Charles Bruce

Entered the military soon after graduation. After basic training from Fort Bliss, Texas, sent directly to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. I trained for artillery crewman duties. From there I went to Fort Carson, Colorado which at the time was a secret clearance just to be around the 155 self propelled tanks. During my time there, volunteered for Military Police training ( 984th ). What a trip!
Next I volunteered for special weapons training on tactical nuclear weapons at Fort Carson. When another opportunity came along, I volunteered for air defense training back at Fort Bliss. That was a blast!
My time was up in 1970 and I left Fort Carson. To my surprise, I was called back for reserve duty at Fort Hood, Texas for 3 weeks. It never seemed to end.
After working for several companies in industrial maintenance, I was hired by Upjohn Chemical, who was later bought by Dow Chemical. Everything in between and before that is just a blur.

I worked for the family business for over ten years in the service station ( Mobil) in Texas City.
An odd thing happened one day. Our turn came up to service police patrol cars. We were very busy at the time and my dad told me to take the patrol cars back to the station and bring it back for service. I was awe struck and told him I had no drivers license at the time but he told me it was o.k..
The police officer drove me to the station and handed me the keys and off I went, nervous as could be. The first car was troubling, but the next five did not phase me.
I thought later what would have happened if I had any kind of accident or been pulled over for whatever. I pulled it off without a hitch!
I hope the statute of limitation is up. I still remember this to this day.
It was a different time then and I miss the simple life I had then.