Gerald Setty, CTA2 USN, 1966-1970

I received my draft notice and reported for the physical.  My eyesight was marginal and they sent me 
to an optometrist for a professional opinion.  the optometrist did his exam and then he asked me if I 
wanted to go into the military or be 4F.  I told him I didn’t know I had a choice.  He said my eyesight 
was right on the border of being legally blind.  It was something like 20/400. I was feeling real patriotic 
at the time and I said I wanted to go.  He said OK, you’re 1A.  On the way back to the draft board I 
stopped off at the Navy Recruiter.  Since I had over 60 units of college credit he signed me up in what 
they called the Cash program.  I could finish my current semester in college before reporting to Boot Camp 
and My time inservice would start when I signed  up and I would be an E-3 upon graduating from Boot Camp.  
As  luck would have it I had just started a semester in community college so I didn’t have to report to 
Boot Camp for a couple of months.  During aptitude testing in Boot Camp I scored highest as a physical therapist.  
I thought that was weird, since I had no interest in physical therapy.  They told me that the Navy had a big need for CT’s.  
Since I had such a clean record, I would probably be accepted.  He really couldn’t tell me much about what a CT did 
since it was so very classified, but he said it was real important. In 1966 he said it was really hard to find an enlistee 
that hadn’t never done drugs and that made me a prime candidate for a CT.   I agreed to the choice and entered 
Boot Camp a couple of months later.  I was 21 at the time and was called the old man in my company.  
I was a sociology major in college at the time an didn’t have the usual emotional problems with the drill instructors.  
My biggest problem was not smiling at them when they were yelling at  us.  I knew what they were doing and kept 
a straight face as much as possible.   I did what was expected of me and graduated 2nd in my company.  
I was sent to Guam Naval Security Station.  I spent a month working on the midrats crew in the mess hall 
until they decided what to do with me.  I was eventually assigned to the RPIO on the Naval Station.  I made CTA3 
while there and was next posted to the NAVAL SECURITY  GROUP HEADQUARTERS in Washington D.C.  
I was discharged from there in 1970.  Since I was over 4 years in service because of my Cash Program, 
my Co insisted that I sew on my Hash Mark.  I was teased as being a lifer until I was discharged and left.
 
Gerald Setty, CTA2