Chapter Ten
Time: 1970
I was twenty-five years old. I had finished college, received my commission in the Air Force, and had won my wings to fly Helicopters. My next goal was to get accepted by the Navy to fly A-7s. After being accepted, I was sent to Pensacola, Florida for training. The first weeks were intense. It took more than a year to get qualified and the competition was brutal. Besides the hours of classroom work, there were many hours in the cockpit. During the week with the long hours and homework assignments, there was just enough time to eat and sleep. About six months into the program, I felt confident enough to take a weekend off.
One Friday afternoon, I wandered into the Officer’s Club. The club in Pensacola back in those days was a first-class operation. On Fridays, from
