George Ortiz:  

Before graduation, there were the young smiling faces of the class of 1972. The U.S. had gone to the moon and back, the Beatles broke up, and 2001: A Space Odyssey was ingrain to our collective consciousness. Some of our fellow alumni look to the colleges and universities calling them to grace the halls of their institution for higher learning. Some had work lined up with their parents business and some went to local employers. Then there were those who moved on to different destinations or got married and moved on, carried on the winds of their aspirations. I sat in my truck on a rainy day, I remembered thinking of what I was going to do next. My folks were supportive but some in my family wanted me to leave. It was no surprise that my mother thought of me more than the rest of my brothers and sisters. I still got support from some of my older siblings, but in the end I was either out in the street, homelessness, or employed and on my own. I joined the Navy. I was not much of a home body and to tell you the truth, I was tired of staying in a town that was oblivious, and what I wanted to see was the world. My odyssey started soon after we graduated which brought me to three significant realizations in my journey, there is danger, there is earthly beauty, and there is realization that home is where the journey ends, and the optimism is replaced with regret. First, my human emotions kicked in as I got up 3:30 in the morning in a large open bay barracks at Naval Training Center in San Diego. I got poked, prodded, yelled at so many times that I wish I had a dollar for each time. In September of 1972 I became Seaman Duce then Airman Duce. After we did the ceremony where some admiral tries to boost your moral by saying this is the best Sailors that he has ever seen, I got my order to Millington, Tenn. I got bit by several hundreds of mosquitoes just to learn familiarization with the Naval Air forces. My first deployment was emotionally momentous as my thoughts went back to the days when we began our senior year and all the parties, Friday night card games, and weekends fishing. My journey on the Kitty Hawk took me to Hawaii where we got dressed in our Dress Whites and Saluted the victorious dead of the USS Arizona. I met a beautiful hooker named Candy, African-American student, beautiful and I struck up a conversation with her. Honolulu was noted for it brothels but I was determined to wait for...Expand for more