I had some military in my family....Dad, brother, BIL, BIL, favorite uncle, least favorite uncle. Mostly Army although my brother was on the Bon Homme Richard (as an aside, his son was on the Bonnie Dick 30 years to the day after my brother got out).
Just after high school I went to the recruiting office three times looking for the Army recruiter. No joy, but the Navy guy, SHC John Riley...odd how you remember things...was always there....sooo......I enlisted. Ended up working on ECM and radar for the A4 and A7. PNAd second class twice, got out, went to school for almost 9 years then though I ought to seek gainful employment.
The Navy recruiter (A P3 guy from Denver >>> who used to tell me that the sound of a P3s engines winding down sounded a lot like perdiemperdiemperdiemperdiem) called and the rest is history. Old history.