Arriving as a 13 year old, not speaking even ONE word of English, I had my work cut out for me! I picked up the language fairly easily, eventually getting "A's" in English, much to the consternation of some class mates who apparently had to study much harder to get lesser results. I did the usual "coming of age" stuff. I got involved with the Boy Scouts, got used to having friends whose families owned large plots of property, had ranches and farms. Although comfortable and adjusting to the change of living in a house in a town of 2,500 people instead of being an apartment dweller in a city of 2 million, I nonetheless longed for the old ways. Alas, the prospect of spending the next 6 years as a "kid" and not being taken seriously seemed daunting. However, there is very little a 17 year old high school junior can do without permission from his parents. However, there was an opportunity. The year was 1964, America's involvement with Vietnam was gearing up and young men were very much in demand. In March of 1964, with my parents' blessing, I said good-bye to my school friends on the yearbook staff (I'm the third one from the left) and reported to Fort Ord, California, for Basic Training seemingly right out of the movie Full Metal Jacket.
In Germany, life progressed at a different pace. In my mid-teens, I would have been out of school already, either going to university or being involved in some sort of apprenticeship program. In any case, I would have been considered an adult and treated as such.
In very informal Willits, California, it became apparent that I was perhaps indeed a fish out of water!
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