Rather than be drafted in 1965, Dennis went into the Air Force. He was not married, and there was no one with influence to get him into the reserves. Being a college graduate, they really did not know what to do with him in the enlisted ranks. In fact, the Powers That Be did not really know how to handle the Viet Nam war, for that matter. Not being able to extracate themselves from that situation was a typical male thing.

It was practically a different world in the 1960's. Most cars were American-made; the impact of Japanese cars was yet to come. Soda pop was sold in bottles, and there was no such thing as sugar-free for most of the decade. IC's were talked about, but most electronic devices had vacuum tubes or transistors. Hand calculators were available at the end of the decade, but they were still very expensive. Most televisions sold were still black and white. Personal computers did not even appear in the realm of fiction.

While in the Air Force, Dennis and his buddies toured the southwest. Here are some New Mexico photos scanned from slides: