21 Years ago today...

[Robert A Whit]

Love it!

That reads like it is in a book. Very well formulated.

My experiences don't come to me with the detail of yours.

Basic training in my era did not have ropes to climb on nor mud pits to crawl in.

We did have a muddy area under machine gun fire and we were told to not try to stand up.
I recall the pop pop pop of the bullets as they flew over me. I can see that Fort Ord was not like Ft. Sill. I was the group leader on the train to Ft. Benning and the train came into El Paso and it was day. I recall the desert like mountains there and nothing I saw from the train beckoned me to ever return. LOL

We had the cattle trucks but they were trucks with a long bed and solid wood rails. I guess so nobody could escape. LOL.

Very few times was I ever in the cattle truck since most of the time we marched.

I enjoy this well written piece. Thanks for telling me about it.

I plain did not sign up and as a draftee my wish was to be let go back home.

But the Army had other ideas. I am still not certain why but the company commander assigned me to be a platoon sgt and I had the black armband with 3 stripes on it. The CO told me and the other 4 platoon Sgts we would not have the bad duties, such as KP or Guard duty. It was perhaps it infantry AIT that I got assigned to the job one time only as Sgt of the guard and though I did not guard a post, I had the duty to get the guys out to the posts.

KP, did not ever do it. In Germany I also was exempt from all such things.

[Robert A Whit]

Oh - you CAN do it. Everyone can. Everyone can be "Soldier" Material. Just sucks to see them pussify things.

At Fort Jackson Drills were forbidden to Curse. Yeah...really

I never saw any non com hit any soldier and this was 62-64. I did see on the ranges a dumb ass regular army guy that I think was either E-5 or 6 park his ass on top of a soldier that he wanted to crouch lower on the range where he was firing his M-1 Garand. I fired the M-1, the Carbine, the .45 cal 1911 pistol, the M-60 machine gun and the M-14 at Ft. Ord. In Germany I was assigned but never shot, a new M-14. Apparently the unit had only recently got them and got rid of the M-1 Garand. I fired the flame thrower and tossed grenades at Ft. Ord. In Germany though never trained, I fired the 3.5 rocket launcher at moving targets to satisfy some General.

Also at Ft Ord, we had some very late night training events. At the Army leadership school at the Presidio at Monterey, We had an all day, all night, all day training exercise.

Generally though, the training started very early and lasted till say 5 pm. We usually ate breakfast at the mess hall and lunch in training where the cooks prepared hot meals. Dinner back at the mess hall.

It seems to me that the physical part of the training was pretty rough but for the most part I had little problems. I had problems over about 4 days but this was due to my getting bronchitis in Basic and put in the hospital for 10 days. I was weak the day of my release and i showed up at the unit for training so that a Friday was my first full duty day and I had to run through deep sand once again. That time damned near killed me. Some of my guys half assed tried to help me manage. I was the platoon Sgt so caught no guff. The weekend was hell. My legs hurt so much I dreaded Monday. I however ran Monday and managed. A few more days and i was back to normal.

These guys if they follow those rules as DMP says are pussified.

I have a decent memory but hell, 1962 was a half century ago.

[Robert A Whit]

My first experience on a helicopter was to get on and fly into a hot LZ. There wasn't any training for that in basic. And your dead on with what all you have said. Basic needs to be rough because combat is a whole lot rougher.

In basic we double timed everywhere. Whether it was 100 yards or five miles. And always in full combat gear, about 40 pounds of weight. We carried M14's. If you screwed up you would have DI in your face with choice names for you like stupid motherfucker, dickweed, fuckin numbnuts and other colorful names and phrases. After which you would hear drop and give me 50. Push ups in full combat gear is not easy.

While we were not ordered to double time all the time, the deep sand made it hard to march. In AIT this drill Sgt with legs like a giraffe told us to march at ease. That meant we ran. We could not stay up with his walking so we ran.

I did not ever board any helicopter. I happen to be a pilot so I have flown a lot. And have flown a lot on various airplanes. Other than commercial, the Air Force flew me to and from Germany on one of their 4 prop MATS planes with the passengers facing the tail. The only time I flew backwards facing was on those MATS planes. I flew as a passenger in DC-3s to and from Berlin. I took one commercial flight from Berlin to Frankfurt on some German airline company. I flew out of NY City to Boston upon release from the Army on the 4 prop Constellation airplane and it sounded to me like the rivets were popping out. I was worried about that one airplane.

At Schweinfurt Army airfield base, I got a ride in the L-4 and the guy from my unit flew me to Wurzburg Germany and flew very low. I asked him why he flew so low and he informed me he hated flying and planned to never fly as a pilot after he got out. What a way to boost passenger confidence, huh?

The only airplanes I saw used during training was at Ft. Benning for the guys jumping from airplanes from 1200 feet.

[darin]

Edited title to reflect current time-since

[Abbey Marie]

Well done, Darin!

And btw, your career can drink now.

[aboutime]

Make that TWENTY years ago. Had I stayed in from my initial enlistment, I would have retired Saturday, 5 May 2012.

In the twenty years since-passed I feel i've lived several lives. To think about who I was at age 19, and to bring my thoughts to the various high points in my life, i dunno...Maybe I'm too young to feel nostalgic about my life, but that's where I am. Do I feel accomplished? No. No I feel I've achieved a level of success? Not really. But, each day I get up is a blessing; the steps I took back two decades ago changed my life forever.

Time sure flies, huh dmp?

Next week, on the 15th of this month, in 1964. I stepped off my first passenger jet ride in Chicago, and started Navy Boot Camp at GREAT LAKES RECRUIT TRAINING CENTER.
I still have the receipt for the civilian clothes I sent home to Pennsylvania.
Some things are Never forgotten. Even 49 years later.
I retired in September, 1995.

[CSM]

Time sure flies, huh dmp?

Next week, on the 15th of this month, in 1964. I stepped off my first passenger jet ride in Chicago, and started Navy Boot Camp at GREAT LAKES RECRUIT TRAINING CENTER.
I still have the receipt for the civilian clothes I sent home to Pennsylvania.
Some things are Never forgotten. Even 49 years later.
I retired in September, 1995.

Man, are you OLD or what?

[aboutime]

Man, are you OLD or what?

Yep. Was accused of being MOSES special effects man when he parted the Red Sea, and Older than dirt.

But with all of that, having a great time every time I wake up, and I'm not dead.