On June 2, 1969, I became the proud recipient of a bachelor’s degree in social studies from the University of Connecticut.

I had originally planned to be a history major, but realizing jobs in the field of history were somewhat limited, I entered the School of Education, and at my adviser’s suggestion, took courses in political science, economics and geography in order to graduate with a degree in social studies, rather than just history.

My adviser pointed out that if I were certified in history, that’s all I could teach. With a certification in social studies, I could teach a variety of courses.

In fact, I once found myself teaching a ninth grade course titled American Cities, which was basically a sociology course, a discipline I had not studied in college.

Shortly after graduation I received my teaching certificate from the state Department of Education, and within days, an invitation from Uncle Sam for a free physical examination.

As a graduate, I no longer had a student draft deferment. I went to the examining center in New Haven and wandered from station to station being poked and prodded. I didn’t have any doctor’s notes since my only physical problem was less than perfect vision (I didn’t learn about my partial color blindness until later). I did mention this to the doctor at the time, explaining that while I was a pretty good shot with a rifle, if my glasses were broken, I couldn’t aim. The doctor chuckled and explained that that the ability to accurately aim wasn’t really required in Viet Nam, and pronounced me physically fit.

Before the summer was over I had a job interview. Jim Shaughnessy, then the assistant superintendent in Groton, wanted to hire me to teach social studies at Fitch Junior High. I was set to accept when he asked me one final question. “What’s your draft status?” I told him I was I-A, at which point he muttered something and then said, “Join the Navy. When you get out I’ll give you a job.”

My draft notice came not long thereafter, and after talking to the various recruiters, I took Jim at his word and joined the Navy. I figured an enlistment of four years gave me more options than being drafted for two. Boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois, starting in January, was probably the coldest three months I’ve ever spent! We didn’t see our first puddle until March.

But, I was right. The Navy did give me options – two of them! One was to be a corpsman or medic, which didn’t appeal to me. The other was to be a CT. When I asked what that was the petty officer explained that it was classified and he couldn’t tell me. I told him, “Well, whatever it is, I’ll be one.”

What followed was a school in Pensacola and some very interesting duty assignments.

I was discharged in San Diego in December 1973 and returned to Connecticut. I worked at Electric Boat until late summer 1974 when Jim interviewed me again and told me I’d be teaching at Cutler Junior High in Mystic. He asked if I knew where it was and I told him I’d gone there as a ninth grader in 1961, the year it opened.

I drove down to Cutler and met my new boss, George Sneider, the principal.

The job was a lot of work teaching grades seven, eight and nine, but interesting and I enjoyed it. I also affiliated with the Navy Reserve and began taking graduate courses. The shock came in June 1979 when I received notification from the Central Office that my contract wouldn’t be renewed since I didn’t have my master’s degree within 10 years of my date of initial certification. At that time, full certification required a master’s degree within five years, though with an almost automatic five-year extension. While I was working on my master’s, I had not completed it as it takes a while going nights and summers.

I explained that to the people in the personnel office and they sympathized, but said that if the state Department of Education determined that I was no longer certified, they couldn’t employ me. They gave me the name and phone number of the person in Hartford to whom to speak.

I placed the long distance call and spoke with the gentleman in the certification office, explaining that I hadn’t started graduate school immediately after graduation since I had been in the Navy during the war, including time at sea aboard the USS Kitty Hawk in the Gulf of Tonkin. While I don’t remember the individual’s name, I still remember his response. “It’s not our fault that you chose to go to war instead of graduate school.” That pretty much ended our conversation.

I shared these remarks with Mr. Sneider, an Army veteran and the son of a Navy Chief Petty Officer, and he was livid. I suggested we contact the American Legion and the VFW and let them deal with Hartford. Instead, he called the same number I had called and “talked” to the same individual. As I recall, it was something of a one-sided conversation! Shortly thereafter my certification was reissued from the date I started teaching, which gave me five more years, and I continued teaching in Groton for another 35 years.

Robert F. Welt of Mystic is a retired Groton Public Schools teacher.