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…………………………In February of 1970, at the age of 22, I went into the army…….The Vietnam War was raging, and the draft was pulling young men into service by the thousands each year. My Draft number was very low. I was one of the lucky ones and was accepted into the National Guard. At that time the National Guard was not being sent over seas, but a few years later that changed and National Guardsmen were sent to Vietnam too. This was an experience I will never forget! I had to first go to the airport in New Orleans. I remember my dad brining me to LaGuardia Airport very early in the morning. There wasn’t anyone there except for the few people on this early flight. There were some other young guys who were there too. I assumed they were in the army too……When we arrived in New Orleans we transferred to a much smaller plane to our final destination….It was called “Tree Top Airlines”. At this point guys from all over the country congregated at the gate. I realized they were all young recruits like me going to the same place…….FORT POLK. LOUISIANA!….I soon understood how this airline got its’ name. It flew just above the pine tree forests. I noticed when I looked out the window I could see sunlight reflecting off the ground between the trees which I thought was strange. I later found out it was water from the swamps……After a short flight we landed at an airstrip….There was nothing else there except a single tower….so we got out of the plane and we all sat under beautiful pine trees and waited…..We started talking to one another and I found out where many of the guys were from…..I quickly realized who was friendly, and who was going to be trouble!……Finally a bus pulled up and a Drill Sergeant got out…..and it began….the SHOUTING and the YELLING……As you probably have seen in movies we were told what to do when and how….When we reached the base we got on lines to see doctors first….in the front door and out the back….then we waited and got in line and we were brought for haircuts….if you could call them that…..Basically they shaved our heads……in the front door and out the back…..Then we were marched over to get our new army clothes, underwear, socks, boots, dress shoes etc. which all got packed into a duffle bag. It eventually had your name and serial number on it…An assembly line of which I’d never seen!……When all was done we were marched over to a mess hall and ate….then to a barracks where we were left alone for about an hour. Then en mass we were marched over to an enormous hole which was being dug for a man made lake…..It was huge and about five to six feet deep. Every new batch of recruits every day was brought to this hole in the ground, handed shovels and told to get in and dig!. This was to keep us busy and out of trouble!…The bottom already had some water in it and was just mud….At one point a group of guys down the line started yelling and screaming and jumped out of the hole….I realized what they were yelling was SNAKES!!!!! They had uncovered a nest of snakes, and everyone jumped out. There were four or five very poisonous snakes in the area, and there were large billboards with pictures on them of the snakes with big red exes across them so you would learn to recognize them!….. I HAVE ALWAYS HATED SNAKES!!!! Now I knew how Fort Polk got its’ nickname…..forgive my crudeness, but I didn’t give it the name of “ASSHOLE of the SOUTH”!……Fort Polk is one of the oldest army bases ever built……After our stint digging a lake we were marched back to the barrack, and on to the mess hall for dinner. Then always as a group, marched back to the barrack where we slept on bunks with only an old stained mattress….It wasn’t the RITZ! The next day there were FOUR DRILL SERGEANTS waiting for us! Each called out names, and we had to line up behind whoever called us out….They would be our Drill Sergeants for the duration of basic training…..Then we marched to our companies, and were assigned to one of the four barracks. I remember everyone scrambling to get a bunk. I was on the second floor towards the back, which ended up being one of the best places to be….away from everything, and especially the latrine! I was near an upper level exit door where we would smoke after lights out!….We were instructed on how to make our beds so tight that a nickel could bounce off of it, and how to set up our standing locker, and foot locker. The Drill Sergeant [DS] inspected everything EVERY DAY! If it wasn’t correct he would scream at you, and dump everything on the floor or tear the bed apart, and you would have to redo it until it was done right. This was to teach us discipline….Some guys just couldn’t get it right and were really abused……I leaned very quickly, and didn’t have any problems. The point was once you were on the battle field you had to be part of a team, and follow instructions to the letter. If you couldn’t hang your clothes up correctly or keep your foot locker in the way the army wanted it, or you couldn’t make your bed with the proper hospital corners how could you follow instructions on the field of battle [I still make hospital corners]….In the morning when the DS woke us up we had less than 5 minutes to get dressed, before another whistle would blow and we would have to get into formation outside…Don’t be late or you got screamed at….three inches from your face! Once we were in formation we had to strip to the waist no matter what the weather, and Feb. in Louisiana was cold and rainy the likes of which I had never seen!…..We would have to run for a few miles chanting these songs….just like you see in the movies. If you lagged behind you got screamed at and humiliated……If you were fat you really got screamed at! I lost 20 lbs in basic training….I went on two day bivouacs where I had to set up a tent with a buddy and sleep inside in sleeping bags. We ate food out of cans, and went to the bathroom in the woods with a shovel that was part of our equipment, and a roll of toilet paper. If you ran out of toilet paper you used leaves like they did in Vietnam!!!! Me of all people!!! We did all kinds of exercises out in the woods….all kinds of military training for Vietnam….most of which I have blocked from my memory….I hated everything except the rifle range. We shot the M-16 rifle…..The official weapon that the soldiers were using in Vietnam. I was pretty good….I was even given a rifle badge! At the rifle range there was a line of twelve or more man made “Fox Holes”, and we had to line up behind them in rows. They had wooden round covers which we removed. At  the bottom were round wooden grids to stand on incase the holes got muddy. On one occasion one soldier jumped into the hole without looking. He started screaming. There was a snake in it and he got bitten. He was taken to the hospital. The Drill Sergeant shot the snake with his pistol and the next soldier had to get into the hole with the dead snake…..I was glad I wasn’t on that line!!!! Every day was the same….early up…get in formation….strip to the waist….and run. Everyday the run got longer and the songs got longer. Then back in formation and the whistle would blow for you to go into the barracks make your beds clean up….do what ever you had to do, and wait for the whistle to blow for chow…..We got back in formation then we were marched over to the dreaded “MONKEY BARS”!!! which you had to do before you could eat….I could only make it half way before I would fall off! I heard my name screamed out with a southern accent from my DS. At one point the palms of my hands were all torn up…..Eventually I did it! You had to to survive. This is where I learned to eat scrambled eggs! I hated eggs before I went into the army and never ate them. Every morning I would eat either pancakes or waffles with butter and syrup, but I got sick and tired of it, and decided to give the eggs a try. I always asked for the well done part, but most of it was well done anyway…..Switching my diet to eggs, and with all of the exercise I eventually lost the 20 lbs…..About five weeks into basic training we were scheduled to go on a seven day bivouac, and on a “force march”…..which meant I would be carrying ALL of my equipment on my back [you’ve seen it in the movies], and most of the march for miles would be double timing it. Double timing was almost a full out run!…..We were warned by our DS that NO ONE HAD BETTER GO ON SICK CALL THAT MORNING OR THERE WOULD BE CONSEQUENCES!!!!!…….We started the morning in the usual way with a five mile run before chow…half naked…….When we returned from the run and back in formation the DS blew the whistle for us to go back into the barracks, but I couldn’t move. My hip was in excruciating pain!!!! My buddies saw tears running down my face and asked what the matter was??? I told them I was in pain, and I couldn’t walk…..something was the matter with my legs. They literally lifted me and got me back into the barrack. They helped me up the stairs. They saw the pain I was in and told me I had to go on sick call…..I said NO WAY!….I had been praying that something would happen to me….nothing too bad…nothing permanent, but just something that would get me out of this! WERE MY PRAYERS ANSWERED??????……………………………to be continued!