The King in the military - Rare photos
Elviss path took him through military service in Europe to getting hooked on amphetamines, a journey that started on what the media called Black Monday, March 24, 1958.
The King took his place as a regular soldier in Memphis, enduring a public haircutting ceremony, writes Neil McCormick at The Telegraph, that acted almost as a symbolic neutering of the rebellious power of rock and roll. As his pompadour fell to the floor, he reportedly joked, Well, hair today, gone tomorrow. Drafted the previous year, hed been given every opportunity to avoid actual service from a military establishment full of admirers, as Travis Andrews writes at The Washington Post:
Various branches of the armed services offered him cushy jobs. The Navy suggested creating an Elvis Presley company composed of his friends from Memphis, and the Air Force wanted to use him as a recruiting model rather than sending him into combat, according to Military. The Army offered to have him only play concerts for the troops.
Instead, he chose to enter as an ordinary private, eventually getting promoted to sergeant while in Germany. He was first deployed as a truck driver near Frankfurt, and having begun his working life as a truck driver, Elvis was back where he started. He felt he had something to prove, he said, not only to the people who were wondering if hed screw up, but to myself.
https://flashbak.com/black-monday-elvis-joins-the-army-then-loses-his-mother-meets-14-year-old-priscilla-and-gets-hooked-on-pills-425067/