He then lined us all up and had us screaming at the top of our lungs, “Yes, sir!” to everything he said. He then hustled us into the mess hall where we received, even by Army standards, an early breakfast.
First, it struck me as funny that, as I noticed, his name was Davis. It was also very funny when I ran into the guy in the PX a couple of days later discovering that he was just a private, albeit Permanent Party, who had the smarts to make the most of his golden opportunity to hassle a bunch of trainees.We were ultimately led to some barracks, ones that we stayed in for about a week while being processed, and were strongly advised to get some shuteye. We were assured we’d have a busy day later.
Sleep was hard to come by, but I finally passed out from sheer exhaustion. It seemed I’d only been out for a short while, though it was surely a couple of hours at least, when I awoke, hearing what must have surely been singing. I rolled over in my bunk, squinting out the window into the morning sun, where I focused my eyes on a distant company of troopers. They were singing cadence, marching in our direction and looking extraordinarily sharp, I thought.
I got the attention of some of my fellow recruits and we watched admiringly, only hoping that one day we’d look as good as this fine group of soldiers did that day. We were all very, very excited about the adventure that lay before us.
Another funny thing that happened was when we actually met these very same heroes in green we had seen and heard marching down our street only a couple of days before. We were with them at the infirmary where we all were receiving what seemed like an endless series of the military’s mandatory vaccinations. Turned out, they themselves were no more than trainees who had been inducted into the service only a couple of days before us. We all had a good laugh and wondered out loud about what further adventures Uncle Sam’s Army had in store for us.
