Finally, I get a BJ in '69

Uncle Sam tries again It was only about two years after the CID incident that my dear Uncle Sam decided he wanted me, even though I had a draft number near the end of the range he was currently calling up. When my pre-induction physical notice came, I was ready. After being fired for being Too Gay at age 19, I'd found help at the University of Missouri (Columbia) Mental Hygiene Center. I was lucky to get a heterosexual counselor who decided I just needed some friends and support, and helped me find my way past the awful outing I'd received from Uncle Sam.   Picture it- 1969 , Induction Center in St. Louis, Misery. My local draft board provided a bus ticket from the University to St. Louis and away I went. A day-long ordeal of standing around with hundreds of other guys in our underwear culminating with me standing before a cute young blond doctor with a line of other guys behind me. I'd checked "the box" earlier in the day and already been quizzed by others of Uncle Sam's finest. "Do you know what this means?" one had asked. My simple, "Yes," reply seemed to convince him. Was it that "lilt" in my voice? The cute blond doctor looked over my paperwork, again asked me if I knew what "the box" meant. He told me I'd have to return on another date and see a psychiatrist. Uncle Sam sends second ticket My second Uncle Sam bus trip to St. Louis was more unpleasant ­ for them. After arriving at the Induction Center, I was ferried by car with three other inductees to a suburban Clayton, Missouri, psychiatrist's office. One of the other guys was trying too hard to appear mentally defective -- he could talk okay to me but became dissembling when he spoke to Uncle Sam's minions, I noticed. Up for the door knob The shrink's office was wood paneled and the waiting room deluxe. But when I was ushered into his office, I noticed he had to reach up for the doorknob. He was less than five feet tall! Brusquely he interviewed me. Since I already knew that Uncle Sam did not maintain any confidentiality with medical records, I refused to provide him with the intimate details of my sex life he desired. Why was my Uncle so interested in sex details? Curious. The shrink abruptly threw me out of his office for failing to provide sex details.

Uncle Sam's cute doctor again Now I was standing in front of the cute blond doctor again. "You refused to say anything," he bullied me. I stood my ground. If Uncle Sam wants me he can have me, I averred. I went on to remind him that my experience was that my Uncle got me fired. There was no confidentiality in his paperwork. I was not going to provide details some new CID investigator would use. The cute blond doctor noticeably softened. He harrumphed a minute, but said there was another shrink I could see. I recall he indicated the new shrink was probably more to my liking. It only required another bus trip. Uncle Sam almost patted me on the butt My third trip provided by Uncle Sam went breezily. I was more experienced and confident. This time I brought a letter from the Mental Hygiene Clinic at the University, sealed and unread by me. When I arrived in front of the cute blond doctor, all I had to say was, "Remember me?" I was quickly dispatched to the new shrink's interview right there in the Induction Center. This shrink was much more to my liking. We talked about 15 minutes. He read my letter. I told him my story of the CID and being fired. I again declined to provide intimate details of my sex life. At the end of the interview, he put a hand on my shoulder, wished me well, and sent me back to the cute blond doctor. Looking over my paperwork, the cute blond doctor officiously stamped and signed it, smiled warmly at me and also wished me well. I finally got a BJ A few weeks later back at the University, my official notice arrived from my local draft board. They stubbornly refused to make me 4F, but did put me in that category that said they wanted me only in case of national emergency. I went on to be graduated by the University of Missouri School of Journalism. My degree? A BJ -- Bachelor of Journalism 1969.

 Military Experience | My BJ | State of Disco | Greenwich Village | A Chorus Line | Fire Island Pines

Back to My Real Life | Return to Butch & RadarDan