Capt. Kristofferson Spins Up for the Last Time
Kris Kristofferson has 18 studio albums, 14 compilation or collaboration albums, and more than 100 acting credits, but before all that, he earned a Ranger tab, Army Avaitor Wings, and Jump Wings.
Coming from a military family– his pop was a USAAF/USAF pilot and his brother a Naval Aviator– Texas-born Kristofferson volunteered for the U.S. Army in 1960 and, commissioned a butter bar, completed helicopter pilot school at Fort Rucker.
Following overseas service in West Germany with the 8th Infantry Division, he wanted to head to Vietnam but instead was set to teach English lit at the USMA– he had a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University and earned a master’s degree– but instead resigned his commission in 1965 to pursue his musical career, a move that didn’t sit well with his family.
According to his website:
The Army assigned Kristofferson to teach literature at West Point, a duty that frightened him once he found that he’d have to turn in lesson plans, explaining to superiors exactly what he’d be teaching in class. He said, “It sounded like hell to me.”