One of the draftsmen announced that he had bought a new “chevelle” on winter morning. The Chevelle was a popular automobile Chevrolet had been building since 1964. It could be a utilitarian car, or a high performance one, depending on the options purchased. Of course we all asked him about it, what color was it, etc. I must explain that this fellow was a French-Canadian, with the attendant accent. He could not understand why we wanted to know what color his SNOW SHOVEL was………..

The drafting pool was situated pretty much in the center of the office area, with the main aisle running down one side of it. The aisle allowed for much visiting as the girls (and guys) travelled back and forth to the restrooms. I was fortunate enough to sit right next to the aisle, and had the opportunity to make many new friends. Girl watching was an important sport at J&L (or anywhere). But sometimes being on the aisle was not a good thing. The Boss kept pretty close track of his people, and if he didn’t speak to you then, he certainly would at Review Time. There were semi-annual reviews to discuss your progress (or lack thereof), which I actually did pretty well with. There was a structured, and published, chart of job titles and the range of pay assigned to each. This chart started out as (if I remember right), Apprentice Draftsman Class 1, 2 and 3, then Draftsman 1, 2, 3. If you were paying attention, did well, and there happened to be an opening in any of the product engineering departments, you might be asked if you would like to “move up” into the Designer classification. At this time business was very good, and the office structure was slowly being modified to eliminate the drafting pool and place people directly into the various product engineering departments.

During my early years, The Vietnam war was slowly building up. And I was classified as 1-A (available to be drafted). When I joined J&L, Textron applied for, and received, a “deferment” for me (meaning I was exempt from the draft). Back then the draft was always on your mind, and you were never really sure when your deferment might end. Many guys joined the National Guard or Army Reserves, which at that time were not activated as much as they are today. I decided to join the Chester Army reserves in January of 1967. That was a busy month for me, as I also got married. Married in January, shipped off in March. Not much  time for cuddling.  I remember getting the Official Order, report to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina for basic training. Wait a minute, ain’t that where the 82nd Airborne are? I don’t wanna jump out of planes!!

As it turned out, the Company Commander was ex-National Guard, and many of us recruits were Guard or Reserve affiliated. But the D.I.’s were AIRBORNE, BABY. I would never again be in as good a condition as when I graduated and headed north to Ft. Lee, Virginia, for Quartermasters (supply school) training.