In 1976 I was 23 married had a child and serving in the NYSANG. I owned a house with a mortgage, working shift work
I will never forget my very first day at work in the power house way back in August of 1970
The foreman gives me a pair of gloves, a hardhat and a shovel and says follow me
He takes me to this dark dirty dusty noisy place which turns out to be in-between two coal mills and says start shovelling (coal spills) and dont stop until I come get you at lunch time
There was no ear protection and a respirator was a dirty rag tied around your mouth
So this was around 730 and after hours of backbreaking hot sweat work im starving and wondering when's lunch
Well the guy never came back and I missed lunch, so I shovelled until the end of the day and I did that the next day and a whole lot of days and weeks after that
At the weeks end I got my check and took home $75.00, went home gave the old man 30 and took the rest and went straight to the Cross Town bar and grill, beer was 20 cents a glass and they bought back after the fifth
These kids dont have a F-ing clue today. Boot camp and a hard days work would do them a world of good