Holdover

I was drafted and then enlisted for an extra year, or for three instead of two for a guaranteed job assignment namely as a specialized clerk. I did basic with almost all reservists or college educated which made if a good deal more civilized. They were there just for the basic and then went home and served six years in the reserves. And there were a fair number of draftees or two years and I'm out of here - shorts. Basic was for two months and then two week home leave and then return for school of another two months and this was all at Fort Knox Kentucky.

For me the army became a study, in part the psychology of how to hide. The very first three days in the army, in those up at four AM horrors, before we were assigned a company and barracks, whenever the sergeants called a formation, there were about one-hundred people scrambling to one spot, the exact center of the mass, because the sergeants tended to pick people for duties from around the edges.

Of course I at least went into the army with a democratic mind-set, assuming it would be equitable, and one should pull one's fair share. But it didn't take long to get beyond that romantic notion, since my last name began with the letter A. Turned out it was about the worse curse one could have, in basic training and 'after basic' schooling. For instance, arriving at our basic training barracks loaded down with a duffel bag of nearly every possession we would have for eight weeks, bunks were assigned starting with A. I was assigned a lower bunk by the main door downstairs, windy, drafty, noisy and near the John.

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