Alaina Urquhart

And in September of 1961, he reported to London for duty.

It was, he hoped, an opportunity for a fresh start to get away from this tiny village and all the limitations he felt were there and to learn a new trade that hopefully was just going to carry him to adulthood.

But if he was looking for like a whole new experience, which he definitely was, he was definitely disappointed with the reality of army life, especially for someone so young.

Yeah.

Rather than being sent off to some exotic location like he thought he would be, Dennis and his peers spent the next four years stationed in Aldershot, a military town in Hampshire, New England.

Their life was pretty much the same as it had been before he left home with military responsibilities just replacing schoolwork and his fellow soldiers replacing his classmates.

In 1964, he passed his exams and was promoted to the rank of private, which was an important step in what he thought was going to be a lifelong career in the military.

And while this was a momentous occasion for him, his entire experience in the military had been undermined by his growing awareness of his own sexuality and his interest in men.

Sure.

Especially at the time period, this was tough.

He was repressing everything, though, and the repression of those urges was always accompanied by deep guilt and shame.

Yeah.

And he would carry that with him for a long time.

He later said, I was always afraid that I must somehow look different and that my innermost thoughts would be exposed.

Oh, that's sad.

Which is so sad.

It is very sad.

But he's such an asshole.

It's like you hear these things, and again, he's still a kid when this is all happening.

Right, so you feel bad for the kid.