Service selection and first duty assignments for our class were very different from what the class of ’05 has experienced—that much is for sure! What is not so certain is what the exact circumstances were in our day. Not too surprising is that so many of my classmates remember it differently, or not at all. Accounting for this memory loss is the passage of 50 years and the fact that the attention devoted to the recruitment and selection process was pretty low-key in those days.
The consensus seems to be the following:
The class of 1955 selected service and first duty assignments during First Class year. Both selections were made in accordance with a preference number assigned by a lottery where the Second Class president pulled slips of paper with our names on them out of a cigar box. The sequence determined our preference number with a few exceptions. For instance, if a midshipman had a previous affiliation with either the Air Force or Marine Corps, he was allowed to go into that service regardless of his preference number.
Because the Air Force Academy wasn’t founded until 1954, a percentage of the class was destined for the Air Force. As it worked out, 67 percent of service-eligible ’55ers picked the Navy, 25 percent selected the Air Force and 8 percent chose the Marine Corps. Some of our class recalls that more than 25 percent of our class wanted to go into the Air Force for a number of reasons, including seasickness and incentives. Incentives such as direct entry into graduate school or flight training and the potential for earlier promotion opportunities were appealing to recent graduates. However, the consequence of not making the Air Force cut (or USMC cut, for that matter) was being placed then at the bottom of the Navy duty selection list. Everyone who wanted to go in the USMC apparently did so, according to our informal survey.
Numerous duty assignment differences were prevalent in our day. Chief among them was the fact that there was no direct entry into the submarine service—one had to qualify first in the surface Navy as an OOD, Underway. An interesting fact is that three classmates (two marines and one Navy) transferred over to the Army after graduation.
There were some interesting stories connected with service and duty assignment selection. One ’55 classmate had selected the Air Force and was notified by the tailor shop that his uniforms were ready for pick up. Before doing so, he went out in town to see the movie, The Bridges at Toko-Ri. At that point, he said to himself, “If I go in the Air Force, I’ll never land on a carrier.” He decided then and there to change his selection to the Navy and informed the tailor shop of his decision. They casually replied, “No problem. You are pretty average in size, so we can fit them to anybody.” He went on to a distinguished career in naval aviation.
Another ’55er was sent directly to USAF Navigator’s School. Consequently, several hot fighter jocks thought he’d never amount to much in the pilots’ Air Force. He did get assigned to pilot training later and ended up with four stars!
One classmate had two and a half months off before reporting to Pensacola for flight training. Being newly married and underpaid, he decided to get a job before he had to report. He checked the want ads and applied and was hired for a job as an Electrolux Vacuum cleaner salesman. He did well enough to be named salesman of the month and received a job offer for after his “obligation.” He stayed in the Navy for 30 plus years—never once checking back to see if Electrolux was still holding a job for him.
As the class of ’05 prepares for their lives after commencement, they, too, will have interesting stories to tell (and forget).