• GED

  May 14, 2011

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  I enlisted in the Army on Christmas Eve 1975 and went on active duty on January 26, 1976. I had dropped out of high school in 1974 and bummed around town for a year and a half staying wherever I could!! My dad and uncle were policemen at the same Dept so I hung out quit a bit with the police dispatchers, you could do that back in those days!! One of the dispatcher's was a retired Army guy and would always hound me about going into the military, I was initially very against anything like that but over time I started to look into it. I first went to the Air Force but they had nothing open for 6 months I was told, I then went to the Army recruiter and took a bunch if test and did pretty good, had several jobs to choose from and chose military police 95B10!! The recruiter told ne since I dropped out of high school I needed a waiver to get in and if accepted had to obtain a GED before I could reinlist!! I was accepted and went to boot camp at Ft. Dix New Jersey then onto MP school after that. Soon after arriving at my first duty station I looked into getting my GED, my company commander Capt. Billy D. Cook was a really cool CO and very helpful, he hooked me up with some officer's wife who had a teaching degree and tutored me in prepping for my GED testing!! The GED test was done in stages if I elected to do that versus taking the entire test at one time!! The test covered all the same subjects as any typical high school offered!! I took several test while station their and continued when sent to S. Korea and passed my GED while in Korea and sent my results to the Dept of education for Pennsylvania and was sent back an official GED from the state!! At the time college was light years from my thinking as I hated high school!! I got off active duty in January 1979 and signed up for active reserves in my hometown. I got a job selling cars and got my own apt but really longed for the military life after a few months!! Civilian life was boring and the military made me feel like I counted, plus their was always that respect you got, unlike the civilian world!! Civilian employers don't look at you as an investment, you can easily be replaced and they let you know that!! I got tired of that attitude real quick and went into the Navy in Sept 1979 as a Corpsman (E-3) no boot camp just a two week Navy indoc, I lost one rank because of switching to a different MOS!! After about two years I worked with a Navy Chief who wadms getting his masters in counceling and knew I had the Vietnam era school benefits from the Army and convinced me to take some college courses at the base which was Camp Pendleton Ca. A few colleges had sattelite campuses there and Chapman college had a really nice one. I took a few 101 level courses and dud very well and was encouraged enough to continue, when your on active duty the government pays the school directly so it was not costing me anything out of pocket. I continued my college education after being sent to a new duty station, because I got out if the Army in 1979 I had to graduate by 1989...the dreaded ten year mark when my college benefits run out!! It was taking too long on active duty and it would be way over 1989 before graduating so I got out of the Navy in December 1986 and became a full time student at a local university, I graduated with a B.S. in Criminal Justice in August 1989. I have been the CEO of my own company since 2000
  submitted by George H. Nairn on May 14 2011

Comments

• Steven Redlon

  May 28, 2011 1:28 AM

  I always like to hear how soldiers became busines owners. I think that strength to launch your own venture can be contributed, at least in part, to the training recieved while in the service, I think you learn how not to be a quitter.

  
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• G. H. Nairn

  May 28, 2011 2:24 AM

  Thanks for your comment :)

  3 years to commit to getting my GED and another 5 to get my degree....that's a long commitment for sure...lol!!

  
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