Taco Bell, a Breakup, and the Air Force: My Unlikely Recruitment Story

My villain origin story

In the summer of 1994, I found myself laying on my bed, which was basically the floor as I didn't have a bed frame, listening to the Smashing Pumpkins epic, "Siamese Dreams." I was struggling with the pain that only teenage heartbreak can cause. The kind that you can feel in your chest and stomach. The kind that assures you, your whole life is now meaningless. The type that makes you feel completely directionless. Asking yourself questions over and over. "Who am I? Where am I going? What do I do now?" The total and utter loss of identity and sense of self.

By happenstance, that same afternoon I received a phone call that would alter my life even more. Staff Sergeant (SSgt) Galbraith from the United States Air Force (USAF), was on the other end of the line. SSgt Galbraith worked at the local USAF recruiting office. He asked if I would be interested in coming down to learn what the USAF could offer me. Just so happens the office was also next to a Taco Bell, I frequented. So, I said, "fuck it, at least I can get a Mexican Pizza." With that I hopped in my tan 1980 El Camino and drove on over.

There was no reason for me not listen. My academic career wasn’t going anywhere, and my family couldn’t afford college anyway. I had lost the one person who felt like the world to me. My family had moved from my small childhood town to a bigger one my sophomore summer. Leaving everyone I knew since Pre-K in the last two years of high school was devastating. I was feeling anchorless and utterly lost.

I had never considered the military before this. I grew up in Pendleton, Indiana where there weren’t any military folks to be found. Serving in the armed services was not a family tradition and I didn’t know anything more than what I saw on television. A few years earlier I had been glued to watching Desert Shield/ Desert Storm and the liberation of Kuwait. But that never put the thought into my head, "that could be me."

When I met SSgt Galbraith, he was not what I expected at all. I don’t know what I expected, but he wasn’t it. He was a well put together and extremely professional looking, in his dress blues. SSgt G. was very easy to talk to, and new what young men, like me, were interested in. Looking back at it now, he got me like the best used car dealer in town. Told me everything I wanted to hear and nothing I didn’t want to hear. I can't say he lied to me as others have claimed their recruiter did. Lucky for him, I was an easy sell. I went home that evening and announced to my parents I was going to join the USAF.

They were a bit taken aback, but very supportive. I signed up for the Delayed Enlisted Program a month later, when I turned 17. Throughout my senior year, until graduation, I went to monthly meetings and outings. I was just as committed as ever through this process. As the day I was slated to leave for basic approached my parents started to waver, especially my mom. This was a bit problematic as they had to sign my contract because I was still only 17. In the end they did. And as I tell everyone, “I joined the Airforce at 17 with a note from my mom.” True story.