YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Retired Marine Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden told elementary students Friday that he wasn’t exactly looking toward the stars — either on his shoulders or in space — when he was their age.

The Columbia, S.C., native wanted to be a garbage man, he told a laughing assembly of students at Yokota West Elementary School.

But through “hard work and lots of studying,” he found himself a Naval Academy plebe, Marine pilot, NASA astronaut and, before retirement, deputy commander of U.S. Forces Japan.

“I’ll tell you the things I did not want to do,” Bolden said of his childhood. “I did not want to fly airplanes or go to space … because I didn’t think I could.”

Bolden told the children they can become anything they want — from astronaut to actor, athlete to doctor, if they follow his advice.

“You have to study hard, you have to work hard and you cannot be afraid of taking risks,” he said.

“Don’t wait until high school” before deciding to be serious about school, Bolden warned. He told them the basic math, science and reading they’re studying now are fundamental.

Bolden stressed that not everyone has to be great at everything — but that “you need to do the best that you can do.”

He also told the kids to take risks — but smart and measured risks.

Some of the students are hearing about “drugs, sex, alcohol and other very, very, very risky things,” he said. He warned them to listen to their teachers and parents and to avoid the risky behavior.

Bolden wowed his audiences — the children visited in three different age groups for 30-minute assemblies — with slides of personal snapshots from some of his 608 hours of space-shuttle missions.

When asked what being in space was like, Bolden answered, “awesome … absolutely unbelievable.” He described the odd feeling of weightlessness, how tough it was to eat when the scrambled eggs were floating above the tray and how he tied his “sleeping bag” on one end so it would float as he slept. He said that while traveling at 17,500 mph he would see the sun rise and set every 90 minutes. He also was able to watch the moons of Jupiter race around the planet.

Bolden teared up when telling a student the one thing he wishes he could change in his life was preventing the Challenger disaster, when NASA “lost seven tremendous folks.” The space shuttle exploded shortly after liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986, killing everyone aboard.

Bolden, an independent consultant working from Houston, told the children they are the future.

“What I hope is that one of you will travel to … Mars,” he said.

Ten-year-olds Keri Lawrence, Misa Brophy and Bailey Ulrich — working on a school Space Day project — spent about 10 minutes with Bolden after the assemblies, discussing life in space.

“It was really exciting because I’ve never met an astronaut before and I was able to get all the information for our report,” Lawrence said.

Her teacher, Malcolm Downing, was glad Bolden came to speak.

“I’m tremendously impressed with the way he interacts with the kids,” said Downing, the gifted-and-talented-program teacher at the school. “He talks to the kids and shares his life experiences. He has a good message to pass.”

Bolden, who was stationed at Yokota from 1998 to 2000, was invited back by the base’s Martin Luther King Jr. Observance Committee. During his stay, to last through late in the week, he’ll also meet with various base organizations and speak to Yokota High School students.

He said he enjoys meeting and talking to children.

“I learn so much and get to share with them a segment of my life experiences to let them know normal people do … extraordinary things.

“They can ask you questions that you don’t know the answer to and you can get to know what drives them, what motivates them,” he said.