Tom Selleck is a Hollywood star who is best known for starring on the television show “Magnum P.I.” in the 1980s. What many fans likely don’t know about him, however, is that he spent years serving in the U.S. military prior to hitting it big in the world of acting.

Selleck was a student at the University of Southern California in the 1960s when he first got interested in acting. After appearing on the game show “The Dating Game” and landing a Pepsi commercial, Selleck was approached by Twentieth Century Fox about joining their talent program, and he started honing his craft.

“I think, when I went to Fox, I was on my own with no frame of reference, no connection,” said Selleck. “I’d never done a play in my life. I started at about thirty-five bucks a week, and every six months you either got fired or renewed. If you got renewed, you got a raise on their term contracts.”

Everything changed for Selleck when he was issued draft orders during the Vietnam War. He immediately joined the 160th infantry regiment, serving from 1967 to 1973. In the decades since, Selleck has never forgotten his time in the military, and he’s even appeared on California National Guard recruiting posters.

“I am a veteran, I’m proud of it,” he said. “I was a sergeant in the U.S. Army infantry, National Guard, Vietnam era. We’re all brothers and sisters in that sense.”

When Selleck finally returned to civilian life, he was dropped by Fox.

“And then I was going to be drafted, and I got into an infantry National Guard unit and did six months active duty in the middle of my time at Fox,” Selleck said, adding with a laugh,  “I had my job when I came back, and then they fired me.”

Despite this, Selleck kept at it, and he finally hit it big with “Magnum P.I.” in 1980. However, no matter how successful Selleck has become in Hollywood, he’s never forgotten his military roots.

“We learned a lesson as a country over time, that we need to welcome our troops home regardless of whether you have political problems with whatever mission they’re on, they just served and we need to thank them for it,” he said.

To this day, Selleck continues to promote recruitment and retention for the military, and he is a spokesperson for the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Fund.