Elvis adjusts to Army life at Fort Hood

With basic training under his belt, Elvis Presley left Texas on Sept. 18, 1958 and shipped out for West Germany to complete his two-year military obligation.

When the rock ’n roll sensation turned 21 in January 1956, he was automatically subject to the peacetime draft. Colonel Tom Parker, who micromanaged every aspect of his golden goose’s life, told Elvis not to worry, that he would somehow find a way for him to avoid conscription.

But the master manipulator was lying through his teeth. The Dutchman, who had entered the U.S. illegally in 1927, had no intention of helping his client dodge the draft, which he strongly believed would anger and alienate the American people.