Despite being offered the chance to enlist in Special Services to entertain the troops and live in priority housing, Presley was persuaded by his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, to serve as a regular soldier.

This earned him the respect of many of his fellow soldiers and people back in the United States who previously viewed him in a negative light.

Not long before he was transferred to West Germany,[1] his mother, Gladys Presley died of a heart attack brought on by acute hepatitis and cirrhosis at the age of 46.

Colonel Tom Parker, Presley's manager, was well aware of his client's draft status and how it could affect his career.

[3] Over the next twelve months, Parker led Presley to believe that it was still possible to avoid the draft completely,[3] while secretly planning to allow it.

Parker promised Presley that if he worked hard and served as a regular GI for two years, he would return "a bigger star" than when he left.

[4] While fans around the country were upset by the news, parents and teachers' groups were ecstatic; they viewed Presley as a menace to society.

When news of the extension broke, angry letters were sent to the Memphis Draft Board complaining about the "special treatment" that Presley was receiving.

[5] Worried that rock and roll was a passing fad, Presley wanted to make King Creole the best role he had ever acted.

[3] Two weeks after finishing King Creole, Presley reported for his induction on March 24, 1958, a day dubbed "Black Monday" for his fans by the press.

After his final goodbyes to family and friends, Presley and his fellow U.S. Army recruits were taken by bus to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.

[6] After a short break to record new material for RCA Victor in June, Presley returned to Fort Hood to finish his tank training.

Presley accepted his request, but only agreed to play piano in the background; Parker had drilled into him that there would be no public performances of any kind during his service.

[citation needed] On October 1 the USS General George M. Randall arrived in West Germany and Presley was once again offered the chance to join Special Services.

News outlets were reporting regularly on stories, mostly released by Parker himself, about plans for Presley's return to entertainment.

Stories of wild parties in Presley's hotel room were also making it into the papers regularly, and Parker was forced to hold a press conference to dispel these rumors.

He would often write home to friends and family about how homesick he was, how desperately he missed his mother, and of how his fears about his career still clouded his mind.

Presley had recorded a handful of songs before he left for overseas to cover his time away, but RCA was worried that they would run out of material before March 1960.

[14] Two days in Munich were followed by over a week of partying in Paris where, on several occasions, Presley would invite the whole chorus line of girls from The 4 O'Clock club back to his hotel.

[15] Media reports echoed Presley's concerns about his career, but RCA producer Steve Sholes and Freddy Bienstock of Hill and Range had carefully prepared for his two-year hiatus.

[16] Between his induction and discharge, Presley had ten top 40 hits, including "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck", the best-selling "Hard Headed Woman", and "One Night" in 1958, and "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I" and the number one "A Big Hunk o' Love" in 1959.

[17] RCA also managed to generate four albums compiling old material during this period, most successfully Elvis' Golden Records (1958), which hit number three on the LP chart.

[citation needed] Introduced to amphetamines by a sergeant while on maneuvers, he became "practically evangelical about their benefits"—not only for energy, but for "strength" and weight loss, as well—and many of his friends in the outfit joined him in indulging.

[19] In early 1959, after a combination of a few complaints from other guests about the behavior of Presley fans wanting to see him at the Grunewald Hotel and the arrival of King Saud of Saudi Arabia, whose rather large entourage demanded the closing of the entire facility so that they could be well taken care of, particularly as his stay there was for medical reasons, Elvis and the group left the hotel and moved to a five-bedroom house nearby, at No.

[21] On March 2, with Priscilla in attendance, Presley waved goodbye to the fans and media of West Germany and flew home to the U.S. On the way, his plane stopped at Prestwick Airport in Scotland to refuel; this was the one and only time that Presley would set foot in the United Kingdom (although being that he never left the airport he was never legally in the country.)

On March 3, Presley's plane arrived at McGuire Air Force Base near Fort Dix, New Jersey, at 7:42 am.

[23] Close friends of Presley have stated that Bill received a "handsome payoff" for his signature on the divorce papers.

Although Presley never liked Dee, he became very close to her young children and welcomed them to his home as the brothers he never had; in later years they were employed as bodyguards and drivers.