It was raining like hell on the morning that I got on the bus to go downtown to the induction center. It was also raining in my parents house, my wife wasn't
real happy about my enlistment even though I got off with only
having to serve a two year hitch. Not happy at all. So off I went on a new adventure. I spent the best part of the day filling out and signing papers and documents, and then we were sworn into the U.S. Army, and from that moment on we were owned by Uncle Sam. We were loaded onto a bus and taken to Fort Dix N.J. It was around 5:00pm when we started out, and maby 10:00pm when we arrived at the U.S. Army reception center at Dix. We spent the rest of the night with more paperwork, and then we were hearded into the mess hall for some chow. Let me tell you, it aint Mom's home cookin. After that, we drew bedding and were assigned barracks. Spent the next few days being tested, getting uniforms, boots, and let us not forget that first military haircut, a thing of beauty. Then off to the training co. we went. It was the worst 8 weeks of my life. Those drill seargents brought not only smoke on our butts, but Blue smoke. It was an experience that I for one, will not forget soon. I found out later that General Westmorland had gotten all over Fort Dix about their training procedures not being tough enough. No wonder those drill seargents had blood in their eyes, and no sense of humor .
We all managed somehow to survive the wrath of the drill seargents, except for a few who got recycled, (a horror I didn't want to experiance) and graduated from basic training. I was one of the lucky ones, I was assigned to Fort Sill Oklahoma for artillery training. I had heard horror stories about Fort Polk Infintry training, and was in no hurry to go there and rot in the swamps for 8 weeks like I had been told. I figured that I could do without that experiance also. What a party we had that night. I don't remember a lot of it, lots of booze tends to do that to me. Anyway, the next day we were put on a plane and sent to Fort Sill Oklahoma.
Get your own Free Home Page