In 1978, at the age of nineteen, slightly adrift and unsure of his direction, a chance encounter shifted everything.

When I graduated from high school, I wanted a break from schooling, so I just really didn't know what I wanted to do.

I was walking downtown in my city at the time and saw a recruitment sign, and I stopped in to talk about it.

And the recruiting sergeant that was in there was somebody I grew up with years earlier.

We had a little chat, and he told me all about it.

And so he said all I had to do was go through an aptitude test and see where I might fit in.

And so I said, "Well, yeah, I can do that, you know, just for the heck of it."

He finds pleasure in the small joys life has to offer, aware of how close he came to losing them for good.