After finishing a series of columns comparing my post high school years of the forties with today’s graduates I suddenly realized to make the sequence complete I should perhaps go one step further. My immediate post high school days were spent in the military service which in that period was obligatory if you were a physically and mentally sound male. It meant that any plans you had formulated for yourself had to be put on hold until after your military service was over.

In short after discharge young men of my period for all intents and purposes had to postpone any plans they may have had while today’s graduates are free to choose their immediate plans. In looking back I can see in my case that my military service was the best thing that ever happened to me. I was immature for my age and very much undecided with what do with my life.

I admit to having been a poor student, immaturity had a great deal to do with that. I slipped through school taking the path of least resistance. The war was on and every able bodied person was needed in the war effort. We were given legal time off from school to help particularly in the farm and food industry. I was eager to help and for a kid growing up in the Great Depression earning my own money was a heaven sent opportunity. Escaping from school was another factor that affected my overall performance. I did graduate with both a regents and standard high school diploma which made my parents, who never finished high school, very proud. They even allowed me to start hanging about in Jim Banks poolroom but nothing further if you get my drift.

I had a lot of time to reflect on life and my present situation while I was in the Army. I had worked very hard at heavy labor intensive jobs and thought a lot about it and did not look forward to the prospect of doing so for the rest of my life. I also began to examine my educational background and realized to do many of the things I had in mind I only had one recourse.

I was discharged from the service in 1948 and began working in construction and odd jobs, luxuriating in the fact that I was free to live my life the way I wanted and not the army way, with one small exception. I was living at home, my dad’s and mother’s that is, and with their rules. I’ll give you one small example. The government had a program called the fifty-two twenty. Vets received twenty dollars a week for fifty-two weeks after discharge, similar to today’s unemployment insurance. Vet’s referred to it as, belonging to the fifty-two twenty club and many worked it to the limit but not Jennie Allen’s boy. I collected very little before I was told to get a job or get out so I did.

Finally I decided I would like a career in forestry or some related field. I reviewed all my educational options and it seemed that some sort of trade technical school would be my best choice. I sent an application to the NY State Ranger School at Wanakena along with my high school transcript. They replied and told me I did not have enough math credits. I wrote back and asked if I received those credits would I be accepted and the answer was that they would enroll me in the class of ‘51 pending completing the math courses. I went to summer school all summer and back to high school full time for a year prior and post graduated with twenty-two credits. True to their promise I was accepted and looking back on it now it was one of the smartest thing I ever did.

In my opinion there was only one thing that helped my generation more than today’s and it’s that we had a much rougher row to hoe than they do. I believe once someone learns that they have to work and earn everything worth having they develop much more ambition, pride and peace of mind. I realize that if my parents hadn’t pushed me the way they did my life would not have been nearly as fulfilling as it has been. They had to do what they did because they had no other recourse. Human nature being what it is I am sure they would have helped and given their children as much or more than we have ours. In my case I am sure I am better off.