A Broad View by Jerry Hogan: Your Life… Choice or Chance?

Rockwall County, (August 5, 2025) – Except for physicians, most people end up in their career path more by accident than by careful, well-thought-out, career planning.

Think about that. When you graduated from high school, the first big decision you had to make was “what am I going to do with my life now”? Those men and women who had decided they wanted to be a doctor knew that decision had to be made early on because their grades, which school they got into, whether they were accepted for medical school, etc., were all dependent on a lengthy focus and drive that finally got them into the right school to learn how to be a Doc.

But for the rest of us, what happened after leaving the senior year in high school is anybody’s guess!

Take me for example. I graduated from high school in 1954. This was at the end of the Korean War when Communism and world security were common subjects discussed everywhere. A big need for engineers was in all the newspapers and many defense companies continued to advertise for new engineers to work in their facilities.

Since I had been pretty good at math and physics, being an engineer sounded like a good option for me.

I applied for entry into the University of Illinois and was accepted into their engineering school.

But here Fate enters in! Back in those days, many state universities were ‘land-grant-schools’. As a result, all male students were required to take two years of Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). Here we were issued uniforms, taught how to march and drill, and learned some of the very basic subjects of the military.

Registration day at the university came, where back in those days each student physically walked around campus to the various buildings where classes were held, and signed up for the course on their schedule. Unfortunately, not all the classes had vacancies, so it was more walking to another building to find an alternative class that was open.

As you can imagine, it was not a friendly environment, and the day became longer and longer as one trudged from building to building to get the right classes at the right times.

Finally, all the courses were signed up for and now it was time to go all the way across campus and sign up for ROTC and pay one’s tuition.

When signing up for ROTC the first time, a student had two choices: the Army or the Air Force. For some reason, that we never figured out, both services provided the student with the ROTC uniform. However, the Air Force also provided shoes to go with the uniform. With the Army, you had to buy your own shoes.

Well, since my intent was to only spend the required two years in ROTC, the choice was clear as to which service I was going to sign up for; go for the shoes.

But you should have seen the line to sign up! The Air Force line extended all the way around the building with students doubled up waiting to get their choice of uniforms with the shoes! The Army line was hardly a line at all!

Make the easy choice. Just sign up for the Army ROTC and you don’t have to stand in anymore lines.

It was an easy choice. All I was going to do was spend the required two years in the ROTC and then go on and be an engineer and make lots of money when I graduated.

I signed up for the Army ROTC, …..and 25 years later, after 5 years in school and 20 years in the US Army, I retired from the Army.

Tell me that was a planned career!

Then after another career with an IBM company, MCI Telecommunications, and County Judge, I retired again.

If I had to do it all over again, I don’t think I would change a thing. Sometimes ‘by Chance” isn’t all bad!!!

Jerry Hogan is a former Rockwall County Judge. He can be reached at jerryhogan@sbcglobal.net or 214-394-4033