Basic Training
Jackson is a small town in northern California, the town where I grew up. The population was approximately 1,200 people in the 1960's. Our high school had about 50 students per class for a total of 200 kids. Jackson was a town where kids could play in the streets and parents didn't have to worry about them. Crime was very low and if you got into any trouble, parents would know about it before you could even get home. The majority of students that attended Jackson schools walked to and from. There were buses that drove up Butte Mountain Road, Clinton Road, Highway 88 and Jackson Gate to name a few of the roads. Jackson had two drive-in restaurants, Mel & Faye's and Galli's. Kids could get hamburgers, French fries, milk shakes and sodas for a fair price. Downtown, the main hang out for kids was Sammie's Cafe. After any home high school games, kids would gather at Sammie's to eat some food and socialize. During summer, the kids would go to dances held in Sutter Creek or Ione. Usually after the dances, kids would gather at Sammie's before they returned home for the night. Jackson had a movie theater in town, but high school kids would rather take their dates to Sacramento or Stockton to a drive-in theater. You could be in Sammie's restaurant on the weekend and if you were lucky, one of the guys would cruise main street in their hot rod cars with the headers unhooked and when they were in front of Sammie's they would rev up the engine and the plate glass window would actually start shaking. It was not too unusual to be leaving Sammie's and a car full of kids would drive by and someone would "moon" you from inside the car. Jackson had a roller skating rink at Sutter Hill. A lot of the kids would spend hours skating with their friends. The 60's were a good time to grow up in Jackson.
On May 2, 1967, Jackson High School had lost an alumnus by the name of Doug Partridge to the Vietnam War. The whole High School attended his funeral. Doug was a senior and I was a freshman when I got to know Doug in 1964. The school football program paired a freshman with a senior football mentor and I ended up with Doug. Doug was a great guy and taught me how to wear my football gear, take care of it and about sportsmanship. After Doug graduated high school he joined the US Marines. I will never forget Doug.
The year was 1968, and I graduated High School in June. Amador County lost another good man to the Vietnam war in February by the name of Ricky Randolph. He went to Amador High School and was loved by all. For a small County, we had our share of deaths in a war that everyone said we had no business of being in.
My mom was a single parent as my father was killed in a logging accident in 1957. I grew up with 3 sisters and no brothers. In the 1950's, prostitution was legal in Jackson. In 1956 they closed the houses where the prostitutes serviced their clients, and rented out these houses to families to live in. Since the rent was cheap, we lived and I grew up in one of the former houses of ill repute.
During my senior year of high school, I had the job of delivering the Amador Ledger, the local Amador County news paper on Thursdays, to the businesses on Main Street for the owner of the news paper Babe Garbarini. About a month before I was to graduate, I walked into the Swiss Model Bakery to deliver their paper. Swiss Model Bakery was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Bean. Their son Charlie was a classmate of mine. On this particular day, Mrs. Bean asked, "Bill, after graduation what are you going to do, go to College?" I answered, "I'm not sure if I am going to college. College is pretty expensive, so I might stay here in Jackson and work." Mrs. Bean said, "Oh Bill, you don't want to do that, with the war in Vietnam going on, you will be drafted into the Army and you don't want to do that." She went on to say, "You know Charlie and a bunch of guys are renting a duplex near Sacramento City College and if you want to go too, Mr. Bean and I will pay your part of the rent and pay for your books." I had to take a moment; I had never been offered anything like this before. I thought, what a great gesture, but I was too proud to take them up on it. I thought if I go to Sacramento City College, I would pay for it by myself. I said, "Thank you guys for the generous offer, but I am not sure what I will do after graduation, again thank you guys so very much."
After High School, I tried college at Sacramento City College, but quit before the 1st semester was over. I ended up living with Charlie Bean and the other high school friends in a duplex. The duplex had two bedrooms up stairs and two bedrooms on the bottom floor. I lived up stairs and shared the bedroom with Charlie. Out of the 8 Jackson boys living there, I was the only one with a job. During the day I attended classes and the evenings I worked as a dishwasher. When I came home from working, most nights there was a party going on, either upstairs or downstairs. At first, it was fun and I would join in and have a good time. As Thanksgiving approached my 4 classes were having big tests before Thanksgiving break. I would come home from working, shower and then would study until I fell asleep. My Mother had given me a High School graduation present back in June. It was an 8/4 track stereo player that I had installed in my 56 Chevy. My car was always parked in front of the duplex. One night after work when I walked back to the duplex, I could see there was a big party going on. Before I entered the duplex I decided I would check on my car. As I approached my 56 Chevy it looked like my wind wing on the passenger side was busted and the door was unlocked. As I looked closer, someone had broken in and stole my stereo and along with the stereo they stole the two speakers in the package tray. I was beyond mad and started into the bottom duplex. I found my best friend Chris Martin and told him what I had just found. He checked around with some of his friends and of course no one knew anything. That same week, the last week before Thanksgiving break, I came home from work and just wanted to shower and study and go to sleep. As I got up to the upper duplex I had to use the bathroom. While I was in the bathroom I pulled back the shower curtain and discovered a keg on beer in the shower. I thought no problem, I would go and get some clean clothes in the bedroom and come back and move the keg so I could shower. I went to the bedroom and opened the door and discovered a couple in my bed having sex! I thought, that is it, I am out of here and I was quitting school, it just wasn't working out. I closed the bedroom door and downstairs I went. I found Chris and told him I was heading back home and I quit school. Chris said he understood but I should rethink it.
By quitting School it took away my School deferment and placed me at the top of the Draft List. My Mother knew and bowled with a lady by the name of Gracy Skeen, who was in charge of the Selective Service Board in Jackson. Gracy had told my Mother that I would be getting my draft papers soon since my School deferment was taken away. I had worked many jobs during High School. I had saved up my money and had bought a yellow 1956 Chevy, 2 door hard top. I received my draft notice before Christmas 1968. Since I had a feeling that this could be my last Christmas with my family for awhile, I took my money and decided that I was going to buy my sisters nice Christmas presents for Christmas. I drove my Chevy to Sacramento several times in December to go shopping. Each time I was in Sacramento shopping, I received a parking ticket or two. I would take the tickets and place them in the glove box. I ended up with 7 tickets and figure I wasn't going to pay them, I would probably be in Vietnam. They could just come and get me.......Ha, Ha!
February 12th, 1969, breakfast before I left for the bus to Oakland, California.
(Chris Martin, sister Barbara and Elaine)
By February 12th, 1969, I was inducted to the United States Army. As I loaded the bus in Jackson for Oakland with 3 other Amador County boys, a girl that I was friends with, dressed in a yellow dress, because of my yellow colored 1956 Chevy, hid around the corner of the Federal Building as I boarded the bus. She and I had dated and I even took her to her first concert in Sacramento, I believe it was "Steppenwolf". She had her Mother drive her to Jackson to see me off, but was too shy and embarrassed to come from around the corner to say goodbye. As the bus pulled away from the Selective Service Building onto highway 49, I could see my Mom and sisters waving goodbye. As I looked back at the corner of the building I could see the girl standing by herself looking as we pulled away. I watched her turn around and she disappeared around the corner out of sight. As I settled into my seat, I was anxious to start the next chapter of my life, but a little scared too!
The beginning of 1969 was a very abnormal year as far as weather goes. The weather was unseasonably warm with very little rain. It seemed that all of the storms were going north of California. The next thing I knew I was on an airplane flying to Fort Lewis, Washington. I was only 18 years of age and still pretty immature. I was dressed in a tee shirt. When we touched down in Seattle there was 2 feet of snow on the ground. We were bused from the Seattle Airport to Fort Lewis where we were escorted to our barracks. The next morning we were escorted to breakfast and had to stand in 2 feet of snow as we waited to enter the mess hall. Not only was I dressed in a tee shirt and shorts, I was wearing sandals on my feet with no socks. Needless to say, it was very cold as we had to wait in line for a half hour for half cooked pancakes.
Before we knew it, we were getting our clothes and boots. Of course the next stop was the barbershop. Everyone received the same haircut. I believe they called it the number one buzz cut. We were now starting to look like soldiers. We learned to march, salute and sing cadence.
I was lucky in one sense, I was drafted with 3 other guys from Amador County. They were Gary Hobson, Jim Hatfield and Mike Ynzunza. We soon developed an Amador County bond. Shortly after we were in our company area we discovered more people that came from California. My lower bed bunk mate was a young man from Vallejo, California. His name was Bob Potts. Bob and I became real close friends while going through Army Basic Training. I also befriended another young man by the name of Doug Goularte from Hollister, California.
Fort Lewis was on quarantine for all training personnel because of the Spinal Meningitis that was going through the US Army Posts on the West Coast. We were confined to our Company area during our free time. Even when we graduated from Basic Training, the Post was still under the quarantine orders. We graduated from Basic Training after 8 weeks. Since I was young and in good shape, and because it hadn’t been that long ago that I had graduated from High School, Basic Training was not that physically hard. More mental, because this was the first time I had been away from my family for any real length of time.
Bob Potts (1968)
AIT
Once we graduated from Basic Training, Bob Potts, Doug Goularte, Jim Hatfield and I, were shipped straight across the parade field to a new barracks for Advanced Infantry Training. Two guys that were from Amador County, like me, were assigned to different training or schools and that was the last time I saw them. At our new barracks, Bob and I were bunk mates again. Bob became friends with some guys who were from the bay area in northern California. Advanced Infantry Training was no more than what we had trained for the last 8 weeks, but we were introduced to the new M-16 rifle. We were the first AIT group to get to use the M-16 in training instead of the heavy M-14. We went on several 10 mile hikes with our 60 pound packs on our backs. We spent many hours on the firing range. We all knew that this was training for Vietnam.
(Me, Jim Hatfield, Gary Hobson and Doug Goularte)
One evening, after training, we walked over to use the telephone to call home. After standing in line for about a half hour, it was my turn. I called home and my Mom answered. We talked for a while before she said, "You had a couple of guys at our house looking for you yesterday." I said, "Who were they Mom, some of my friends?" She went on to tell me that 2 Amador County Sheriffs came by with a warrant for my arrest because of the parking tickets that I received during Christmas in Sacramento. I told my Mom, "Tell them to come up here and get me, jail would be better than this damn Army!" She then told me that she took care of it and paid the fine.
In AIT, we continue our same routine after training. We would hang out drinking beer, eating pizza and hamburgers, playing pool and listening to music while we wrote letters home. One morning on a Saturday, Bob was lying at the foot of my bunk as I sat there reminiscing about home. I noticed that Bob was having a piece of gum and started to fold the tin foil wrapper into what was starting to look like a 1st Lieutenant's bar. As we were talking back and forth, Bob looked up at me and said, "Do you want to go and mess with the guys over in Basic?" I ask him what he was talking about. He said, "The barracks, next to the barracks that we were assigned to in Basic, has a 1st Lieutenant that looks a lot like you from a distance. If I can get this tin foil wrapper to stick to your hat, we will go over there and mess with them on how dirty their barracks look and order them to clean it up." Being 18 years old, we didn't consider that we could get into a lot of trouble for impersonating an officer, but it was something to do besides going stir crazy. Bob used some gum and believe it or not, the home made silver bar looked just like a 1st Lieutenant's silver bar from a distance. Bob and I went a crossed the parade field up to the barracks and Bob went inside first and yelled, "Officer on the floor!" Someone yelled, "Attention", and everyone ran to the front of the bunks and came to attention. I started to walk down the center of the bottom floor and started to yell, "This place looks like shit, I want this place cleaned up immediately or someone will pay." It appeared that our impersonation was working for about half way down the barracks when someone said, "he's not our Lieutenant, he is someone else". I knew we were had, the fake silver bar had fallen off, so I turned around and looked at Bob as he turned around and started to run. We were chased out of the barracks and down the hill. We ran as fast as we could. The Basic Training guys stopped at the hill as they could not cross the parade field or they would be in trouble. Once back at our barracks, and after we caught our breaths, we laughed and laughed and of course, told all of our friends of what we just did.
For the last two weeks of AIT, the Army lifted the Spinal Meningitis confinement. We had a formation and were told by the Sergeant that we were free to go on a weekend pass but to stay away from a street called Pike Street in Seattle, because they said it was a bad area for GI's. As soon as the formation was over Bob and I ran over to the taxi cabs that were waiting for us. Bob and I quickly got into a cab along with two other GI's. The cabbie asked us, "where to?" in which Bob quickly replied, "take us to Pike Street". Before we knew it, we were on Pike Street. The bus station was on Pike Street and I am not sure, but I think the Sergeant said to stay away from bus station because he didn't want anyone to go AWOL to home. We stopped in several bars but we couldn't get served because we were under age. Bob asked an older gentleman if he would buy us a beer from the local liquor store and the man came back out with two cans of beer for us. We wrapped the cans in the brown paper bag paper that they came in and we started to drink the beer. We walked up and down Pike Street when we saw a few guys that looked like soldiers. Bob ask the boys where we could meet some girls. They said that all we had to do was ask one of the taxi cab drivers and they would take us to the girls. Bob thanked the boys and we walked to the next cab that we saw. Bob walked up to the driver and said, "Could you take us to where girls are so we could party with them." The cab driver said, "Sure, get in". The cab driver soon took us on a drive around town before he took us into the hill around town where he stopped in front of a house. He said, "Here we are! Just go up to the door and tell them you are here to party with the girls, they will take care of you." I didn't like being left somewhere I had never been before and not knowing anyone, it seemed to be some kind of set up.
We exited the cab and once outside, I told Bob that I didn't feel good about being there. He told me to stop worrying about it, it would be fine. Up to the door we walked. Bob knocked on the door and a big scary looking man opened the door. Bob told the man that the cab driver brought us there because we wanted to party with the girls. He yelled back to a woman that soon came to the door. As she stood there in a house coat she said, "Can I help you?" Bob told her that we were there to party with the girls. She told us to come in. We entered the house and the lady said that it would be twenty dollars apiece to party with her girl. It then dawned on me that this was a house of prostitution and not somewhere we could meet normal girls. Bob looked at me and said, "We are here, let's do it. Give me your twenty bucks and I will pay her." Reluctantly I went into my wallet and got out my twenty dollars and Bob did the same. Soon we were taken to the back of the house to a waiting room where two other GI's were waiting too. Bob and I took a chair and sat with the two other guys. Bob started a conversation with the guys and asked them if they were from Fort Lewis too. They said yes, they were there with their buddy who was in the bedroom with the girl as they waited or their turn in the room. I started to feel better knowing that there were five of us GI's in the house all from Fort Lewis. A few minutes had went by and all of a sudden the lady in the house coat came running into the waiting room and said, "the cops are coming, you guys will have to quickly leave". The two other guys asked about their buddy in the room with the girl and she said, "He is going to be leaving too. I have called the taxi and you can get a ride from him, now leave, quickly!" All we could think about was getting out of the house. We did not want to go to jail, just leave. After getting in the taxi and driving off, it started look like we had been scammed and I was thinking the taxi cab driver was probably in on it too. We had to pay for the ride to the house and then the lady in the house coat wanted twenty dollars up front and we never got that money back. God, we were young and stupid.....
Bob and I rented a room in Seattle for the night and the next morning was Sunday, Mother's Day. Bob and I went to the Space Needle and went to the top of it. We found a pay phone and Bob and I took turns calling home and telling our mothers Happy Mother's Day. Before we knew it, 8 weeks had gone by. Graduation from AIT was near. Bob Potts and I received Orders that were different from the other guys. The Army was sending Bob and me, to Fort Benning, Georgia for Non Commissioned Officers School. I thought, great, they want to make Bob and I sergeants before they send us to Vietnam. I would be an 18 year old sergeant in a combat situation, ordering other people in combat. I don’t know about this, but right now, all I could think about was graduating and going home for a while. Bob Potts had already bought an airline ticket to San Francisco for after graduation. I had talked my Mother into driving up to Washington from California to come to graduation and we all could drive back home together. My Mother and two sisters made it to the day of graduation, but they had a big surprise for me. My best friend, Chris Martin had agreed to come to graduation with my Mother and he helped drive the long distance from California. I knew that Momma and my two younger sisters, Barbara and Elaine, were coming, but Chris was truly a great surprise and a great friend. He and I had been friends since 4th grade.
My sisters Elaine and Barbara, best friend
Chris Martin
Bob and I only had two weeks with our families before we had to report to Fort Benning, Georgia. I was going to fly out of the Sacramento Airport while Bob was going to fly from San Francisco. Here it was, June of 1969. Bob drove his 1964 corvette to Jackson while we were on leave. It was about an hour and a half drive from Vallejo. He came up and spent the week with me and my family. He told me that I had to come and spend the weekend with him in Vallejo so I could visit his family. Bob and I partied with my friends and attended a party in a country field with a bonfire and beer from a Keg. It is just what we did as kids growing up in Jackson for fun. Bob and I attended a dance on Wednesday in Ione, but I didn’t recognize any of the kids since I had graduated high school the year before. We didn’t stay too long at the dance, we just drove around drinking beer as I showed him around Amador County.
That Friday, Bob and I left my house headed for his house in Vallejo. After we arrived at Bob’s house, I was introduced to Bob’s Mother and Father. Bob had a younger brother, John, who also owned a corvette, was not home. Bob told me that we would stay close around home that night, but he had a surprise for us tomorrow, Saturday night. Saturday evening came. Bob said,” I scored some tickets to the Iron Butterfly concert at the Fillmore and we are going.” Great! I had been to concerts before in Sacramento, but never to a big concert, especially one at the Fillmore and Iron Butterfly! I was a country boy, a young one at that!
This was going to be a concert to remember. Later on that evening, Bob and I were inside the Fillmore and a band was playing. The Fillmore was a large building, tons of people standing around. It was dark in there, but with the lights that were hitting the stage, you could still see pretty well. There were little groups of people all over. The smoke was hanging in the air above everyone and it wasn’t all cigarette smoke. I had noticed there was Security all over the place, but they were staying to themselves. As the warm up band had finished, everyone started to sit down on the floor. There were no chairs that I saw. Everyone started to sit in straight lines, row after row. People sitting on their butts with their legs crossed. I ended up sitting to the right of Bob. My neighbor on the right tapped my shoulder and as I turned to look at him, he had a bottle of what appeared to be wine in his hand, he passed it to me. I looked at the wine and turned to Bob and passed it on to him. Bob took a swig of the bottle and turned to his left and passed the bottle on to his neighbor. Man, I am not in Jackson any more! Next, my neighbor on the right passed me lit marijuana joint. Okay, this is crazy! I then turn to Bob and passed the joint to him. He took a big hit off of it and he passed it on. I asked Bob, “The Security doesn’t care if this goes on?” Bob replied, “as long as there are no fights or someone making a problem, they don’t care”. I felt another tap on my shoulder and my neighbor handed me a handful of pills. There was every color of pill that I had ever seen in my hand. I quickly passed the pills to Bob. The passing of stuff kept up the remainder of the concert.
Iron Butterfly finally made it to the stage. Through the smoke and haze they began to play. They were very loud, but we were very young, they sounded great. The music went on for over an hour and they finished with, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". At the very end, one of the band members took his guitar and smashed it on stage. It quickly started a fire. I think it was part of the show, but with the contact high I had, I wasn't really sure. No one panicked, so all was good. Great show! Bob drove me home the next day so I could get ready to fly to Fort Benning. I said all of my goodbyes and my Sister Donna drove me to the airport.
Fort Benning, Georgia
I flew out of Sacramento, California, on my way to Fort Benning, Georgia. It was a hot summer’s day in California. The airplane first stopped in Dallas, Texas. I had to change planes in Dallas to continue on to Atlanta. As I got off the plane, I could tell that it was very hot in Dallas. I overheard the couple in front of me say that the temperature was 108 degrees. I was only on the ground for a few minutes before I had to board the other airplane to Georgia. It felt good to be on the airplane because of the air conditioning. Before I knew it, the plane had lifted off and we were on our way.
I arrived in Atlanta around 10:00 p.m... It was very muggy and hot for being that late. As soon as I tracked down my suitcase, I made my way outside the terminal. Once outside there were taxi’s with drivers saying, “Anyone here going to Fort Benning?” I yelled, “Over here”. The next thing I knew, the driver grabbed my suitcase and placed it in the trunk of the taxi as I got in the back seat. We pulled away from the terminal and we were on our way to the Fort.
We pulled up in front of my new Company Area and I got out and paid the driver. I walked into the building and started to check in with the Sergeant that was on duty. After the paper work was finished, we walked over to a closet and he issued me my bedding. He handed me two white sheets and a white pillow case. I asked him if I was going to get a blanket. He laughed and said, “You won’t need a blanket here”. He then took me outside and pointed across the street and said for me to report to the barracks over there and someone would assign me to a bed. It was almost 11:00 p.m. by now. At the barracks, I was assigned to a top bunk and I started to make it with my two sheets. Once ready for bed, I crawled up onto the bunk, it was now after 11:00 p.m., as I laid there sweating. I just knew that the next three months of NCO School was not going to be fun with this type of weather, hot, muggy and sticky. This was Friday night, and I had Saturday and Sunday to get used to the climate before training starts on Monday. I did not get good sleep the first night in Georgia. After getting up and getting ready and dressed, I went a crossed the street where the mess hall was located. I got in line and entered the mess hall for breakfast. Once I was finished, I left the mess hall to walk back to my barracks. I could tell that the weather was still hot and humid. Once back at the barracks, I started to look around to see if Bob Potts had arrived yet. Other people started to come back from the mess hall. Before I knew it, Bob was standing in front of my bunk. I first did not see him, I could only hear his voice saying, “Bill, is that you?” Last night, when I was checking into the barracks, I had to print my name on a peace of masking tape and place it on my bunk so others would know that the bunk was taken. Hearing Bob’s voice was like hearing a family member’s voice. I didn’t feel alone any more. Bob had taken a bunk that was down the other isle from me. We decided that since no one had taken the bunk underneath me that he would go and get his belongings and he would take the bunk under me. Bob and I were back together again.
For the remainder of Saturday, Bob and I walked around and checked out Fort Benning. Fort Benning was mainly one big school for NCOs, Officer’s and Jump School for the 101st Airborne. Bob and I decided that on Sunday we would go jogging and running to see if we could get acclimated to the weather. Sunday morning, after breakfast, the weather was a little cooler because some clouds were over head. Bob and I decided to head down to the field to a running track and see if we could start getting into shape. We first took off on a slow jog and then started to run slowly. About three quarters around the track I could feel my stomach starting to turn. I had to stop and I lost my whole breakfast along the running track. I knew that becoming acclimated to this weather was going to be a challenge. Later on that morning, Bob and I were talking. We were told at Fort Lewis, by our sergeant, that if we got to Fort Benning and decided not to complete NCO School, we would be given the choice to quit without any repercussions. We had both decided that NCO School was not going to be for us, and we knew by quitting, we were signing our own orders to Vietnam, but at least we would be going to Vietnam a PFCs and not Sergeants.
Monday morning came before we knew it. After breakfast, we were all in formation on the field. Bob and I were standing along side of each other. The Sergeant started out by welcoming everyone to NCO School. He finally got around to asking the one question that Bob and I were waiting for. The Sergeant said, “Anyone here that doesn’t want to be here, raise your hands.” Bob and I looked at one another and decided that this was our time. At the same time, Bob and I raised our hands. I looked around and out of two hundred and fifty men, Bob and I were the only ones with our hands in the air. The Sergeant said, “You two come here, everyone else, you are dismissed.” We made our way up to the Sergeant and he then ask, “Why don’t you want to be here?” We went on to tell him that we felt that we were too young to be sergeants and that we knew with being in the infantry, that we would be going to Vietnam and we would rather go as Private First Classes than go as sergeants. We also went on to tell him that the sergeant at Fort Lewis said we could quit without any repercussions. The Sergeant said, “It is not that easy, you can’t just quit, if you want out of NCO School, we would have to be kicked out.” These words from the Sergeant put the wheels in motion for Bob and me. If the only way out of this School is by being kicked out, then we knew what had to be done.
We started training on Tuesday morning. We had Physical Training first and then to the class rooms. Actually the training was interesting. We were learning map reading and Leadership classes. If I hadn’t already made my mind up to get kicked out of NCO School, I would have stayed and learned a lot. Friday was our first formal inspection. Bob and I had decided that this was going to be the day we were going to get kicked out School. We had to have an inspection with our rifles. They needed to be cleaned and our fatigues needed to be starched. We had decided to wear fatigues that were not the best looking and we were not going to clean our rifles. While we were in the barracks, getting ready for the inspection, our Sergeant came around checking on everyone. When he approached Bob and me, he asked why we were not getting ready. We went on to tell him that we were ready and if he wanted to kick us out of NCO School, we would understand. He told us that we needed to be ready.
Outside, during the inspection, our Sergeant came down our formation. I was going to be inspected before Bob. As the Sergeant stepped in front of me, he looked me up and down and said, “Is this the best you could dress?” I told him, “Yes Sergeant!” He then said, “Order Arms”. I slowly brought my rifle up across my chest. The next step was for the Sergeant to grab the rifle from me as I was supposed to let go of the rifle. As he started to grab the rifle from my grasp, I held on tight to it. The Sergeant went to pull the rifle from my hands, but I held on. As soon as I could feel that he let up on his grip, I dropped the rifle, into the dirt it went. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew what I was doing. This was the way to get kicked out. He then said, "Soldier, get down and give me 50 push-ups!" The Sergeant left my position and down the formation he moved. Once in front of Bob, Bob just dropped his rifle in the dirt. Once the Sergeant told him to pick it up, Bob bent over and stepped on the rifle. The Sergeant didn’t waste any more time with Bob and continued down the formation line. After the inspection was completed, the Sergeant called Bob and I, off to the side, He said that he would grant us our wish of being kicked out of NCO School. However, he could not let us get by with our little inspection screw ups. We were placed on Kitchen Patrol (KP) for the weekend as punishment for our screw ups.
Bob and I were removed from the NCO School barracks and we were placed in a Transition barracks. Anyone who had washed out or quit NCO School, Officer’s Candidate School or Jump School, were placed in a Transition barracks until orders were cut so they could be transferred out of Fort Benning. Bob and I were farmed out every morning to a Company Area for us to work, so we would have something to keep us busy before we would leave. It took about a month for our Orders to be typed. Bob and I received a copy of our order the same day and both order said that we were going to be going to Vietnam. After we read the Orders, reality set in. Here it was, in black and white, Vietnam. It wasn’t like it was a shock, we knew it was coming but now it was official.
On July 20, 1969, I was assigned to an OCS brigade for detail as a CQ in the evening. My job was to sit in the office and answer the telephone and to make sure that everything stayed quiet. The dayroom had a television and it was on. I stepped outside the dayroom to have a cigarette and discovered that the moon was full. It was a beautiful night, not a cloud in the sky. After I returned to the dayroom the news was on. The news reporter just said that Neil Armstrong became the very first man to walk on the moon. I went back outside again to look at the moon. It was surreal. I felt very proud to be an American.
Bob and I found out that we were going to be given a thirty day leave before we left for Vietnam. Bob had found out that we were going to be going home on the 29th of August. As Bob and I were talking, I said, “I think I am a sole surviving son, I am the last male DeMusey in our family. I wonder if I can get out of going to Vietnam and maybe go somewhere else, like Korea or Germany.” Bob said for me to go to the Chaplin’s Office and ask the Chaplin. The next morning, after breakfast, I headed to the Chaplin’s Office. I introduced myself to the Chaplin, and then started to explain my situation. He told me that it sounded like I had a good chance of getting out of going to Vietnam. He went on the say that there had to be proof and that I would need to get five Certified letters from different people at home, including my Mother and clergy. My first duty was to call my Mother and explain to her what letters I would need. I would tell her that time was of the essence since I would have to leave for Vietnam on the 29th of September, if not.
The first chance I had to call, I made the telephone call to my Mother. I went on to explain to my Mother about the letters and that I had a chance to get out of going to Vietnam. My Mother’s response was, “I think Vietnam will be good for you. It will make a man out of you”. I said, “but momma, I can be killed over there, do you want that to happen”. She went on to say that she didn’t want me killed, but she wasn’t going to get the letters for me either. As you can probably tell, I was not the best son a mother could ever have growing up. The two times that my Mother had to bail me out of jail for minor in possession of alcohol, and having a Judge tell me that the next time I appeared before him he would give me two choices. One was to be placed in the Youth Authority the other was placed in the Army, it would be my choice. I knew my earlier behavior would come back and bite me in the ass someday, I didn't know it was now.....
Before we knew it, August 29th was here. Bob and I were leaving Fort Benning, Georgia and I was glad. I told Bob that I bet that Vietnam weather couldn’t be any worse than the Georgia weather. I was happy we were leaving.