Technology Incorporated had offered me full time employment

Technology Incorporated had offered me full time employment as soon as I graduated so I started working a 40+ hour week immediately. Both TI and NASA wanted to retain my services so they collaborated on an application for a critical skill deferment from the draft for me.

Meanwhile, the Viet Nam killing machine was grinding up people.

Just a little frightened and filled with my innate responsibility to provide for my wife and daughter, I looked at my alternatives. If I enlisted or got drafted and sent my entire pay to Kathy, she would not be able to live in a reasonable manner on that pay which was around $125/mo.

I wanted to fly airplanes! So I checked the flight programs for the Air Force and Navy. The Air Force seemed to have the better program so I applied. The recruiter was quite pleased to get a Rice graduate and he hustled me through the process. There were several written tests which I passed with flying colors (always been good at tests).