answer:Since my son is a current USAF enlistee, I think I could speak to this a little bit. As an enlistee, I’m not sure what kind of hitch a young man would have signed up for in 1969. Since the military can be a career, even for enlistees, he may not have opted for just a one-year hitch. If he did enlist for just one year – assuming that to have been an option for a voluntary enlistment at that time – then I expect that your assumption of “minimal training” for his MOS (Miltary Occupation Specialty) would be accurate. He might be nothing more than a cook, medical orderly, gate guard or other grunt doing more or less menial work. Since my son signed up for a 6-year hitch several years ago, he has been pretty extensively trained in Helicopter Maintenance, and he is now a sergeant / crew chief. That certainly wouldn’t happen for someone signing up for a minimum hitch. But the USAF has always needed mechanics for aircraft, and that’s normally done by enlisted personnel, so there’s no reason why that couldn’t have happened in 1969, even if it would have occurred mostly in Vietnam, and not just stateside.