Issue 10: Tech from the Military

12 | ORIGINS
DAN COURAGE
Dan Courage received a Bachelor
of Science in Civil Engineering from
MIT’s Lowell Institute of Technology.
For 30 years he’s owned a successful
construction company. In his spare
time he’s an inventor.
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date
September 2014
location
Austin, Texas
interviewed by
Morgan V Courage
www.knowyourorigins.org
Why did you join the Air Force?
I was in college. I was in my fourth year of
college. While I was in my fourth year of college
in May, I got a notice that my draft deferment
was cancelled. Not paying attention to the news
because I was in college, I went to my draft board
to ask questions. When I got to my draft board
it was full of people all with the same questions:
college students who didn’t know what was
going on. While they were all talking, I looked on
the little card table that was in this office at the
draft board and I noticed my name on a draft notice
because I had a little number. I forgot what
number it was, but my number was little. So I
quietly walked out and walked down the street
and walked into an Air Force recruiter and joined
the Air Force that day.
What about school? Did you continue your
education? Or was it only military training?
And so...and so from there I didn’t finish college
but it didn’t matter I needed, I needed to go another
year anyway because my grades were so
low I couldn’t graduate. So I went into the service
on June first I think. I went to basic training.
Halfway through basic training, I think it was in
July, it was announced in the news that they were
suspending the lottery system so my heart kind