Basic Training

I didn’t have too much trouble in basic training. My one year of Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at the University of Nebraska helped me with the marching drills and that also got me named squad leader. Our platoon was having trouble keeping in step so our cadre began looking for answers. My records probably showed I had played in high school and college marching bands in the percussion section so they dug up a snare drum and put me to work improving our cadence. It didn’t work. We put the drum away but by the end of the 16 weeks we fared reasonably well on the parade grounds.

Injustice raised its ugly head during close order drill one afternoon. We were given a break. It was a typical army routine, “Take ten, expect five, and get two!” We had a lieutenant of Chinese decent who was prone to showing his authority, whether it was necessary or not. He apparently thought I posed a problem to him and took the opportunity that afternoon to dress me down. To this day I do not know what I did wrong but fortunately that officer was transferred to another unit and I didn’t have to deal with him any longer.

Rumors are common fare in any army unit and ours was no exception. A member of our platoon regularly failed to show up at our first assignment of the day, class room, field maneuvers, et cetera.

We found out later he went on sick call, the first few times with permission, but after that on his own. His gold-bricking finally caught up with him. We were sent to the field one morning and he was absent as usual. The orders had failed to instruct us to bring our steel helmets. All we had were our helmet liners (the normal covering except in combat situations). A truck was dispatched to bring the missing items to us. Lo and behold, this fellow’s helmet liner was still by his bunk. These pieces of equipment had our names stenciled on them so there was no doubt this guy wasn’t where he was supposed to be.

He had been showing up at sick call every day and then taking off wherever he pleased. The rumor was that he was CID (Criminal Investigation Division) and that he was testing the cadre on keeping track of their troops. At any rate, we never saw him again.