Does Anyone Remember SPN Numbers?
This was a number that was placed on your DD-214 form that described your service and reason for discharge. They were outlawed in the late 1970's or early 1980's. When Nam was winding down and Marine units were being deployed back home the Corps offered many early out programs. One of them involved drug abuse. I had all my junior Marines fall for what sounded like a good deal to them. I tried my best to tell them that the Marine Corps dosent give honorable discharges away unless earned. Unfortunately they didnt listen to the old sarge. I remember one very young Pfc who was married with one child coming back and begging me to intercede in his behalf and get him back in the Corps after a very short time of a week or two. He told me that he had lied on the form and said that he was a drug user and he really wasent. Well to make a long sad story short he was denied employment every where he went because the government had made the numbers known to employers and he was in even worse financial shape than when he was in the Corps.
Jim