There isn’t just one strategy that works the best after serving in the military. Veterans benefit from a life-changing experience in addition to the education and training benefits they enroll for. These benefits and opportunities can lead to almost anything because to the perseverance and dedication instilled in veterans during their service.
Some of the veterans on this list might not have changed into the persons they are or were if it weren’t for their military duty. For some of them, the military wasn’t what they had imagined. Because of how their service changed them all, we are all in a better place. Following are the top 10 famous veterans:
No.10 George Carlin
“I’m conflicted as a result. It should go without saying that given what militaries do, I oppose them. The Air Force, however, was very different from the rest of the military. They had a golf course but also bombarded them with explosives.”
The comedian who coined the phrase “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” was constantly critical of the way things were done. That someone like George Carlin was seen as a “unproductive airman” while serving in the American military may not therefore seem surprising. More unexpectedly, it appears as though his decision to enlist in the military at all is likely.
Carlin left high school in 1954 and served in the Air Force in order to be eligible for the GI Bill benefits and attend broadcasting school. At Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, Louisiana, where he was employed, he finished his training as a radar technician. He wasn’t merely satisfied with performing his job as an Air Force employee. At the nearby AM radio station KJOE in Shreveport, Louisiana, where Top 40 music was broadcast, he was a disc jockey. Carlin started broadcasting when he was 18 years old.
He didn’t seem at all satisfied with doing his Air Force duties. Carlin was three times court-martialed during the course of his career before being discharged. Despite being relieved to have escaped receiving a dishonorable discharge, Carlin credits his confidence to his early experience in radio.
He worked in broadcast radio for a while before moving to California, where he acquired enduring fame. Three years after being discharged, he made an appearance on Los Angeles television. Due to his frequent appearances on “The Tonight Show” with Jack Paar, he rose to fame. By the 1970s, he had given up the neat appearance of traditional comics and had begun to sport his recognizable beard and long hair.
No.9 Steve McQueen
“Although it was fun to lounge in the sun and observe the women walking by, eventually I grew tired of it and went to join the Marines.”
Steve McQueen quickly made a name for himself as the “King of Cool.” He was the offspring of an alleged alcoholic prostitute and a stunt pilot. His upbringing, which included time spent in a juvenile detention center and bouts of homelessness, contributed to the development of his rebellious persona.
He worked a number of jobs before joining the Marines in 1947, one of which was manning the front door of a brothel in the Dominican Republic. He served in an armored regiment after being elevated to private first class. McQueen saw some success, receiving six promotions and seven downgrades to the rank of private.
His rebellious instincts erupted when he let a weekend to turn into a two-week tryst with his lover. He was apprehended by shore patrol but eluded them and was held captive for 41 days, the first 21 of which he spent living off of bread and water.
Following his stay in the brig, McQueen essentially righted the ship. When everything went horribly wrong, his battalion was taking part in a training exercise in the Arctic. McQueen, his squad, and their tanks were on board when the ship struck a sandbank, sending many tanks and their crew into the water. After several more men perished within their tanks, McQueen managed to save five of them.
Due to his gallantry, McQueen was chosen to serve on the Honor Guard securing President Harry Truman’s boat. Prior to receiving an honorable discharge in 1950, McQueen served in the Corps. “I was capable of handling the Marines’ punishment. I was able to deal with things on a more realistic level when I ultimately left. Despite my problems, I generally loved my time in the Marines “McQueen declared.
After leaving the Marines, McQueen used GI Bill funds to pay for his acting lessons at Sanford Meisner’s Neighborhood Playhouse. He had a professional success. McQueen had a wide range of acting jobs and was well-known until his death in 1980.
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“After having my baby, I went to an enlistment office because I felt like, “Man, I’m going to jail; I’ve got to do something.” Before you know it, I’ve served in the military as an infantryman for four years.”
One of those people who joined the military for purely practical reasons is the actor and singer Ice-T. With a troubled past in South Los Angeles, Tracy Lauren Marrow was struggling to support his girlfriend and children. He finally came to be known as Ice-T due to his talent for performing books written by the well-known pimp known as Iceberg Slim. He joined the Army in order to get the money. In the ensuing years, he would also profit from his performing abilities.
He spent four years in the 25th Infantry Division of Hawaii. Early in his service, he was a part of a party that stole an infantry rug before fleeing. After a month, the rug was discovered, and Ice-T returned. He was given a non-judicial punishment that allowed him to complete Advanced Infantry Training. He did, however, get his $2,500 sign-on bonus.
While based in Hawaii, Ice-T led his squad at Schofield Barracks. His reading of Iceberg Slim’s works intrigued a civilian named Mac that he met there. He learned that the citizen was a pimp as well. While he was still in the military, Mac taught him how to be a pimp.
Ice-T used the money he made from his illegal side operation to purchase speakers, turntables, a mixer, and stereo equipment. He began performing and rhymes in that style. An army sergeant reportedly told Ice-T that he joined because he couldn’t succeed in the civilian sphere on his own. Ice-T nearly proved him incorrect when he became a jewel thief and bank robber after leaving the Army in 1979.
After two of his friends were found guilty of robbery, Ice-T officially changed his name and began performing and working as a DJ. In 1983, he released “Cold Wind Madness,” which became an underground success.
No.7 Humphrey Bogart
“Bogie” was the son of a well-known New York City illustrator and a direct descendant of a Mayflower-related family. Humphrey Bogart attended exclusive private schools and residential schools during his education, and when it came time for college, Yale was his top option.
Bogart, however, rejected his upbringing as the First World War raged in Europe and enrolled at a different school before skipping out and joining in the U.S. Navy in 1918. His ship, the USS Leviathan, is said to have been shelled while he was in the Navy, giving him his recognizable scar and lisp.
Bogart spent a large amount of time at sea after the Armistice in November 1918 as he worked on a troopship bringing home American soldiers. In June 1919, he was discharged from the military as a third class boatswain’s mate.
When he returned home, he saw that the huge riches of his family was suffering due to bad investments. He began working for himself at several professions and eventually joined the Coast Guard Reserve. After accepting one of those jobs at the New World Films headquarters as a stage manager, Bogart started acting on Broadway right once.
Through a boyhood friend, he eventually made it into the big screen, and the tough-guy characters and gangster roles he played there served as a guide for the rest of his career. He was in excellent films like “The Maltese Falcon” and “Casablanca,” and he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his work in “The African Queen.”
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“I went to the Air Force. I immediately accepted it as soon as I arrived. Overall, it took me three years, eight months, and ten days to finish the assignment, but it took me a year and a half to get rid of the romantic notion I had of it.”
There are times when being in the military may help you decide what you want to do with your life, even if it means leaving the army. Because he was so intrigued by the idea of flying, young and talented Morgan Freeman enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1955 as opposed to being awarded a theatre scholarship to Jackson State University in Mississippi.
He eventually received the chance to train to be a fighter pilot, but as soon as he stepped into the cockpit of what he had assumed would be his dream job, he felt like he was “sitting in the nose of a bomb,” according to what he told AARP magazine. “I had this incredibly clear epiphany. You are in love with the idea behind this rather than the actual itself.” In 1959, Freeman left the Air Force without second-guessing his first judgment.
Freeman spent more than 20 years on stage before becoming well-known for his roles in the legendary children’s show “The Electric Company” and the serial opera “Another World” on television. Later, Freeman played both significant supporting and leading roles in films including “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Seven,” and “Unforgiven.”
Before the US president can order war, Chuck Norris must give his approval to Congress.
Before Carlos Ray Norris could become Chuck Norris, he had to gain some expertise. Like many of us reading this, he did it in the military. When Norris joined the Air Force, he quickly realized that he would need a weapon to carry out his responsibilities as a security guard.
When he was stationed in Korea, one of his responsibilities was to eject rowdy, inebriated service members from the pubs adjacent to Osan Air Base. He knew he couldn’t accomplish it physically and resorted to the local martial arts of taekwondo and tang soo do for help.
Norris is serious about his approach now that everyone is aware of it. He would perfect the skill of hurling intoxicants and become the first Westerner to earn an eighth-degree black belt in taekwondo. He was the six-year reigning middleweight world karate champion, and “Black Belt” magazine named him “Fighter of the Year” in 1969. He founded 32 martial arts schools and, of course, taught karate to actor and fellow veteran Steve McQueen.
After becoming well-known as Bruce Lee’s competitor in “Way of the Dragon” and being encouraged to pursue acting by McQueen, Norris went on to star in films including “Good Guys Wear Black,” “Delta Force,” and “Missing in Action.” He appeared in the popular television show “Walker, Texas Ranger.”
Norris has made use of his achievements to advocate for hospitalized veterans and the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to help the military community. Commandant Gen. James T. Conway promoted Norris to the rank of honorary United States Marine on March 28, 2007.
No.4 Mr. T
“When you find a predator, he is not a very tough guy. He is not need to make himself known. Men who must appear tough aren’t necessarily tough. I’m tough.”
Before becoming famous as B.A. Baracus on the hit TV show “The A-Team,” Mr. T was a member of the biggest team of them all: the U.S. Army. In “Rocky III,” he played Clubber Lang, who nearly killed Rocky Balboa.
In the middle of the 1970s, a fine soldier named Mr. T—his real name was Laurence Tureaud—served in the Army’s Military Police Corps. After receiving a letter of recommendation from his drill sergeant in November 1975, he was selected as the “Top Trainee of the Cycle” and promoted to squad commander in a cycle of 6,000 troops.
Even his sense of punishment was excellent. While they were at training camp at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin in July 1976, his platoon sergeant assigned him the chore of felling trees as a punishment. The number of trees that were to be cut down was not specified by the sergeant, but Mr. T managed to do so in a span of three and a half hours before being relieved of his task.
After being released from the Army, he tried out for the Green Bay Packers of the NFL, but owing to a knee condition, he was not chosen. But his Army police expertise was useful in his later employment as a bouncer at Chicago nightclubs, where he began cultivating his reputation as being extremely rough. Later, he gained notoriety as the first “celebrity bodyguard,” protecting celebrities like Steve McQueen, who, based on this list, seems like a great guy to know.
While bodyguarding and bouncing Mr. T, Sylvester Stallone engaged him to portray Lang in the third “Rocky” movie. His career took off after that, and he became one of the most well-known individuals of the 1980s, rising to stardom.
No.3 Johnny Cash
“Radio singing was a big deal when I was a kid. Only appearing on the Memphis radio station was my one and only dream. I returned to Memphis right away after I left the Air Force in 1954 and started knocking on doors at the radio station.”
Despite being known as the “Man in Black,” the well-known country musician was really in the Air Force. Cash joined the Air Force in 1950, just before the start of the Korean War, but he spent the majority of his four years in Germany. Cash, who had music running through his blood, was an expert at deciphering the rhythms of Morse code and worked as an intercept operator for the USAF Security Service. Even though he was the first person in the West to learn of Joseph Stalin’s death in 1953, he was still the Soviet leader.
Without the Air Force, Johnny Cash might not have been a part of our life. He was raised by cotton laborers in an impoverished family in Arkansas, and it wasn’t until he started receiving military pay that he could afford to buy a guitar. At the Base Exchange in Germany, he purchased his first guitar. He even drew inspiration from a documentary he watched at the base theater for his well-known “Folsom Prison Blues.”
He formed his first band while he was in the Air Force, the Landsberg Barbarians, and began playing to packed officer’s clubs. Staff Sgt. Cash used his GI Bill benefits to enroll in a radio announcing course at a Memphis, Tennessee, broadcasting school after being discharged from the military in 1954. Later, to sell records to producer Sam Phillips, he entered the Sun Records Recording Studio. His career quickly expanded after that.
Cash never lost sight of his roots, even as his reputation as a hard-partying rebel overwhelmed his time in the military. Years later, Cash and young Army veteran Kris Kristofferson became friends after the latter had his helicopter land in Cash’s front yard. In line with what Kristofferson feared, Cash not only refrained from shooting the helicopter down but also supported him by listening to his music and helping to establish his career.
No.2 Clint Eastwood
“I was drafted to fight in the Korean War. None of us wanted to go. It had only been a few years since the end of World War II. We exclaimed, “Wait a second! Have we not just finished it?”
Before defying everyone to ruin his day in “Dirty Harry,” Clint Eastwood was stationed at Fort Ord in California as an Army soldier. He was enlisted in 1951 for the Korean War, but throughout his time in the military, he worked as a swimming instructor.
He provided helpful swimming lessons to his fellow soldiers. Eastwood had a variety of professions prior to getting drafted, including lifeguard and firefighter. With the aid of the military, he may have been able to avoid a career of these obligations, while the rest of us have profited from a lifetime of cinematic riches.
As luck (and fate) would have it, his swimming skills would come in handy. A Navy torpedo bomber had to make an emergency landing in the Pacific Ocean three miles off the coast of Point Reyes Station, California, one year when Eastwood was a passenger. The aircraft had run out of fuel. Eastwood and the pilot were able to swim through the tide and more than a mile to the coast using the life raft.
Eastwood initially met Hollywood types at Fort Ord, where they were shocked by his appearance but dissatisfied by his acting ability. Not a big deal; after being released in 1953, Eastwood enrolled in L.A. City College to study drama using the GI Bill. By April 1954, he had agreed to his first studio contract. Italian “spaghetti” westerns, which gave rise to his gruff demeanor and a more than 60-year Hollywood career, are ultimately responsible for his eventual ascent to fame on a global scale.
No.1 Elvis Presley
In the Army, boys are instructed to think like men.
Elvis Presley had already been in a number of significant TV specials, blockbuster films, and well-known singles by the time he joined the American Army, making him one of the most well-known entertainers in the country. So when he received a draft notification, fulfilled the qualifications to be a 1-A draftee, and then actually enlisted, it was a major deal.
Presley had to swap his leather jacket for Army fatigues since he didn’t try to evade his obligations. He enlisted as a regular GI in the Army at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, on March 24, 1958. He remarked, “Hair today, gone tomorrow,” as the length of his infamously unruly hair was adjusted.
The Second Armored Division gave Elvis the moniker “Hell On Wheels” and transported him to Fort Hood for basic training. Later, he was assigned to the Third Armored Division and stationed in Friedberg, Germany. There, he married Priscilla Beaulieu, whom he had met there.
He added that all he wanted was to be treated like any other soldier and that “the Army may do whatever it wants with me.” Unlike other soldiers, he utilized his time off to record 10 Top 40 hits, donate his Army salary to a good cause, and purchase extra uniforms and equipment for his fellow soldiers.
By the time his Army service was finished, Elvis had been promoted to sergeant, and on March 5, 1960, he was honorably discharged from active duty at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
In an interview with Armed Forces Radio and Television right before leaving, Elvis talked about his experiences: “I was in an odd circumstance. Actually, there is no other possible outcome. People expected that I would make a mistake or somehow embarrass myself. They presumingly thought I couldn’t take it, etc. Not simply to the onlookers but also to myself, I was anxious to disprove them.”
