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I was drafted into the Army in early 1964, and went overseas later in the year. When I was in the U.S. in uniform, I just wanted to be maybe smiled at and be treated like I was human like everybody else. Young guys in the military then seemed to be considered pretty low on the social scale. As an E-1, I made $67/mo. and made a big $164/mo. when I got out as an E-4, but offering to pick up a check for me would have been kind of insulting. Pay while I was in wasn't a whole lot to make any progress on. I'm frankly amazed at what they make now.
I had a bunch of unique experiences and learned a lot of things, but somehow always thought the old guys who had been on the line in WWII when tens of thousands were killed each month had it much worse. When I got out it felt kind of strange, since most of the young guys in the population hadn't been in and had no ideas about it.
However not everybody follows, or is taken down, the same path so people who didn't have to go in or didn't go in just had a different path in life & shouldn't worry about it. I was happy at least to get the GI bill to help when I went to college and get a CalVet loan to help buy my first house. So I felt that was some kind of pay back.
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Marv Evans
'69 911E
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