When American actor, Gene Hackman, was only 16 years old, he struggled with direction. Not knowing what he really wanted out of life, he opted to join the US marines. There he realized that he would perennially find it hard to operate under any form of authority.
He was stationed in Shanghai where he worked as a radio operator, and then eventually made his way to Hawaii. During the length of his service he was demoted three times, continually having problems with simply following instructions. “I was not a good marine,” he admits.
Humphrey Bogart
In Hollywood, Humphrey Bogart was lovingly nicknamed the “Bogie” of show business. A fitting name considering he was also enlisted in the navy during the First World War. One time, he was struck by a prisoner in the mouth, while he was assigned to the military police. The result of the injury was not fatal, but it did scar his mouth, leaving him with a subtle lisp.
Because of his signature injury with the matching raspy voice, it gave him that tough guy gangster image which he was known for in his second career. It’s funny because he seemed the ultimate bad guy, but he also had terrible stage fright, which made him run off the stage in the middle of a performance more than once.
Mel Brooks
The combination of comedy and military service in one’s career, is like putting together the opposite poles of the world in one picture. Yet we’ve already encountered a few who achieved this feat. Mel Brooks is another one to add to the growing list. The creator of film farces and comedic parodies found himself drafted into the army during WWII.
He worked to diffuse many land mines in the Battle of the Bulge, a corporal for the 1104 Engineer Combat Battalion. Completely out of character, he often laughs at the position he was put in, saying, “I was a Combat Engineer. Isn’t that ridiculous? The two things I hate the most in the world are combat and engineering.”
Jimmy Carter
Before Jimmy Carter became president of the United States, he was in a potent position to join the US Navy’s nuclear submarine program. Had his father not died at the time, Carter, a lieutenant, and having served as a Luton junior grade on a submarine, would have gone places. Instead, he decided to retire and pick up the pieces his father had left, working on his parent’s peanut farm.
Some time after this momentous decision, Jimmy Carter decided to move on from his farm work, entering the arena of politics, and going on to become the 39th President of the US, presiding from 1977 to 1981.
Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford became the 38th president of the United States when he replaced the scandal-stricken Richard Nixon. Ford was active in the navy reserve until 1963, before deciding to move into politics where he went on to reach the highest office possible.
Ford’s work in the military was more behind the scenes. He was a navy pre-flight instructor, assigned to teach elementary navigation skills to new recruits. He also taught first aid for survival, gunnery, and military cadence drills. He requested to see more action and almost died aboard the USS Monterey, when his ship came close to tipping during a typhoon.