Rubuta ci gaba ga wannan sakin layi - Talley ya fara shiga soja a matsayin jami'in ajiya a cikin Rundunar Sojojin Amurka Coast Artillery Corps a tsakiyar shekarun 1920. Ya shiga rundunar sojojin Amurka a watan Yunin 1926. A matsayin mataimakin mataimakin, Talley ya kasance tare da 2nd Engineer Battalion a Texas da Colorado kafin ya halarci Makarantar Injiniya a Virginia. Daga nan ya shiga cikin binciken Canal na Nicaragua kuma ya taimaka a bayan girgizar kasa ta Nicaragua a 1931
Ka yi haƙuri. An ba Talley aikin kashe gobarar da ta biyo bayan girgizar kasa da ta afkawa Managua. Lokacin da Talley ya koma Amurka, ya yi aiki don yin taswira bisa ga hotunan iska na tsawon shekaru tara, yana wallafa littafin "Photogrammetry". Ya kuma kirkiro 'yanayin stereocomparagraph' kuma ya koyar a Jami'ar Harvard. Ya kasance babban jami'in injiniyan gundumar da ke Portland, Oregon.