I will have to admit that the Star Trek reference in the article is true for many of us nukes. I enlisted in '70 soon after the series ended and had recently read Arthur C Clarke's book
The Deep Range about the near future when we farmed and ranched the oceans. Submarines were almost guaranteed if you completed the nuclear propulsion program (not that many carriers then). Submarines were as close to a spaceship I would ever get and I had a romantic vision of it that was not born out once I got there. I did meet James Doohan (Scotty) in the 90s at a SciFi convention he was suffering from the onset of dementia at the time and at times lacked focus. After being in line for a long time I finally got to him and confessed that it was a bit embarrassing to admit but we frequently quoted his character in the engineering spaces of the sub. He lit up and we talked a bit about that and the square scotch bottle I had for him to sign that looked like one he used to drink an alien under the table. He also signed the 8x10 of the picture of that episode shown below and one of him in Canadian artilleryman uniform.
After all of that I expected to be drafted and wanted to chose my service.
