I headed home for a week of family leave before reporting to my next duty station. I flew to Los Angeles and then, because I was on military standby with several other servicemen, we had to wait a few hours for our connecting flight to Philadelphia. I was also proudly wearing my dress uniform in public for the first time along with a fresh boot camp haircut. Four of us decided to walk down the concourse and get a snack and something to drink. Me, a soldier, and two marines all in travel dress uniforms. As we walked along we became aware of people staring at us with nasty looks, then we heard some derogatory comments which I won’t elaborate on. We were teenagers in uniform, a glaring reminder of what was wrong in America in 1970 when the Vietnam War was still on TV every night and people knew it was not going to be won. There were lots of ongoing anti-war demonstrations at the time and I had even participated in several the previous year. The Kent State Massacre would also happen a few days later. It was a tough time. Then the four of us walked into a tavern on the concourse and some people sitting at the bar waved us over. We were underage but the bartender served us all and the other folks at the bar paid for our beers and snacks. Later we were back on the concourse and ignored any rude comments as we headed to our gate for our flight home to Philly. A few weeks later I was at my new duty station undergoing some unexpected riot control training learning how to rhythmically swing a baton after a number of anti-war demonstrations outside our base caused some problems. I was glad to go to sea after that. Tough times indeed.
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