Travels With Cleo-The Gunner Chronicle Continues
I’m thinking I should probably feature Cleo a little more prominently since she has the title role on this esteemed blog segment, but I’ve been thinking about my buddy Gunner, too, The two weren’t exclusive, but by the time I got Cleo in my life Gunner was in the Navy, and he wasn’t out of the Navy long when he got married and our paths started to diverge.
I mean really, how would Charlize Theron feel about taking the back seat on her own story?
We had plans, Gunner and I. The plan was to graduate from High School and run away from home. Sorta like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, but with motorcycles and not constrained to some stinking river. And no adults allowed.
Our plan was to work our way around the United States. One thing we had both learned was how to work, and we knew we could do back breaking labor sunup to sundown with anybody. We figured we could get by just fine.
Things changed after we had started to formulate the plan. I also started to formulate a plan to ride all the way round Australia. I haven’t gotten that done, either.
The draft came back to America in 1968. Uncle Sam needed lots of warm bodies to fill body bags in Vietnam and we were primary age, When I turned 18, the day I turned 18, I registered for the draft. I was duly given a draft card and sent on my way.
By then, I had decided that my best effort was to go to college. I was certainly eligible and was granted admission to a regional state college. Gunney decided that he was going to just sit tight until he had to take his draft physical then join the Navy.
I wasn’t a very good college student. I liked beer and baseball and was sick to tears of school and education. Besides, there were lots of pretty girls that needed my company. I played at it for a couple of years before they invited me to go away and I lost my draft deferment. That would be spring 1971.
That year I had won the draft lottery. Slot #24 of 366 and they were predicting that they would go to #250. I got my physical notice the same week Gunner did, so we went to the city together for the cattle call that was a draft physical. We figured we had a couple months, so were in no rush to join the Navy which had become our new plan.
Gunner had a couple of months, I had a few days. I was off visiting a friend when my mom called (a long distance telephone call? It was a big deal) that I had received a certified letter from the Army, I didn’t even go home, and never ever did open that letter. I called Gunner and we enlisted in the Navy together on July 1, 1971.
I don’t know that I can explain to young people the uncertainty and fears we faced as an entire generation through the draft. For those that don’t remember over 58,000 young men died in Vietnam. It wasn’t uniformly fatal, but your chances were way better than average if you were a grunt in a rifle company.
Burn your draft card and go to jail? A distinct possibility in my world. All you had to do was express the thought that you might do so and you would get laid almost automatically. Muhammed Ali was a hero in my eyes. I considered it, and rejected the idea. I am, and always have been, a free bird. The threat of jail has kept me way nearer the straight and narrow than my personality would have indicated.
Run to Canada? A very serious consideration in my life. I had Canadian relatives that would have given me shelter and work. The one thing that stopped me was the look on my father’s face. He raised his hand and went to WWII. How could I not?
At the end, it was a compromise, and I sorta learned an adult lesson long before I wanted to. Mick Jagger had been singing “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” for a couple of years and I can attest to the truth of that statement.
All photos in this post are properly sourced and licensed.
All words in this post are mine. For better or worse
You want some real motorcycle travel? Check out Velimir. That’s some kind of motorcycle writing.
Adsactly is a society for freethinking people. Interested? Click Here to join our Discord channel.
In the bottom of the page type in: adsactly-witness and select vote.
All small letters and without the @ sign
Or give us a direct vote here
Thank you!
Even the college campuses were not safe and you could get shot and killed there as well, except by our own military, anyone remember the Kent State University shootings?
Kind of an ironic time it was, shooting and killing war protesters, who were protesting the shooting and killing of people on the other side of the world who also hadn't done a damn thing wrong, and we call this "freedom"?
Nice story man, and I didn't mean to go off in here like that, but that war took a real close friend of our family and it just pisses me off every time I think about it. Sorry Tom.
You certainly don't have to apologize to me. I lost 2 friends in the war. I lost maybe 10 more afterward that died with the needle in their arm or drank themselves to death or crashed a car (or motorcycle in one case)...
The more I know about that war, the worse I feel. Our troops were absolutely magnificent, never lost a single battle. They got no support when they came home. From the protesters or the VA. It was just a mess of a country at that time.
Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming
We're finally on our own
Last summer I heard the drumming
Four dead In Ohio
I remember. Thanks for the reminder.
Kent State should be a good reminder for people on why we need to keep the second amendment alive and well.
Congratulations! This post has been chosen as one of the daily Whistle Stops for The STEEM Engine!
You can see your post's place along the track here: The Daily Whistle Stops, Issue 243 (8/31/18)
This was such a sad time for the USA and I can't imagine how it must have felt being in it and waiting to be called up. I always wonder, if Kennedy had lived would we have never gone to Vietnam?
This was sort of the last time that they really telvised war as well, today the US is in so many little wars and conflicts but they never televise the horrors of it and the scary state for our men and women in uniform.
I am glad you made it out alive, that too must have it's own set of feelings.
Kennedy had sent some 'advisors' in, but a very limited number. He was NOT intimidated by the French or the Chiefs of Staff. I would think that would have been completely different.
It was just a chaotic time to be a young male. Pete Seger gave us 'the fixen to die rag' and our parents had fought WWII. It was a chaotic time to be a young female because some of them liked us. It was a chaotic time to be a parent because everything was changing and they all knew someone that had died in WWII.
Which is one of the reason I have hope in our current stirred up mess. We got through it before, I have every reason to expect we can do so again.
I have actually been through counseling for survivor guilt. The war and a couple more personal times in my life. I'll get to them if I live long enough.
Thanks Donna!
Yeah, wars can screw up even the best plans and destroy things before they even start. Sad. I do hope and dream about us people being more evolved now. Thank you for sharing your story honey, if anything else, you really can not say that you had a boring life, can you? Much love 💚
Ahahaha. Boredom has never been a problem in my life. Choices and intemperance, of course. But boredom? Not so much.
I've been gently (or not so gently in a couple of cases) been pressed to tell my story. I'm not sure I can, but I can tell Cleo's story.
Thank you Petra. For all the love and support.
I can feel the turmoil in your words as you had to make this decision and were faced with going off to fight a war. This is a proposition that I can't even imagine. You would have been gladly welcomed in Canada for sure. I think there is more to come in this story and I look forward to hearing how the tale will turn out.
I can hardly explain how close it was. Even with the pain in his heart, my father called his cousins and made sure that I would have a place. I was actually packing to leave when I made THAT decision.
Great post @bigtom13, I wasn't around, but I can imagine it was a very tense period. My dad wanted to join the Air Force, but his eyes prevented it, so like you he joined the Navy instead. He ended up in Viet Nam and although he wasn't in the jungles everyday like my father in law who was in the Army, the bases he was at got shelled regularly.
There was no safe spot in country. None. Every place was liable to get mortared with regularity. No real rear area.
It was a scary time.
Man did you go to Canada, Prison or Nam?
Or maybe all three? What happened?
Really interesting story to read @bigtom13, I would imagine your life would have had these type of events and crossroads in it...
/FF
Believe it or not, there is another alternative to the three. I'll be on it in the next edition. It is a pivotal part of my life. I really thought I was writing that story here, just turned out to be too much back story :)
This will be very interesting to read!
/FF
Oh wow, I am so glad you have put this on(virtual) paper.
I think you have so much to tell, and I am so excited to read it all. Truffle pig is right, this post is certainly undervalued
I'm still trying to figure out if you did end up in Vietnam? Is that the next episode.
Nest episode. I thought I'd get to it today, but... Short answer is no, I didn't end up in Vietnam.
And thank you. Reading some of your story gave me the courage to start on mine...
Congratulations! Your post has been selected as a daily Steemit truffle! It is listed on rank 2 of all contributions awarded today. You can find the TOP DAILY TRUFFLE PICKS HERE.
I upvoted your contribution because to my mind your post is at least 13 SBD worth and should receive 132 votes. It's now up to the lovely Steemit community to make this come true.
I am
TrufflePig, an Artificial Intelligence Bot that helps minnows and content curators using Machine Learning. If you are curious how I select content, you can find an explanation here!Have a nice day and sincerely yours,
TrufflePig