After receiving a degree in journalism in 1952, he was drafted and served in the Army in Hanau, Germany. During his service he refused officer training because he felt that no one should have that kind of authority over others. He also continued writing (contributing so many poems to the "Pup Tent Poets" column of "Stars and Stripes" that a reader wrote, "I am getting bored/ with the works of Edsel Ford"). After his enlistment ended, he worked for a few years in Texas and in Hobbs, New Mexico as a clerk for Phillips Petroleum.