They say joining the military is life-changing, and from everything I’ve experienced and heard from others, I believe that to be true. I recently spoke with former Navy Lt. David Pingenot, whom I knew when I was growing up in Iowa, and I was interested to learn that enlisting in the Navy changed his life, though not in a way most people would expect.

Pingenot grew up in Vinton, Iowa — a town of around 5,000 people. He was a high school senior in 1965, and plenty of young men like him were drafted to the Army to fight in Vietnam. He didn’t lack courage or love for his country, but fighting in the jungles didn’t sound fun. So before he graduated, he and two friends joined the Navy on a delayed entry program.