He and Gene Cernan were old squadron mates and good friends. The admiral invited Gene to commission his son's class, and I (and another 25 of my shipmates) just happened to be lucky enough to be in the same class. I only knew that he was an astronaut.

My AOCS class started with 65 guys. We graduated 28, but one guy who wanted to be a Naval Aviator flunked the eye test. Instead of becoming a NFO (or any other field), he decided to graduate, but not take a commission. I was one of 27 commissioned.

Heck, I had no aspirations to become a Naval Aviator, but I had a couple professors who I used to go grab a beer with after class who had flown for the navy. Liked the stories so much, I contacted the officer recruiters in Richmond. Took the tests, got the physical, and was told that I was accepted into the program the day I drove home from VT. My dad and I drove to Richmond one day the following week and I was officially in the Navy (without pay). It took a year to get a AOCS class date, so I was really ready to go by then.

Funny story: we had one guy that quit immediately after they shaved his head. My thought was, "didn't he see the guys ahead of him in line getting their heads shaved?" One look in the mirror after they shaved my head was enough to keep me motivated to finish the entire program. There was no way I was going to walk into town as a civilian with a shaved head...lol

I knew who was going to make it, and who was going to quit the first time we had a break away from the USMC drill instructors. The guys who were relaxed and laughing (at each other) all made it. All of the guys who looked like they were "shell shocked" all quit. Couldn't believe I was 100% correct in my analysis.

Ah, the good old days...lol