View Full Version : 50 years ago today I graduated AIT and MLK was killed.
It was a really odd coincidence. After graduation all AD, guys not going to another school, were put on hold. I was at Ft. Ord and the CANG was called up in case of rioting. We were held to cover the NG in case of earthquake or fires. But my mother and sister had taken the train from Oklahoma to California to see my graduation. I did get a special pass to go to Monterey with them. We had dinner and went to see Bonnie and Clyde. We were held for 30 days. Time flys! :D
I was 11 years old and can honestly say I had no idea as to who MLK was. In math class that day we never opened the book, the teacher spent the entire 40 minutes lecturing us on all the things that were wrong with America, In am sure he meant well but at age 11 what did any of that have to do with me?
Badger52
04-05-2018, 05:28
Interesting "this day in history" perspective. Hadn't thought about AD locally backstopping the NG; at my house we were figuring on another Watts '65.
You preceded me there by a several months (also including seafood dinner with Mom & visiting aunt in Monterey). Was going to use the movie quote about chewing some of the same dirt, but it's more like we spit out some of the same sand. Damn, that stuff got into everything.
13 at the time and I also didn't know who he was. Living up in Northern Michigan we were kinda' out of the way of the Civil Rights movement.
Got an ear full the next few days as only one TV in the house and no cable.
bblhead672
04-05-2018, 07:30
50 years, and Dr. King's message has been overruled by the current civil rights activists who only see color of skin, not the content of character.
I often wonder if he hadn't been killed and was still around, what message would he be sending today? Would it be the same as 50 years ago, or would he have progressed to putting out the same lines as Jackson, Sharpton and BLM?
Golf1echo
04-05-2018, 12:01
50 years, and Dr. King's message has been overruled by the current civil rights activists who only see color of skin, not the content of character.
I often wonder if he hadn't been killed and was still around, what message would he be sending today? Would it be the same as 50 years ago, or would he have progressed to putting out the same lines as Jackson, Sharpton and BLM?
I doubt Saul Alinsky was a supporter of Dr. King. I have always seen Dr King as a builder not a supporter of radicals for the purpose of holding the reins of power. The only other time in my life I remember moments like these was durring the seventies... Most of those radicals had to finally get jobs and join society or be left in the dust.
Edit: or get the mantle of religion ( as in facade [ false front] ) or go into politics...
Its ironic that you were held on base to prevent riots in 68. In late July of 1970 when I graduated from AIT in ORD they again held us on base to protect it from protesters. I really needed my weekend off and I will never forgive those longhairs for f------ it up....:mad: Monterey was cool when I finally got that three day leave....
twistedsquid
04-05-2018, 17:43
I think he would be disappointed.
Its ironic that you were held on base to prevent riots in 68. In late July of 1970 when I graduated from AIT in ORD they again held us on base to protect it from protesters. I really needed my weekend off and I will never forgive those longhairs for f------ it up....:mad: Monterey was cool when I finally got that three day leave....
It started out boring with nothing to do then the admin guys decided that we should paint the barracks ceilings. That lasted until someone from HQ walked through and found that we had stacked the bunks 4 high so we could lie down while painting . . . and we all fell asleep. :D
After that, they found verticle work to do to keep us awake. I flipped burgers at the O-club and, later when they found out I could ride a horse, had me taking the dependant kids on trail rides after school and on the weekends (which gave me a couple of days off during the week). We weren't protecting the base, just standing in for the Guard, so we weren't restricted to base.
BTW, best EM club ever!
Kennedy assassination, King assassination, anti-war riots not protest, National Guard killing kids on campus, Tet 68, POTUS resignation before being impeach meant , VP quitting , speaker of the house taking over the country.
This country was close to a civil war as we have ever been, according to historical scholars.
We also had Woodstock, and some of the greatest music we ever played. Free sex and a lot of drugs, also.
The snowflakes now days just would not have survived the 60's !
Then there was things like agent orange that the government and Dow Chemical were in denial of its effect on Veterans !
TrapperFrank
04-06-2018, 09:07
I was 10 years old and on spring break, visiting New Orleans with my parents. They were scared shitless and hustled myself and sister back home to Mississippi. All that said, MLK was a degenerate, that plagarized on his doctoral thesis, and surrounded himself with Communists dupes and sympathizers. At the time of his death, his influence was waning, he was considered passe'. MLKs image has been entirely sanitized.
Dean Jarvis
04-06-2018, 16:45
I was 17, going to HS, pumping gas and driving a '66 Dodge Coronet (butt ugly car but it was 4 OTF and fast).
In court they said James Earl Ray shot MLK from the bushes but there's a picture taken right after King was shot and everyone is pointing up. MLK son has always believed it was the FBI and it was no secret that J. Edgar Hoover had a hardon for MLK and from the FBI's history of WACO, Ruby Ridge, Bundy Ranch acquittal, just to name a few and the recent issues still in process with the FBI, it doesn't take a lot to convince me MLK's son is correct in his claim that it was an FBI conspiracy.
You know you're really dead when the new stops saying "He would have been __ years old today...."