SHIRTLESS … and hearing impaired During V/N we weren’t given hearing protection (honestly we weren’t given much protection of any type)! After Service, going into an employment interview with a hearing aid was a ‘deal-killer’. (As were canes; eyeglasses weren’t ‘popular’ either). The would-be employer sees that hearing aid (they were larger & far more obvious back then as compared to now) and thinks: “if he’s losing his hearing in his 20s, what’s this guy gonna be like when he’s older? Using a walker when he’s 40? In a wheelchair when he’s 50?” And so the ‘interview’ was over before it started. Leave the aid at home – and you miss 50% of what’s said. Constantly saying: ‘Huh?” or “What?” doesn’t help. In the later 60s-early70s many veterans wore their hair long; it was the style back then; & a revolt against the ‘high-and-tight’ of the military …. & a ‘jim-dandy’ way to conceal that hearing aid. Except …. a would-be employer thinks: “I don’t want some ‘mop-head’! Gimme some guy with conventionally styled hair!” (The 2-S who thus managed to dodge the Draft then ‘climb-the-corporate-ladder’ whilst we were crawling-in-the-mud). Just being a vet worked against you: people assumed Vietvets were cold-bloodied killers, drug users, a mental time-bombs, etc. And even if the interview went OK, and a possible job-offer was on the table, there would be a physical. Sometimes this was a quick ‘once-over’ done in 15few minutes. Sometimes far more extensive. When I was hired by Champion International it was an all-day physical at Executive Health Examiners and they examined everything . It was far more extensive than the MEPS, but at least I was afforded some privacy & dignity.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 13:52:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015