and my hands had begun to tingle.  I was totally sure of what I
was doing and thrilled like never before in my life.

Oh yeah, I might have been a little nervous as well because on the first three
forms he gave me I misspelled my name.