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The lawn mowing incident as well as my brief acquaintance with Marty and Barbara remained dormant for the following four years, or so. My next creative involvement that connected me to the hair business would take place in Fort Ord, California.
1963 -- Boot camp. Upon arrival and within a very short time we had our first G.I haircut, a most humiliating experience. However, the experience somehow nudged something in my brain that had me visiting the Post Exchange. The Post Exchange offered a variety of necessities any young recruit might need, beer, condoms, razor blades, etc. That’s where I spotted a hair-cutting kit; which included an electric clipper, a pair of terrible cutting shears, a plastic cape, and a little brush to brush the hair off of the face after the haircut. I promptly purchased this kit at the time mentally declaring myself a “hair-cutter”. Back at the barracks I proceeded to announce my new found title and set the price at a point that would be most appealing and in fairness reflect my skill level, 50 cents. I needed heads to practice on and offered the option of leaving the hair slightly longer than you could ever expect from the post barber. That seemed to be my best selling point, and after the humiliation experienced during the first official haircut the guys were willing to give me a try.
After an evening of cutting hair in the barracks I would look forward to positioning myself at the Revelli Formation, the next morning, in the rear of the formation to more closely review my previous evenings disasters. Honestly, the first couple of evenings of cutting were a disaster. As I continued to cut hair I gradually improved and by the time I left boot camp I had significantly improved. I left Fort Ord headed for my permanent duty station at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska.
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