I was stationed at Ft. Dix NJ for basic and AIT in the summer of 1968. While we were out in the field one day we were all told to get in formation. A LT. addressed us and said that what was scheduled for the day was canceled. Then he told us why. Robert Kennedy had just been shot and killed the night before. Coming on the heels of the Tet Offensive, LBJ basically retiring, Martin Luther King's assassination and now Kennedy, we were all left to wonder what was happening to the country.
Also, how many of us have had a choice of assignments? Somehow I did. At the end of AIT we were in formation and told where we were being sent. When my name was called the SGT said "Alaska". I was supposed to go to OCS. When I went to see the Capt. he told me I had a choice. When he said that there was a 10 month wait until the next OCS class and until then it was all dead time, I easily made up my mind. Alaska and cold weather maneuvers (up to -120 wind chill) here I come. And what a beautiful state it was and is.