When I graduated from HS, in 1960, I was all set to go to college. Then, I could feel the draft board breathing down my neck, and watching the news, I was Not interested in being cannon fodder in the Army or Marines. I went the USAF recruiter, and maxed all their tests. They sent me to a year of intense electronics training, then I was sent to Germany, where I was having such a good time that I took an early discharge, and re-upped for 4 more years. I met my wife over there, and we got married 57 years ago. After 4 years in Europe, I was sent back to the States for a few months, then finished my last year in Thailand, before taking my discharge. During that year in Thailand, I saw several planes and pilots that didn't make it back to base.
A few years ago, I went to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, and found the names of 4 old HS friends that didn't make it back. I was lucky, in that I got the start for a nice lifetime career from the USAF, and didn't have to endure the Hell that so many my age went through.
The most stressful part of my military career was probably the Cuban Missile Crisis, in late 1962. Few people realize just how close we came to total global nuclear war. We had all written what might have been our last letters home, and hoped there would be someone there to read them. Every available aircraft was loaded with a Nuke, and the pilots were in the cockpits waiting for the word to launch. Had Kennedy and Khrushchev not "blinked", none of us would likely be here today.