 Okay, move out. He's been on TV. I guess I thought I'd trained for a push-button war. If somebody had told me a few months ago that army training was like this, I'd never have believed it. Here I am in advanced infantry training, in a bunker made of sandbags and wood. But this is how they're fighting in Vietnam, and I guess I better learn it from my own good. According to the training schedule, we're supposed to be attacked today. I'm going to have to clean this rifle if I only shoot one round, so I might as well have a real good time and shoot up a storm. Hard to believe it wasn't very long ago that I was just coming into the army. I'll never forget that day. The army band did its best to make us feel at home, but not many of us were really listening. We sure were a motley-looking crew. They took us up in front of a place that said, Welcome to the United States Army! And a man with about a million stripes on his arm gave us a speech. One of the things he said was that now that we were in the army, a bathroom would be called a latrine, and there was one behind us if we needed it. Then we were off to meet the old equalizer. And if you don't know what the old equalizer is, you're about to find out. It's the army haircut. They call it the old equalizer because they cut everybody's hair the same way. Off. It's not the kind of haircut you got back home. They just put those clippers to your head and let them go. And there's not much left when they're through. After that, we were off to the races, starting a clothing issue. They filled our duffel bags with underwear, socks, and other goodies. It was off to be fitted for shoes and combat boots. You know when you were a kid, you used to yell, Ah, your mother wears combat boots. Well, now you did. And they kept right on building from the ground up. We wouldn't get much chance to wear our fancy green uniforms as long as we were in basic training. But they look pretty good. I am in men's hats. It took this guy two tries to find a hat big enough for him. The fatigue bands were definitely a little baggy. But I learned later they liked to give you a little extra to give sand room to roll around in. Then, properly uniformed, we were let off to be tested in around 20 different subjects, ranging from mechanics to machine guns. We were interviewed to find out what we wanted to do in the Army. I laughed and said, I'd like to go home. He didn't even think that was funny. I got so many shots, I felt like a human pincushion. But those new shotguns made it almost painless. Well, the Army learned everything there was to know about us, and all that information seemed to boil down to just this. Dog tags. Then finally we were on our way, getting onto the trucks that would take us to our basic training companies. We got a good close-up of our drill sergeants, and one thing was for sure, they didn't smile much. They jammed us onto those trucks, and off we went. Our home away from home for the next eight weeks. They piled us off the trucks even faster than they put us on. Then we were lined up and seated to hear a speech from our company commander. Good afternoon, men. Welcome to E Company, 7th Battalion, 2nd Training Brigade. I am Captain Mouth, your company commander. And during the next 100 minutes, the first sergeant, the flying sergeant, the mess sergeant, and myself will give you some idea of what to expect during your next eight weeks of training here. Once the preliminaries were disposed of, we were broken down into platoons and assigned drill sergeants. I was in the 4th platoon, and our drill sergeant was Sergeant Kelly, who took us into our barracks, assigned us bunks, then began teaching us some of the things we'd be responsible for every day. Like how to make our bunks properly. Sergeant Kelly's demonstration showed us what a bunk looked like made right, without wrinkles. I tried for eight weeks to match it, and never made it. Sergeant Kelly showed us how our wall lockers would be arranged. There was no room for argument. Everybody's will be set up the same way. It was the same with our foot lockers. Your comb, toothbrush, and razor all have to be in a straight line. We also learned how to handle a broom. And suddenly we were into it. I almost put my eye out the first couple of times I tried to salute. The money was a snap compared to PT. It stands for physical training if you hadn't guessed. I wasn't exactly the athletic type when I was in school, and the only exercise I'd had in the last couple of years was running to catch a bus to work. We slapped each other around to get warmed up for the hard stuff. Suddenly I had to use muscles I didn't even know existed. Man, I was hurt. So finally, they took pity on me. And I got a day of rest. I walked K.P. There's the scientific way I cut the eye out of that spot. And I thought everybody ate frozen foods these days. Later on in that first week of training we were issued our M-14 rifles. And right away training began with them. We learned how to take them apart. Taking notes to make sure we didn't forget what we learned. And with a little help how to put them back together again. One thing about Sergeant Kelly and for that matter all the drill sergeants, whether they were giving us orders or helping us out, they were always around. If you have to go through basic training it's pretty nice to have somebody around who knows what he's doing. Then it was more drill and ceremony this time with our rifles. We looked pretty sloppy at first but after a while some of us started to get the hang of it. When that happened you start to wonder why they keep going over and over the same things. You've just got to remember that in the Army you do everything as a unit. And some guys aren't as smart as you are. Like old Stan here but I needed a little straightening out myself. That's a rifle bolt you're looking through. It was open for inspection arms. One of the movements you've got to know in the manual of arms. The class and guard mount was a ceremony in itself. Everyone was assigned a specific function. From the officer of the day played by Sergeant Kelly to the sentry played by one of us lowly privates. You have to be inspected before they'll even let you walk guard duty. I suppose it is an honor to pull guard duty but sometimes it gets a little cold at 4 a.m. We studied our general orders then one night we were out there walking guard. Early in the morning early in the morning Friday night we were in the barracks getting ready for our first Saturday morning inspection shining our boots and shooting the breeze. I forget what I said but it sure must have been funny. Inspection was just what they said it would be. They went over us with a fine tooth comb the drill sergeants the company officers everybody. As usual Stan came in for more attention to test winter. This time he didn't know his general orders which got him into trouble right away and he still couldn't do order arms this led to an even closer inspection and naturally his bayonet was dirty. At the end of the inspection there was a small ceremony officially promoting those of us who had been acting as squad leaders till now. Later that evening Sergeant Kelly took us aside one by one and explained what he expected of us as squad leaders. He told me if I couldn't do the job he'd have me relieved of my duties and I'd have a long way to go to get back up. I thought about it and I figured it was worthwhile to stay straight. Monday we were off to the hand to hand combat arena. Hand to hand training was supposed to teach us the principles of self defense in case we ran out of bullets while we're caught in combat without our weapon kicking, jabbing and kicking again. Sometimes it got a little rough in the pits. He just grazed me but I felt it. So I got him back. Bayonet training was next. The drill sergeants demonstrated the movements for us. Then we learned how to do them ourselves. Then it was back to the hand to hand pits to put the two together. I suppose it's possible to take a bayonet away from somebody with your bare hands but I hope I never have to try it. With all that training behind us we started to get some order to it. This is the bayonet assault course. A series of obstacles run at full speed with fixed bayonets. Vaulting log walls, sticking hard rubber targets, growling viciously all the time. Then we were down on our bellies crawling under barbed wire to get at more targets. I kept my bayonet safely out in front of me. They tell you the spirit of the bayonet is to kill. And after a while you start to believe it. Actually the bayonet assault course was kind of fun. A variation of the old game of cowboys and Indians. Without the Indians. If any of this caused broken bones in training or on the battlefield we learned how to take care of that too. Of course in battle you wouldn't have those nice straight boards to use as a splint. You'd use your rifle or a couple of sticks. We also learned how to get the victim breathing again. Using mouth to mouth resuscitation, and the old chest pressure arm lift method. Sergeant Kelly made sure I got it right. I got him breathing. If there was nothing else we could do for the victim we learned how to carry him back to more professional care. That is if we could get him off the ground. After a couple of weeks of all training and no play, we were getting a little tired. So one Saturday afternoon we got a touch football game together and things livened up for a while. But we never got away from training for very long. Here we are in the rifle ranges to learn that the M-14 is more than just a convenient place to attach a bayonet. We spent the first few days on the ranges learning how to sight and shoot properly. That's not a good shot group. From there we moved to the field firing ranges. Where targets top up from 65 to 275 meters. The targets are electrically controlled and when the bullet hits them they go down. And when the bullet hits them they go down. It's a lot more fun than shooting at a rusty tin can. Finally, after almost two weeks on the practice ranges we were getting ready for the big one record range where we would shoot for a final score with the rifle. We spent a lot of time getting our weapons in shape. Then we were there record range. They tightened the gas cylinder lock screws on our weapons to prevent misfire. Then we blackened our sights front and rear and our eyes keep out the glare. Out on the range I stayed cool like the targets came up and I knocked them down. Record range wasn't the same as the other ranges. The targets came up in front of trees behind hills and bushes the target detection must have helped because I found those targets and I hit them two at a time even. And when it was over I'd shot expert. Believe me it felt pretty good to knock off more targets than almost anybody else. In fact everybody who shot expert got a weekend pass. Back from the ranges there was a lot more training still to go. This is not a free-for-all. Believe it or not it's a part of bayonet training called Pugelstick. After all those weeks of training walking is the greatest way in the world to swing your aggressions away you're too well padded to get hurt but you sure can get batted around when two guys are working on you. Things picked up even more at the grenade range I hustled out into the bay they gave me a grenade and I held on tight I pulled the pin with a little strain cocked my arm threw it and look out I needed a little relaxation. So that night I went into the day room and talked a couple of my buddies into a game of pool but that didn't last long either. Next day there we were at it again you know in basic training you've got something new every day and this was a gas in living color. This was mass practice for CBR or gas training. It looked funny but at least I could breathe. From there we were herded into an innocent looking little building which just happened to be full of tear gas and then we had to take our masks off we had to give our name, rank and service number before they let us out crying like babies oh man that smart I figured things couldn't get any tougher after that but it didn't take me long to find out how wrong I'd been. This is the March to Bivouac Bivouac is the army version of Boy Scout Camp only it's a little different in the first place you have to march about 10 miles in full field gear to the Bivouac area in the second place there aren't any Girl Scout camps nearby the first thing we did at the Bivouac area was set up our tents as usual Sergeant Kelly was nearby to help out then as soon as we had our tents squared away and dug our drainage ditches to keep out the rain we were off again for training Bivouac style the toughest thing about Bivouac is crawling through soft sandy dirt on your back under barbed wire with your steel helmet shoveling sand down the back of your neck but just because you're all dirty and living out in the woods intense doesn't mean you can stop doing things like shaving or just keeping clean you have to learn to do it under trying circumstances shaving with a mirror that looks like it belongs in your sister's purse and with icy water swishing in your steel helmet there's just one thing you have to watch out for when you're shaving Bivouac style your drill sergeant man that guy really gets around another phase of Bivouac training was the assault force which is part of individual tactical training which in turn is what Bivouac is all about it's the real nitty-gritty of foot soldiering while you and your half of the squad are up running the other half is down covering your assault and vice versa here's half the squad coming in for a landing they're covering for this guy coming up now everybody takes out his grenade tosses it at a bunker and gets down and fires off a few more rounds then you get up and start moving blasting away an imaginary enemy we ate in the field every day during Bivouac we didn't eat food though we ate chow in the army that's all you ever eat you've got to call everything by its proper name this guy is probably complaining about the food but believe me he doesn't mean it heck everybody in basic training complains about something but after a hard morning of training that chow tastes real good after chow every man had to wash and sterilize his tray for the next meal then we were off again we were out on Bivouac two more days training all day long learning new things we'd already learned this is a close combat course it's probably the most dangerous training area in all of basic because you're firing live ammunition walking down there and your buddies are on either side of you doing the same thing so you've got to be careful to keep shooting straight ahead in fact finally came to an end but we didn't have time to celebrate because our final PT test was scheduled for the next morning it was time we'd be doing PT for a while and believe me we were up for it dangling like monkeys from the horizontal ladder or crawling like alligators we raced against the timer's watch tossing grenades at a yellow helmet that just dared us to hit it and we never did through the run, dodge and jump course and the fatigue and combat boots and me and shorts and sneakers and I thought I was going to die when it was over but suddenly we were into the last big event of basic, the G3 proficiency course where we were tested on everything we had learned away from the rifle ranges and the PT fields remember drill and ceremony boy you'd better you'll be graded on it just like we were and that NCO looks for the smallest mistake first aid testing included what to do in case of nuclear attack what you do is jump into a hole and pull it in after you and we had to know how to wash chemical agents off our skin this is a five step method and you've got to have each step right or it's all wrong two days before graduation we were given the chance to test our new skills informally on something called the confidence course stepping over logs gently fellas so you might hurt yourself swinging over logs which is real hard to do gently up a log ladder 30 feet high skinning up ropes then jumping over more logs personally I still had a lot more confidence with both feet on the ground then we were the penance flying and strangely enough civilians after eight weeks of basic training you classify everyone who isn't in uniform as a civilian it's hard out then the commanding general on the brigade commander got into the reviewing chief and drove around to pick up our battalion commander to troop the line that means review the troops pretty good I wasn't real fond of the grind of basic training but I'd been through it and I'd made it I'd worked at it because I discovered early that that was by far the easiest way to keep the grief to a minimum of course you'll have to find that out to yourselves and I know some of you are bound to try it the hard way but if everybody had played it smart then we all would have graduated at the same time some guys who thought they knew it all are still taking basic but now that was all over and we were getting out at least out of basic training the band let us buy the stands pass the reviewing officers and beaming relatives a lot of the guys' families came down to see them in our battalion there were guys from 37 different states from Maine to Texas and a state flag from each one marched ahead of us leading us out of the parade field out to meet our waiting relatives and friends that's not my sister fellas yes sir little Betty Lu the girl next door came down to see me out of basic training boy after 8 weeks it sure was good to see her again well Betty's back home now and I'm in advanced infantry training defending a mocked Vietnamese village against an attack from other trainees dressed up in vietnam uniforms before long I'll be playing this game for real I've learned to think like a soldier it'll probably keep me alive right now there probably isn't anyone who can convince you that you'll ever look back on basic training with gratitude but you will I didn't believe it either but I know I couldn't do what I'm doing now if I hadn't been through it if you have to fight basic training will help you to stay alive so remember fellas it's up to you