The Army promised that I’d be a photographer, my dad was a Marine, but they didn’t promise that I could be a photographer. So, I enlisted in the Army for three years, was in the signal corps and was stationed in Fort Devin’s, which was a short timers fort. My CO was much smarter then I was because at the time I was married and had a kid. He refused to send me, which I’m now very thankful for because who knows what could have happened. As a photographer in the Army, we used a camera called a Speed Graphic (shown.) I’d photograph sporting events, which was a real treat, officer portraits and sometimes I’d go up in a helicopter to take aerials. But one of the things that really hit me hard was having to photograph wounded soldiers coming back from Vietnam. Back then, the only way to document their progression of their wounds was by taking pictures. So, I had to take pictures of soldiers with missing limbs and other horrific wounds and document the different stages. That was very tough… it was tough for us to see this stuff. When I went in, I was very immature, but being in the service for three years, it really made me a lot more mature. I was thankful for the opportunity and wouldn’t trade it for anything. After the Army, I assisted a few photographers and eventually worked at American Greetings for seventeen years. After that, I opened my own photography studio in Cleveland.
When I graduated from Ohio State in the ROTC program, I was assigned to the air force for training in San Antonio, Texas for three weeks. I received my orders to report for duty to Bolling air force base in Washington D.C. The location for reporting was the naval station in Northwest District of Columbia. I reported there and according to my orders reported to a specific individual. My chain of command was, I reported to a civilian who reported to the navy commander who reported to an army colonel, no one in the air force was within my chain of command. My engineering background apparently led to the assignment where I was involved with designing monitoring equipment for NSA and they monitored the entire iron curtain as well as South Korea. So, I spent two years in that role coming up with new equipment that was better each and every year for obtaining all the intelligence that was necessary. I proudly relate to that organization because today they are doing a marvelous job of gathering intelligence. My Air Force service, per say, I served one day at Bolling air force base as officer of the day and I was never on the base before or after. I received that assignment because I convinced myself that they wanted intelligence rather than brawn 'ha-ha'. If I gave you any more information, I would be subject to federal offense for giving up.
We went to Puerto Rico to the rifle range and I never shot a gun in my life. I was the first one up to shoot the targets and when I was done shooting, I had ten straight bullseyes. My GI buddies were happy for me. The next day I did pretty good again, but not ten in a row. I was happy.
