Private first class Minkler calls on Marine Corps Reserve battalion commander-1967

(Note: "Minkler" was the family name I was born with; I changed it to "GoldWinde" later in my life)

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Mystery question: as you read this story, 

guess the life principles that are expressed. My answers are at the end.

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The draft's off my back...so what's next?

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I'd just finished my eight weeks of book camp at Parris Island, South Carolina and then four months of regular duty at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. 

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After living with my parents for about a month, still trying to figure out what my career was going to be, my mother says to me, "If you want to live here with us, we'd like that. But you must get a job." I was a bit embarrassed and glad my mother had said it.

 

My parents lived in Shelby, North Carolina, a town that topped out at 17,000 people. Charlotte, North Carolina, lay 40 miles to the west with a population of 240,000. The options for getting a job that I liked in Charlotte were much higher than in Shelby. I could get a used car and commute each day. It wasn't that far.

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While talking this idea over with my father, I suddenly thought, "Where I really want to live is New York City. What am I waiting for? Even if I don't know what my career is yet, I can get a job I think I might enjoy and if I end up not liking it after a few months, I can quit and get another job."

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Within three days I'd borrowed $200 from my parents (about $1400 in today's money) and was on a two-day bus to New York City. I didn't know a single person there and this was going to where I was going to make my new life. So exciting!

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New York City

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I rented the cheapest hotel I could find at $15 a night not far from midtown Manhattan. For 50 cents I bought the New York Times Sunday newspaper with a classified section so thick it would take days of reading if I tried to go through all the advertisements.

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So many opportunities! So many companies that were offering great jobs! I noticed many airlines were looking to hire management trainees "for a bright future." I was overwhelmed (in a happy way) with too many opportunities, so many different ways I could go! I didn't know where to start.

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Maybe I can get a job that will provide me with an occupational deferment

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I had already registered myself as a private first class in the 6th Engineering Battalion of the Marine Corps Reserve in Brooklyn, New York. I thought, "Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone. Get a good job that I liked but also one that was considered to be necessary for 'national defense' so that I wouldn't have to play being a 'weekend warrior' once a month for the next five and a half years."

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Visiting the Lieutenant Colonel

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But who would possibly know which jobs might qualify for that purpose? After a bit of thought, it came to me, "If anyone one would know, it would be the battalion commander of the reserve unit I just joined." I called the number for the battalion and somehow managed to make up a story so that they gave me the name and address of the lieutenant colonel who headed up my battalion. He lived on the New Jersey shore of Hudson River across from Manhattan. 

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After taking a bus across the river and finding the address, the colonel's wife welcomed me into their home and was feeding me cookies when he arrived home from work. He was welcoming (I wish I could remember his name) and didn't seem offended that a lowly, private first class just showed up unannounced at his home. 

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After laying out my circumstance (three years of college, just finished my six months of active duty as a reservist, fresh in the city looking for a job), I asked, "What types of jobs might I be able to get that would qualify me to get an occupational deferment so I would not have to serve another five and one-half years as a reservist in your battalion?"

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I believed him when he said that if I had not already signed up, there were some options. But given that I was already a enlisted soldier, an occupational deferment was not an option.

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He suggested that I consider applying for a job as a computer programmer

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However, I ended up with a much bigger gift than what I had come for. He happened to be a software systems engineer. Given my background he suggested that I consider applying for a job to be trained as a computer programmer. When I objected with, "But I don't have a degree," he reassured me that a degree would not matter if they thought I was smart enough to become good at programming after training me. 

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At that time, there was not a single university in the country that offered a degree in computer programming. I had taken a class in college in FORTRAN programming. I remember that the final exam for that class was to write a program that, given the positions of the pieces on a chess board, determine whether or not the black king was checkmated. I was able to enjoyably write a program that did that. 

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The lieutenant colonel gave me some additional advice that turned out to be quite useful. He told me that some companies may offer me a job as a computer operator, saying that I could work up to being a computer programmer later. 

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Now I had a focus

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Even though there were still a lot of ads for entry level computer programming positions in the classifieds, it was much easier to get into action and to set up interviewing appointments. I was very thankful that the lieutenant colonel has suggested I hold out for getting a job as a programmer because, during two of the interviews, they did try to entice me with a computer operator's job first.

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I didn't know that IBM was interviewing me

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The company name was Service Bureau Corporation. I only found out later that this company was the custom software division of IBM. I remember they gave me some written tests that scored my ability in logical thinking and certain types of pattern recognition. Also, I remember the final interview with the "big boss." It seems that they had already decided to hire me, but he wanted to check me out anyway. The whole process was exciting and adventurous for me. 

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I didn't know or understand at the time that I was going to be trained in a non-general purpose language, like COBOL, FORTRAN, or even PL1. I was trained in a language called APT. The APT language was a high-level language that was used to create instructions for the machines to follow in cutting out metal parts. As a APT programmer, I would create the instructions that would tell a machine tool drill how to move in order to form a specific metal part. The final output of my programming was a punched mylar tape that the machine shop used to automatically control the machine tool to create again and again the same customized metal part.

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My career!

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Within three months, not only had a found a job that I loved but I also knew I'd found my career! On top of that, they were paying me $7000 per year ($63,000 in today's money). I was in hog heaven.  After ten years (since age 12 when I started trying to decide on my career), I'd finally found it!

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And it happened because of the actions I took to avoid the draft combined with the actions I took to try to get out of the reserves even after I signed up.

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I am deeply grateful to that lieutenant colonel. He probably never knew what a profound difference he made in my life.

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Underlying principles that guided my actions

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• Listen to your heart, but use your head

  • I listened to my heart by insisting on finding a job I loved.

  • I listened to my heart by listening to the call of the big city.

  • I listened to my heart by seeing if I could improve an already good situation.

  • And I used my intelligence in the process of all this.​

• Choosing courage

  • I choose courage to borrow money from my parents.

  • I choose courage to move to New York City, not knowing a single person there.

  • I choose courage to find out the commander's address and to knock on his door.

  • I choose courage to turn down those computer operator offers and wait for a programming offer.​

• Be careful what you think you know

  • I knew that I didn't know that I would or would not be able to get a great job.​

  • I knew that I didn't know how the commander would respond to me.

  • I knew that I didn't know whether I would get a "yes" or "no" if I made a request.

  • I knew that I didn't know whether or not a "miracle" could occur in my life at any time.

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