I enlisted in the Navy with five of my buddies at Texas A&M In January 1951.
We all agreed that since the North Koreans had no Navy, that was the safest place to be.
The first shock that I had was my first breakfast at San Diego Naval Training Center. It was pork chops and Boston baked beans.
The second shock was when my hometown buddy was killed, a month after boot camp, when a five inch shell, from shore, landed on deck while he was serving the mid-watch on a destroyer in the Korean Sea.
I wound up at the USNA as a midshipman.