I graduated from college in 1965. The Vietnam War was in full swing, and any able-bodied male who was not being educated was being drafted. I could have gone to graduate school, but instead decided to take my chances. I moved in with a couple of old friends in Palo Alto, California. Having a fancy B.A. in English, I went to an unprepossessing flight school at the Oakland Airport and got work as a lineboy in exchange for commercial-license instruction and a pittance suitable only for a breatharian.
Technicalities: Two Bobs
Key Takeaways:
- The narrator's early flying career in 1965 involved learning from an unconventional instructor, Bob Short, who was also a celebrated jazz musician, before the narrator was drafted into service.
- Years later, a trans-Pacific flight to Japan with a companion led to inadvertently missing the US bicentennial and a significant bureaucratic challenge at Japanese customs over a .22 revolver given by a friend, "Bob Long."
- Despite strict gun laws and no clear procedure for the undeclared firearm, Japanese authorities eventually found an unconventional solution, with a local police chief temporarily taking custody of the weapon, only to ceremonially return it upon the narrator's departure.
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