Employed 7 part 9

My house-mate and good friend Gary is remembered as a very remarkable guy.

He was in automatic Morse, (next door to voice section) where he was team

leader. Before the Army, he had been a professional jazz bassist in the San Francisco Bay Area (first paid gig at age 17). For a couple of years he had been teaching himself to play piano and when he first got to Wildwood Station (WS) he arranged with the post chaplain to use the piano in the chapel for practice after regular hours. Woooeee! l sat and listened to a few of those 

practices and l'd say he was already an accomplished jazz pianist at that point

in time. Soon after we moved into the cabin at Dick's and Betty's place, Gary

procured a fine up-right piano from someone in Kenai (l think it was his girl-

friend's mother or a friend of hers). Wherever it came from, l was plenty happy

to have it there for Gary to play. (Like having Oscar Le Vant for a roomate).

You may have noticed that l mentioned Gary's girlfriend. There's another way

Gary was ahead of the rest of us. Un-attached women were a rare commodity

in Alaska in General and Kenai in particular. But Gary was often accompanied

by Anita and they often spent time at the piano in our cabin. l enjoyed many

evenings in their company. A bedspread, draped over a wire gave privacy.

Gary often worked (playing bass or piano) at events at the officer's club.He

heard much of the conversations of those who were part of the command

structure at WS. About the same time that l was sent to the Alutians and

St. Lawrence lsland on TDY, Gary heard my name mentioned in such a way

as to cause widespread laughter among the crowd. Gary didn't know what it was about and he remembered only that the post commander had said "l'd

like to know how Gideon feels about that". After that, Gary regularly told me

of incidents in which my name attached to this story or that had, once again

brought a moment of comic relief.

On Jan.5, after a short train trip from Seward to the Port of Whittier, l rode a

troop-ship across the Gulf of Alaska to Seattle. l called Dulce and she said yes

to my request that she pick me up at Oakland lnt'l and drive me to the train station. When she picked me up,after only a minute of pleasantries, l went straight for the core and asked if there was anything l could say or do to save

what seemed un-savable.She thought not. l agreed. l really only asked because l thought l owed it to her. We parted amicably.

Arriving in Washington,D.C. ln mid-january '58, l first arranged for shelter in

a house in Falls Church,Va.,occupied by other NSA employees. l was able to

arrange for transportation, to and from NSA at Ft Meade with one of the other

tenants at 108 Sleepy Hollow rd. After a week of commuting from there to

Ft. Meade, l got together with a Realtor, Saturday who set me up with a lease

on a house at 6207  43rd St. in Riverdale,Md. Sunday, l drove to NSA, and put

"House To Share" ads on three bulletin boards. By the middle of the next week, we were at capacity.

Employed 7 part 8

About a month after we moved to the cabin on Dick's and Betty's place, l got a phone call from Dulce. She had called a couple of times in the month that l
had first arrived there, and it was a delight to talk with her then, as always. 
But l had told her that l wouldn't be able to afford to call her on my income. ln
those days a call between Kenai and Oakland cost about $2.50 a minute, plus
tax. So it probably would be best if we both cut back on calling while continuing to write often.

So it had been some time since l'd heard her voice. At first l didn't recognize
it;it lacked the audible delight to which l was accustomed in her voice. This
callers voice was familiar but hostile. Oh, almost immediately l did know who it was (l didn't get that many calls, even local) and l also immediately knew
that some bad news was about to arrive. And it did.

"Hello?"
"Hi, it's me."
"Dulce, how's it goin', sweet stuff?"
"Ok.....l'm....pregnant."
"Did you say pregnant?"
"Yes."
"l'm guessing; this child is not ours?
"Correct."
"Ok, l understand that we are quit.  While l don't completely get it, l'm sure
that l will, in time.
And in time, l did know. While l was working in voice section l would often
use the American typewriter to write letters, when l found myself short of
assignment.Somewhere l encountered the idea of typing in "free association",
in which one types one's own stream of consciousness. Sometimes it works
real good, though an example of a good one evades me at the moment. l
wish l could produce a copy of the one Dulce received, to get some idea how it could have offended her, if it did. Something did. Frankly, l don't think something l wrote turned her off; l think it had to do with my apparent lack of
fertility.

Even as the only draftsman on the post l still had three or four days off per
week. Lil of Lil's cafe was my first painted sign customer and recommended 
me to other customers and l was on my way. ln Kenai, l contacted a great
mechanic( Lil's lead) and arranged with him to do auto mechanic work. First,
he would thoroughly check out cars l was interested in, give me a quote to
fix what is needed to make them salable, and if it makes sense, do the work.

For a couple of months things went so fine; working for engineering as draftsman, buying, fixing and selling cars and painting signs was keeping me very busy and better-fixed financially than ever before. l had no more than
just realized as much, when one Monday morning, as l reported to my drafting job, l was told to report to the boss. Sure enough. l'm getting fired again.
But the chief engineer tells me that l'm being "kicked upstairs" to a job at NSA in
Washington D.C.

Employed 7 part 7

The job at S&R was much simpler (obviously) than the job that had required
nine months of training. S&R was also 3 days on and 4 off per week, but day shift only. The problem was that l was as angry as l've ever been and as the days and weeks went by, the anger did not abate. l earned the privilege to
attend those schools and by completing them, with passing grades, l earned
the job. For my superiors to dismiss me for bringing to their attention a link that l thought had little or no promise of yielding useful traffic,was, at least
the wrong way to treat a valuable asset, but also, if he had actually listened
to that link himself (as l suggested) he might well have agreed with me.

Though l was angry for quite some time l didn't show it. The day l got the
notice of my change of job, l was boiling when l got home. Gary absorbed my blast for a bit and then gave me his blast: "Don't give them the satisfaction
of seeing you hurting from their action. And protect yourself from further grief
down the road" he said. "Act like everything is just fine. Smile some. Talk some,seem to be happy with your situation, just don't produce more than
about half the work that they expect from you...let them feel a little of the
pain". l agreed with Gary and felt very fortunate to have met him. A very smart guy with a big heart.We both  had overlooked one of the most posit-
ive aspects of that plan; l only had to endure the S&R job for about another
three weeks. This change was unexpected and somewhat alarming because
it moved me out of the operations company, which is ASA,NSA, and into
post engineering which is the service company.This might mean that l'm no
longer in ASA and could loose non-combatant status.

This time the new job is right down my alley; I'm in charge of the Drafting
Department of the engineering company, which l learn is part of ASA. For me,
things were going pretty good. l'm sorry that my time at Al's was wasted,but
l was probably a better draftsman than Russian linguist at that time and was very comfortable with the place, the work and the people. The draftsman
that l replaced had finished his tour and was leaving the army, He had acquired a gang of stuff that he didn't want to keep and he had a barracks
sale. l bought some of it including a bunch of artist's materials; lotsa tubes of
oil paints, a dozen or more brushes and a few palates. A half-dozen rolls of
4' wide canvas and a few hundred feet of mounting material. l also bought
about a dozen gallon cans of several different colors which l later used for some sign painting jobs. The artist's supplies l didn't use while in Alaska, but
l took them with me when l returned to the States.

One day, Gary and l were in Kenai when we met a lady with 2 dogs on
leashes who said she needed to give one of them away. The available
dog was a  very nice German Shepherd named Molly. we couldn't take
her but we agreed to pass the word on Molly to any one that might be 
interested.We did find an interested party and when we went to the address
of the lady she still had the dog and our prospect liked the dog.Our lady friend,Betty,, wife of Dick Dewitt and mother of 3-year-old Mark were all happy that the available dog now had a home. We noticed a nice cabin next door to
the Dewitt home, bearing a "for rent"sign. lt was their cabin, we moved from our place overlooking the inlet and moved in next to the Dewitts to a nicer
place in a better (wooded) neighborhood, and cost us $20 less than our first
place and next-door to the best neighbors ever.

Employed 7 part 6

l never did discover why l was given the temporary duty that amounted to a

three-week vacation, but l got an idea about that just after returning to WS.

About two weeks before being sent on my TDY holiday, Operations atWS was

visited by a team from NSA Headquarters who made themselves available to

those of us working there, who might have questions, suggestions,complaints

or disatisfactions related to our work. l had a question about at least one of my regularly scheduled intercept assignments. The details are of no interest

to the reader, so l'll just give you the surface; l felt that one of my assigned

intercepts, a romantic couple, with about 5,000 miles between them, told each-other how much they loved and missed each-other. Every week at the 

same time, for the exact amount of time, saying the exact same words...NSA

guy said that the site in question can have the same callers indefinitely, but

on any day or time another set of callers can materialize and generate traffic

that we need to hear. Mission Planning decides  the exact shape of the mis-

sion and right now they like the site of which you speak remaining intercept-

ed.

The NSA guy seemed happy to respond to my question and was really very

knowledgeable of the entire voice-intercept world. And so personable! He

was so nice to me, that when l was first told of my TDY holiday my first thought was that he had set it up because he liked that l had a question

he could get his teeth into. Only two of us came forward and the other guy

got upset with the NSA guy and lost his turn.

Returning to WS at the end of the TDY, l realized that l had had it wrong..My

work position, radios, recorders,typewriters desk and all had been removed

from the Voice Section. The lone voice op in the section told me to check

with the day's ops officer for details. When l did, l learned that l'd been

transferred; no more da kine voice op, l was then the one-man Shipping &

Receiving dept. Having spent nearly a year preparing to do the voice-op job,

l was more than a little peeved to be dismissed with not so much as a discussion of the overall situation.

Shipping and receiving at WS was heavy-duty: Boxes containing the typed

transcripts are wrapped with a special paper that is actually two paper sheets

held together with a dense sticky black substance that  blocks any light

from entering or exiting the box. My job was simply to receive the already-

filled boxes and the rolls of double paper, wrap with two layers of the doubled

paper held together with tar. My job was entirely in the S&R room, not moving the boxes from the voice section or moving them out to the trucks that carry them to the plane that carries them to NSA.

Employed 7 part 5

Until Alaska l always spent the night in the barracks. (while in training, every activity, indoors or out is closely controlled and required for all soldiers and a
lot of it takes place in one's assigned barracks.) At a working post, a bed in a barracks is provided and the bed and the area around it must be ready for inspection except if in use. But, at a working post that goes 24/7 the barracks
can be less than tolerable; people coming and going, night and day and an 
unbelievable cacophony of from 3 to5 hi-fi sets trying to out-do each other at
any hour of the day or nite. When l'd been at WS about two weeks, l met a
new guy named Gary. A smart likeable easy-going sort that l immediately
liked. We talked for a while (mostly about putting the barracks behind us. We
soon decided to go to Kenai and look for a place that might, be affordable if
shared by two. Gary had arrived at WS about a month before l did and had
already bought  a car. A 1941 ford sedan,in very nice shape, for a price that l thought very reasonable (though l don't remember now what it was).

We stopped at Lil's Cafe in kenai to look at her billboard. An hour later, having rented a cabin with a furnished kitchen, a large bedroom with two beds, a clean, tight bathroom with shower and a small, but comfy living
room we returned to WS, loaded our stuff into Gary's car, except that which
would be needed to maintain an inspectable bed and foot locker display,and
returned to our new digs. Neither of us had really taken a good look at the
back of the cabin. When we did look out in that direction, we discovered
that the cabin's back door was only about 40 feet from the edge of a cliff
that drops to the beach about 80 feet below which is part of the shore of the
Cook lnlet. The view from the backyard, of the inlet and the mountains framing it became the first of very many staggeringly beautiful vistas that
convinced me that,after completing my enlistment, l would become a permanent resident of Alaska.

l'm pretty sure it's not against regulations for enlisted soldiers to maintain
off-post housing. Commissioned officers and married enlistees are provided 
private residences for themselves and/or themselves and family on post.
Single enlistees are only provided a private room if they are non-commis
sioned officers. (Corporals,Sargents). The rest get  a 33inch wide bed, a foot
locker and a wall locker in an open bay, shared with 50 others. The command
likes everything to proceed as designated. Those who don't completely com-
ply, will naturally feel some persuasive initiative pointed their way, for even
the slightest deviation.

Because l had spent time in the National Guard in Elko and ROTC at UNR,
the Army started me at pay grade E2, instead of E1,the usual entry grade.
When we graduated we were all given a promotion to the next pay grade.
Most of the class moved from E1 to E2. l moved from E2 to E3, which is also
called Private First Class. (one stripe). Big deal;it added about two bux to
my monthly pay. lt didn't last long, anyway:Soldiers have two chains of com-
mand; one at the job and one at the barracks. l was never really sure who was
my sargent at work, but sargent Clayton made it clear to me that he was my
barracks sargent when he reduced my rank (paygrade) to E2. l had to remove
the stripes myself. (two from each of my four uniforms).He said l was supposed to reside in the barracks during our conversation but didn't order
me to do so. He also said l was in danger of becoming an E1. Hey, l never
been one of those before!

Within a couple weeks Operations sent me on Temporary Duty to 
some of  the Aleutian islands and St. Lawrence lsland in the Bering Sea.
During that entire trip, l did nothing that could be considered work. Yet,
it was a lot of fun; at each stop, an officer (usually a First Lieutenant or
Captain) who would meet me at the airport, drop me at the post and check
on me later, to take me to observe works at Operations or to meals. Often, 
l'd be taken on island tours that included stops to visit with locals or to
observe the unique sights.

Employed 7 part 4

l did start missing Dulce as soon as l got on the train, but after our marathon
procreation drill, l was happy for an interruption. Eventually, l came to realize
that l missed the non-sexual part of our relationship as much,if not more than
the sexual. Just talking with her was a delight;we were not always in agree-
ment, but we never (not once) had arguments or even raised voices. l have
only fond memories of our times together. Oh, l know nothing can ever be
perfect, but except that it ended too soon, our relationship (from my perspec-
tive) was perfect.

The ASA school would give us Russian Military vocabulary and the ability to
type not less than 45 words-per-minute on a Russian typewriter (with cyrillic alphabet). l thought l'd never reach the required 45wpm within the 90 days
of the ASA course, but my final typing test yielded a score of 54wpm, six
days before the 90th day. lucky, huh?

Finally, after a little more than 13 months in training, l was about to be em-
ployed, not in gathering know-how, but using it to contribute to America's
security. Pretty heady stuff, but l was ready for it. l was assigned to a post
in southern Alaska, near the town of Kenai. Dulce wanted to see me off from
Seattle, so she flew in for the day and night that l'd be be there. That was
nice, if a little sad: There was a last-ditch effort to produce a Son, even though we both had begun to think that one, or both of us, might be infer-
tile, though neither of us had reason to think so. Except for the obvious,

l began my work at Wildwood Station (WS) in early April, 1957. The operations
building was about two miles from the main post, which was about three
miles from Kenai. lt was a large,square one-story building, about 75 or 80 feet
on a side. A 12-foot thick wall, with only two passage ports, surrounded the 
building. ln voice section, a room of about 150 sq. ft., five voice intercept
positions are located, one behind the other along the wall to their right. Each
position is equipped with two Collins radio receivers capable of receiving
every signal between zero kilocycles and seventy-five megacycles. Coupled
with the radios were two Ampex tape recorders that could be set to many
different tape speeds, up to 30 inches per second. Two typewriters are present; one Russian,for serious business, one American. (for our letters home). Just west of the  building was a 80-acre antennae able to catch radio waves from thousands of miles away..
When first reporting to work at  Operations, we new guys were told that too
many voice ops had been trained in total and too many of those had been assigned to WS. Their solution to the problem was great, so far as l was concerned; lnstead of working five days on days;two days off, then five days on swing; two days off, then five days on graveyard, We would actually 
work only three days on and four days off for all shifts. That schedule was 
the best. Especially since it was early spring and in ALASKA. Don't think that
we didn't take full advantage. Consider a couple of realities: Army Supply 
will outfit soldiers with camping equipment and food rations for exploring
the country of your location. and two; l don't think there is a person in Alaska
who doesn't pick up hitch-hikers whether they're in a car,truck or light
airplane. ln the first four months l was in Alaska, l hitch-hiked almost every
day and it was always the first car approaching that stopped and picked me
up. Sometimes as many as four of us would travel together. Even then the 
first car approaching would always stop, even if it was to tell us they hadn't
enough space for us. On perhaps four occasions, three or four of us were
hitching on a highway that was running along the bank of a river.We are
standing on the roadside,waiting for a prospect. We hear a plane and look
toward the sound of it and see a Cessna 195 that looks, at first like it was
about to land on the pavement,but then lined up on the river's center and
landed there. For a light plane, the 195 is very spacious, but we and our 
stuff packed that plane to the brim and probably exceeded the weight limit
but when one of us suggested that the pilot reduce our number by one or two, he said he wouldn't hear of it; "she's carried more than this many times and in worse weather. We'll be fine". And we were.

Employed 7 part 3

Arriving in Oakland, we stopped first at Mills College so Dulce could check for

messages; her dad had submitted bids to supply a bunch of sedans and 

pickups to the State of Nevada, and lf any of his bids won, he said she and l could earn some extra bucks delivering cars to Carson City. Learning that the deal was on, she called her dad and he told her we should be there, ready

to move cars in four days (Dec 18,'56). We had been heading for the Oakland

railway station so l could return to Elko county and spend some time visiting

family and friends  ( mostly, my mom, whom l hadn't seen since just after basic training) and wait for Dulce to come home for Winter break.

But Dulce wanted us to spend three of those four days in the North Bay. She was particularly moved by the redwoods and some of the towns in which they grew, Hopland, Healdsburg, Calistoga and Cotati, among them. So we decided on what would be 3beautlful days. But first, we took a motel room and got back to the serious business of producing a son. l'll explain: On the very first time that we triple-dated in the big Buick, the girls had been comparing

their desires as they related to motherhood:This one wanted to postpone

motherhood 'til after grad school. That one wasn't sure she wanted to be a mother...ever. Dulce, sitting on my lap at the time. said "l want a son and l

want him soon". l said nothing but couldn't help thinking that she was inviting

me to contribute what l could to the project. My classmate and driver of the

Buick,Bill, whose folks were away for the weekend,made up their bed for our use. (Bill and l are still friends and l still revere him, but l've never been able to repay his consideration and action as a friend.

ln the following three days we spent little time outdoors among the redwoods, owing to the task before us. With very little sexual experience out-

side brothels,l  learned very early:to avoid pregnancies and venereal diseases it's best to patronize established,licensed,county-inspected brothels. Dad and l had a talk on this subject when l was about 15. He said that when he was in high school a fellow student had impregnated a girl and then left town, joined

the Navy and never looked back. The girl used a double-edge razor blade to

open a vessel jn her neck. She died. Nobody there ever saw the sailor again.

Dad recommend that l continue as before and even said that should l find  

myself in need,but out of money, he'd loan some.

The next day we drove to Santa Rosa "Gateway to the Redwood Empire" and

checked into a motel just after lunch. On the last of our three days we stayed

ln the same motel in Santa Rosa as the night before and only left the room

for a late lunch and a later dinner.Early in the morning of the fourth day we checked out and got on the road to Nevada. Arriving at Dulce's home in time

for a late dinner with her mom and dad, during which her dad gave us the 

details of the driving we would do in the next few days. All of the cars and

pickups had been moved by December 23. Dulce and l spent the rest of our

winter break together for almost all of the time. l caught the train to points East on Jan2,'57. l was in my old room at the Manger Hotel by Jan6.

Employed 7 part 2

A guy needs a motorcycle, Y'know?  At least, l did. For a few months. And had
a great time. As the relationship between Dulce and l grew we spent a great
deal more time together. My little lndian Scout was fast enough, very comfortable and road-worthy....for one. lt lacked even so much as a pillion seat atop it's rear fender and had no other seat-like structure. So, when Dulce and l traveled together it was in her two tone (emerald green over pea green) (looked better than it sounds),four-door hard-top,(all the rage, that year) Chevy Bel Aire wth all options included, the 245- horse V8 engine and three-speed Hydramatic trans. lt really was nice, but would you expect a Chevy dealer to provide his only daughter with anything less?

l kept the Scout until well after l stopped using it. ln early November l used the very same hand-made notice that l had responded to when l bought it. The
previous owner had included the notice in the price of the bike and even suggested that l post it when l'm ready to sell. lt worked very well (again!) l
put it on the mess hall bulletin board when l went to breakfast at about 7 AM
Nov. 4 and completed the transaction at 10AM on Nov. 5.

My oldest memory of Dulce was in Mjss Diamond's class, early in the school
year. Miss D taught 5th and 6th grades, simultaniously and in the same room. l was in sixth grade at the time and Dulcy in fifth, so l can deduct that it was the year 1948 and l was ten . The question before the individual members of the class was: What do you want to be as an adult? l remember some of the replies:Tad, no surprise; he wants to run a million-acre cattle ranch like his dad does. Joyce; Concert Master. Ed; Play first base for the Yankees. Fred;
Proctologist's assistant. May Ellen; Own and operate a fine restaurant. Owen;
lnventor. James;Geologist. Lenny; StandUp Comic. Dulce;Courtesan.
l don't remember much of the rest of the replies that day, but l knew l needed
to become acquainted with her; she is likely the most interesting girl in town,

But, true to form,l never really got up the git'go to follow thru on my becoming
acquainted idea. ln fact it was not until we wound up sitting alone together in
our own little corner of the study hall that we actually got acquainted. My
reluctance to proceed was mostly driven by the fear of failure and the embarrassment that comes with it. ln my mind that was a real possibility; 
She was not just pretty. ln motion, she was a thing of beauty. and not just physical. Not too much make-up (in an era of too much). Everything about her,
even to her clothing and the unique hair styles, her knowledge, (she's a 
voracious reader).She is just a fine woman,from every aspect and,l thought certainly not likely to get excited about someone as unfine as myself.So, about four years
past between the day that Dulce announced her career choice,and the time we
spent together in our semi-private study hall. lt just now
occurs to me that, up to this moment (as l write this) l never, in all the time we spent together, l never even thought to ask about it. 

Employed 7 part 1

We had been at Al's a couple of months, when one morning l approached the
mess hall and  saw on it's bulletin board one of the greatest hand made notices l've seen. The year before, Marlon Brando had a hit titled "The Wild one"
A dramatization of an event that took place in Hollister,Ca apparently in the late 40s involving the people of that town and members of a motorcycle
club, which terrorized the town for about three days, damaging a lot of  property and hurting some of the townspeople but none seriously. MAD mag-
azine had done an illustrated review which was, l thought  hilarious.
A student at Al's was ready to sell his 1949 Indian Scout. He cut up the MAD
magazine and rearranged the pictures to support the image of high excite-
ment in motorcycling. (With a generous serving of humor) Soon after that,Bill
and l were cruising the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel,the Valley.We made a few trips on the bikes to the Santa Cruz Mountains, visited his family in San
Mateo, even to San Francisco, Oakland, and to the north bay. Every day l cel-
ebrated Al's administrators for giving Al's students so much free time. l
totally took advantage,too.

Dulce answered my recorded message with a phone call in a few days and we
talked about getting together. Since we each had a couple of friends in the student bodies of the schools we attended: All of the girls were from very
prominent families, at least in their home towns; Dulce's family owned a
Chevrolet dealership in Nevada. Her friend,Marla is the daughter of the man
who first used big-name entertainment to increase traffic in his casinos. She
ls also a Nevadan. Number 3 (and looking back on that time from now) my
favorite,Natasia. Her dad was a diplomat;Polands ambassador to Mexico.
She said Polish and Russian had some simularities and she often understood what we were saying in our informal drills.

The six of us; Ron and Natasia,Bill and Marla,Dulce and l would pile into the
big Buick, Bill and Marla in the front seat, the rest of us in back. We'd go to a
couple of jazz clubs and when it was late we were always hungry and most often we'd choose Japanese and plenty Sake (except for our driver, Bill).

Under the circumstances, the relationship between Dulce and l grew to 
include adult conduct. Soon we were absent from the triple-dates as we went 
our own way; in her Chevy, of which she always had one of the current year model.By the time l graduated Al's we were talking Matrimony. and acting in
such a way that might produce a pregnancy to help the parents to like the
idea of a marriage.

On my last day at Al's l was hanging out at the lunch tables, waiting for
Dulce, who had volunteered to pick me up at school and after lunch at Carmel,
drive me to the train jn Oakland. By that time, it had been four or more months since l had seen Rita and Sandy.But they showed up that day, where l
had first met them. Somehow they knew it was class R6/38s last day. Dulce
drove up just a few minutes later. That was the best part; l had told her about those two ladies, but she always kidded me, saying she thought that
they were part of my dreams. l was stoked that they met; it made me feel
that everything was in it's proper place and time.

Employed 6 part 10

l've spoken of how Al's students call themselves "Monterey Merries" (or
Marys) and "titless WACs",usually in the context of how we think soldiers who are not combat-exempt might perceive those of us who are exempt. In my own experience though, l never encountered a "straight soldier" (our term for the non-exempt) who had so much as heard of MM's or tW's. So, those terms almost certainly originated with ASA enlistees who perhaps hoped to confuse the issue of that exemption with a little levity. lt's really a serious matter though. l can only speak for myself, but l think my peers at Al's would agree with what l'm about to say. You may  recall, from a very early installment of Employed, my recollection of Pearl Harbor Day and the long and hellish WWII
that followed. For more than four years the war kept us frightened and horrified
and then near it's end it took our truly beloved, thrice re-elected President FDR.
Too soon after that, the Korean "police action", now known as the Korean War.    l
was not the only one of my peers pretty much completely freaked by the near-
ing proximity between ourselves and draft age. And by US's apparent delight in
providing never-ending opportunities for weapons manufacturers everywhere.
On and on it goes, still. US is everywhere and on any given day is murdering
innocent civilians and brave young soldiers. Even if not by intention, the victims are no less deceased.

Eventually (if one survives) the fright grows to become resolve. To deny the warmongers at least one more participant. We aren't cowards or sissies, or MM's or tWs. We are people who loath conflict between people and person-
ally refuse to suffer being maimed or killed. And certainly won't do any killing
except as below:

 lf an agressor were to invade our country, l think that even students at
Al's would be taking up arms  (which are not issued to soldiers there) against them. While that's not very likely, l think we need to consider that graduates of Al's work in positions that, given the right circumstance could be in a position to take action in a timely way and maybe avoid loss of life.