 He participated in football and the biology club before graduating in 1962.He then studied political science at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, but left before graduating and was drafted into the U.S. Army in June 1966.Monroe was sent to Vietnam in November 1966 as a private first class serving as a medic in the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).