From the moment Brian entered the group home in Buffalo in 1978, his career counselor, Alex—who had served in both the Korean War and the Vietnam War—was eager to push him into the military. But Brian wasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea of wearing a pickle suit, being sent off to “Bumfuck, Egypt,” or cutting off all his hair, for that matter, but he did want to serve.
So in 1980, he brought his dilemma to the local Army recruiter and explained that he wanted to finish high school and at least start college first. The recruiter, being the used-car salesman he was, offered Brian a six-year tour, the first three years in the NY State National Guard, which was offering a $5,000 sign-up bonus, and to finish up his tour on active duty in the regular Army, in exchange for signing up for air-assault school, airborne school, and special forces training.
Naive Brian saw nothing but dollar signs. Five grand was a lot of money in those days, and he thought the more school, the better. Hell, the way the recruiter explained it, most of the training was a glorified camping trip! Not really understanding what he was getting himself into, he put his squiggly on the dotted line. Boy, was he going to regret it…