Eric H. Smith could have been a member of the U.S. Coast Guard right now instead of a Republican candidate for state Superintendent for Public Instruction.
Smith said he tried to fulfill one of of his lifelong goals by signing up fhe Coast Guard after he graduated from high school, Keung Hui reports.
But a week into his service, he said he was discharged because a detailed medical exam uncovered a shoulder injury he had suffered when he was hit by a car in high school.
Smith said he had been so heartbroken about not being allowed to stay that he had lobbied people, including U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, for help. If he had gotten back in, he said he would have made it his career.
Smith's tenure in the Coast Guard is so short that he doesn't list it on his biography on his campaign Web site.
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