Thirty-five or so Years Ago.
I recall with some amusement that about thirty-eight years ago I received my notice of delinquency to register for the draft. The Selective Service people had caught up with me and sent out notice that though I wasn't required to report to my local board I was required to register.. The missive from the "draft" board's Beretania Street office in downtown Honolulu had taken a circuitous route of forwarded addresses to find me in Nakhon Phanom Thailand as an "anthropology student". Once it hit the Army Postal system it took just a week for the notice to go from my last known Army address to my current APO San Francisco address and thence into the bored hands of Specialist 6 and newly minted Staff Sergeant Snark.from there it made the round of the other "students" while we laughed at the absurdity of the message and where we were and what we were doing there. I also became homesick for the sounds of Maunakea Street of the Chinese bakery that would let me sample tea cakes (Gong-soup-yong) or where we bought Mah Tai Tsu. and the fish buyers at Oahu Market. Closest to homesick I've gotten. Finally, it reached my CO and I was called in. Between us we got the requisite paperwork done not without attendant snickering and laughter. and nearly exposing my youth at time of entry. It was a good interlude and used up my spare time stuck on base. during the transitiion between the monsoon and dry spell. I look back on that time with nostalgia. Then it was back to my "studies" being shot at and recovering downed aircrews from Laos or North Vietnam.