Picked stones out of the fields, cleared brush, split wood for the winter, baled hay, raked yards. None of it for cash pay, for the privilege of living under a roof.

Worked on a dairy farm at 8, my main job was feeding calves, cleaning out the foot deep shit in the holding pen where the cows waited to get milked, bailing hay, alfalfa and straw and many other tasks. I started chewing tobacco too, the boss kept a case of Red Man plugs in his truck. I was allowed to take home as much fresh milk as we wanted. I did that for a couple of years until they moved to a larger farm up north MI.

I had Grit paper route that I didn't do great with, had to give it up, not enough subscribers out in the country

Meanwhile, we had five acres of lawn that we mowed with a push mower, you would get finished and have to start over again. My brother left for the Marines when I was 12 so it mostly fell on me to do it. Dad bought a fancy Honda rider when I left for the Army

My dad made me mow an older lady's lawn for a few years at .25 an hour

A buddy and I would ride our bikes to the nearest rest stop on MI US 23, about 10 miles for me. We would forage through the trash cans for soda cans and bottles, worth .10 a piece in MI. We would also find lot's of nudie mags that the truckers discarded, we stashed them in an old barn loft on our ride back. Made some money selling those too

After the dairy farm I got a job at a pig farm, feeding all of the pigs, the younger ones I had to haul five gallon buckets of grain to several different pens depending on how big they were, cleaning up shit, castrating and docking tails on the youngins, spraying for ticks and fleas, supervising mating so the boar wouldn't kill or maim the sow. The owner was a mean asshole, his temper would get the best of him quite often. But, the community thought highly of him. He would send me out to different homes around us, cut and split wood, cleaning horse stalls, yard work, my favorite was he would send me out with a trapper buddy of his and I helped him harvest the fox he trapped. The pig farmer would pay my hourly while doing these things.

If I wanted to get anywhere it was by bike, I had legs like an NFL running back

After I got my drivers license I was able to get into town for various jobs, gas station attendant, worked at a pizza place and my last job before going in the Army was at Hardees, I was the overnight biscuit making guy

The reason I got these jobs is so I could earn money, we weren't poor but there was nothing extra outside of school clothes, birthdays and Christmas gifts. So if I wanted to buy anything I had to earn money. My first purchase was a wrist rocket from LL Bean catalog

I am on a military FB group and a topic came up yesterday that is crazy to me. This person said they are seeing major issues with new recruits not possessing a driver's license or even the knowledge of how to drive a car and having to start from scratch now with them.

What is up with that????

I could NOT WAIT to get my DL and a car as soon as I was able to when I was 16! A DL was freedom! I guess with everything being virtual now it's not a desirable thing for young people anymore.