One of the nice things about the military was the 30 days annual leave. Which if you played the game could be more like six weeks a year, compared to the two weeks I got when I entered civilian life. So I was able to do a lot of train chasing. On the other hand I was lucky with my assignments. Had I been a platoon leader in Vietnam like Ned I doubt it would have been as positive. But like Ned it gave me time to grow up a bit and I was much more prepared to enter a civilian career after those four years. I have encouraged my wife's nieces and nephews to use military service that way. One nephew got to serve on the battleship New Jersey which made me envious as heck (one of the most beautiful battlewagons ever built), and another is still in the Marine Corps.
JBWX