May 28, 1978 (Sunday):  This day seemed like one of the longest days of my life.  Early in the morning, I flew out of South Dakota from the Sioux Falls Regional Airport on an airplane.  I thought we would be flying in a jet, but it was only a prop-plane.   A classmate, Bill Yount, who was a year ahead of me in high school, flew with me.  He had just graduated and was the only one in his graduating class to join the Guards.  I had just completed my junior year and I was the only one in my class to join the Guards at that time  (about a dozen guys from my class later joined after we graduated in 1979).  Bill and I had some trouble with our ears popping, because of the pressure changes in the plane.  I’ve never been on a plane and it was really fantastic when we went through the clouds and looked down at the tops of them.  It looked like heaven.

 

We stopped at the Sioux City Airport for about 10 minutes and took off again for Kansas City International Airport.  We landed at about 10 am and had about a one-hour layover, which was just enough time for us to get from one side of the terminal to the other.  The airport looks like it’s a mile long! 

 

It took us about 10 minutes to walk from one terminal to the other and it was sprinkling out.  We got to ride a jet to Oklahoma City.  Wow, it was nice.  By the way, when we went over Kansas and Oklahoma, there were areas along rivers, especially in Oklahoma, where there was flooding. 

 

When we got to the reception station at Fort Sill, OK, they gave us a line number.  Mine is 15.  The first night in the reception station barracks, we got to sleep around 9 pm.  There were 30 of us in each room.  At 11:30 pm, they gave us a rude awakening and marched us, in our skivvies, to a room in another building, perhaps a supply room, about 50 to 100 yards away.  They had us fill out some forms to order our brown, Army-issue underwear, then we returned to our barracks and went back to bed.  That was about the weirdest thing ever in my life, I thought.  It just didn’t make any sense to me why they would do that, other than to mess with our minds.

 

May 29, 1978 (Monday):  We did a bunch of in-processing stuff today and marched about a mile to CIF (Central Issue Facility) to get fitted for our clothing and pick up our field gear.  We had to stand and wait in line almost all day, it seemed.

 

June 2, 1978 (Friday):  Today, we got bused over to meet our drill sergeants for the first time.  About a dozen of them met us at the bus and gave us a very warm reception with loud cussing and screaming.  They sounded like they wanted to kill us. 

 

Right after I got off the bus, I ran as fast as I could, with a duffel bag on each shoulder, to my barracks.  All that stuff was so heavy, so I could barely run. The reason I knew where to go was because they pointed to my barracks and told me to get my goat-smelling butt in there with my stuff.  As I ran into the barracks, I almost fell on my back, because the two duffel bags on each shoulder were too wide to fit through the doorway and I bounced back. On my second try, I turned slightly sideways to allow me and both bags to fit through.  They told us to just put our stuff in the barracks and run back out and get in formation, so I did.

 

I was assigned to 2nd Squad, 3rd Platoon, Battery A, 3rd Training Battalion, US Army Field Artillery Training Center.  The barracks are two-story, open-bay buildings that were built during WWII.  They are located north of Reynolds Army Medical Center and west of Ft Sill Boulevard and the airplane runway.  They have no air conditioning, just two big fans.  This is where we will stay for the entire summer, until graduation on August 18th. 

 

The Drill Sergeants are mean, but that's their job, I guess. Our platoon’s drill sergeants are the meanest of the whole battery, except for, maybe, the Senior Drill Sergeant, who makes us do grass drills every time we see him.  After they get off duty, the drill sergeants are really nice to everyone, except us. 

 

My Drill Sergeants are:  

1.  SFC Mull

2.  SSG Carter

3.  SSG Eaves

 

There are four platoons in the battery, with 32 trainees in each platoon.  Each platoon occupies a building, with 16 trainees on each floor.  My bunkmate’s name is Jeffrey Alan Lampe who sleeps in the top bunk. 

 

After formation, they made us run over to the chow hall.  Our barracks is the third building from the chow hall, about 100 yards away (the guys in 1st platoon were lucky, because they were right next door to the chow hall).  Once we got there, they had us get in line.  There were so many trainees, that the line went around the building.  The drill sergeants were yelling at us the whole time and making us do pushups.  I did so many pushups, that I couldn’t do any more.  One of them yelled at me to get up and run around the chow hall, so I did.  He then told me to do more pushups, so I knocked out as many more as I could.  By this time, I was totally exhausted and scared at the same time.  I didn’t like it and never wanted to EVER feel that again. 

 

The drill sergeants made the guys at the front of the line do 20 sit-ups, run around the chow hall, then do 10 pull-ups, before they could enter the chow hall door.  They made me do the same thing when I finally got close to going in.

 

June 3, 1978 (Saturday):  I had to make a lot of bunks, because Drill Sergeant Mull turned most of them over, except mine, my bunk mate’s and another guy's bunk.  Of the 8 bunks, 5 got turned over or wrecked.  I had to clean inside the barracks too. 

 

I took my first PT test today.  I did fairly decent, considering we did everything in our combat boots.  We were given one minute to perform the Parallel Bars (AKA:  Horizontal Ladder) and one minute to do the Sit-ups.  Below are my results:

 

Inverted Crawl:   15 seconds (Min:  19 sec / Max:  14 sec)

Parallel Bars:  65 bars (Min:  38 / Max:  85)

Mile Run:  6 minutes, 15 seconds (Min:  8 minutes / Max:  6 minutes)

Sit-ups:  41 situps (Min:  32 / Max:  50 or 60)

Run, Dodge & Jump:  21 seconds (Min:  24 seconds / Max:  18 seconds maybe)

 

Bill Yount did the mile run in 5 minutes flat, which was the fastest time in the battery.

 

June 5, 1978 (Monday):  I had fire watch and got 4 1/2 hours of sleep that night. 

 

June 6, 1978 (Tuesday):  I could barely stay awake, because of fire guard the night before.  I did 5 super-slow pushups.  I also got my head shaved today and they gave us our fatigues (OD green uniforms) with patches sewn on. 

 

After we got our uniforms, SGT Keeling, our Reception Sergeant, picked 15 of his best men.  I was one of them.  The 15 of us went to the mess hall and waited for about an hour in the “at ease” position.  They had some kind of award to present to the mess hall personnel (cooks).  A colonel was there and asked some of the trainees’ questions.  Luckily, I was NOT one of them.  After what was to be an impromptu ceremony for us, they let us eat some cake.  That was pretty cool, I thought; the only good thing that has happened, since I got here.   

 

I was going to call Dad, but didn’t have any change.  I had money, but no coins.

 

June 7, 1978 (Wednesday):  I could barely stay awake all day.  The drill sergeant made us do 5 more super-slow pushups.  In the early evening, they let us go to the PX to buy personal items.  A lot of other guys bought cigarettes and spent close to 40 bucks.  I spent $15.  Bill Yount only spent $10. 

 

June 8, 1978 (Thursday):  They gave us a first aid lesson today.  Also, they marched us about a mile from our battery area to a building where they had us put on a Class A hat and uniform top (no trousers) to get our official photos taken.  They gave us a shot in each arm and measured us for glasses, for those who needed them.  They had us get forms verified, such as life insurance and ID card.  Later, I had some spare time to write a letter to Dad.

 

My pants are too thin and short.  I told SGT Keeling, but he wouldn’t let me get different ones.  I can’t eat too much at mealtime, otherwise I get a stomach ache and feel sick.  I felt sick this morning when we got up at 4:15 am.  Also, my feet are very sore from the boots, because they are too big.  They seemed to fit when I first put them on, but now they feel bigger and my feet slide around, causing blisters.

 

We are supposed to get Quartermaster laundry service, but the drill sergeant told us they wreck or lose peoples’ laundry, so I guess I’ll have to do it myself.  I go to bed at 7:30 pm, but Drill SGT Carter keeps yelling until 8:15 pm or so.  He’s the meanest.  Luckily, I haven’t gotten in too much trouble with the drill sergeants so far.

 

June 12, 1978 (Monday):  I had fire guard from 11 pm to 1 am (2 hours).

 

June 13, 1978 (Tuesday):  It rained a lot today.  It rains more than I thought down here, about two or three times a week, it seems.  It gets very hot too.  It was only 87 degrees, but it felt like 100, due to the humidity.  

 

The drill sergeant told me to go to the PX to get my boots exchanged, so I did. 

 

June 16, 1978 (Friday):  I had fire guard this morning from 3:00 am to 3:45 am.  I was glad I had last shift, because it’s only 45 minutes long, instead of 2 hours. 

 

Today, we fired M16A1 rifles at the record rifle range.  I did well in practice, but got only 20 out of 40 in actual record fire to earn the Marksman badge.  Marksman is 17-23 hits, Sharpshooter is 24-27 hits and Expert is 28-40 hits.  Most everybody else did better. 

 

I think my problem was my Army glasses.  When the Army measured the lens strength of my civilian glasses, they didn’t add more strength, which is what my eyes need.  By the way, one day before they gave us our glasses, a lens from my civilian glasses popped out as I was bending forward.  The lens shattered as it hit the floor.  I couldn’t believe it. 

 

June 17, 1978 (Saturday):  I wrote a letter to my Dad and mentioned that I would have sent him a card for Father’s Day, but the drill sergeant kept my squad in Phase 1, because somebody (not me) messed up on an inspection.  In Phase 2, we get more privileges, such as going to the PX and gym and using pay phones. 

 

Last week, our platoon got first for having the best total for inspections.  We got first on inspections three times and had a few near-firsts. 

 

There are two guys from Faulkton, SD, my Dad’s birthplace.  One kid’s name is Zachary Kern.  He’s a big guy.  The other kid is Mike Becker.  He’s little and funny.  These guys seem like exact opposites of one another.  Every time I see Becker, I just crack up.  He has braces.  He’s in 1st platoon.  Zach Kern is in my platoon.  Bill Yount is in my platoon also, except he sleeps upstairs.   Kern blew one inspection down the tubes by leaving his locker unlocked, which cost us 10 points and first place.

 

We’re going to bed at 8 or 9 pm, but getting up at 3:45 am.  I sure miss civilian tennis shoes.  Today, some kid had his civilian clothes on, because he was going to take a test for West Point or something.  He’s from 4th platoon. 

 

June 18, 1978 (Sunday):  I didn’t have a chance to go to church the past two weeks, so I went to church today. 

 

June 19, 1978 (Monday):  I had Perimeter Guard with another guy at 1 am to 3 am.  What we do for Perimeter Guard is walk around the battalion, a distance of about a quarter mile, and report any suspicious activity if we see it.  There was a pop machine on the north end of our perimeter.  Every time I passed by it, I thought how nice it would be to finally be able to drink a pop. The colorful display and lights made this pop machine stand out like a bright ray of hope in the dark and dismal surroundings of 3rd Battalion in the middle of the night.  Seeing that inviting, happy-looking machine boosted my morale every time I passed by it.

 

Toward the end of our 2-hour shift, I happened to see a car in the distance speeding into our battalion area.  Although it was far away, it was impossible to miss it, because it had a bright red, white and blue sign on top of the car.  It was one of the strangest things I had ever seen.  I was a little upset that this guy would have the nerve to trespass onto our perimeter in the middle of the night like that.  He was heading toward the middle of our battalion to a building where the CQ (Charge of Quarters) was located.

 

We ran over to investigate this security breach.  As we got closer, we saw a guy get out of his car and was carrying a pizza.  The brightly colored sign on the top of the car was a domino and that was the first time I remember ever seeing the Domino's Pizza logo.  One of my drill sergeants, DS Carter, was on staff duty that night and ordered pizza for himself.  When DS Carter came out to pay the pizza guy, I offered him $5 for just a slice of pizza.  He told me I was crazy, but took my $5, gave me a slice and also gave me the Pepsi that came with his pizza.  He told me I better not tell anyone about it or else...  It was the best pizza I ever ate.  I was very hungry that night and would have had big trouble going back to sleep after my guard duty, if not for the pizza.

 

June 21, 1978 (Wednesday):  After dinner, Drill Sergeant Mull had us assemble in formation, because he wanted to talk to us.  After we formed up, he stood in front of the formation and asked for 5 volunteers.  Although I wasn't told much about boot camp prior to going, one thing they DID tell me was NEVER TO VOLUNTEER FOR ANYTHING, so I did NOT volunteer.  DS Mull then rewarded the five volunteers with ice cream.

 

June 23, 1978 (Friday): Drill Sergeant Mull had us get in formation after dinner and asked for 5 volunteers again.  This time, I volunteered, because I love ice cream.  Four other guys also volunteered.  This time, he said there was an M107 Howitzer that needed cleaning.  We spent the better part of an hour or two cleaning the gun.

 

July 7, 1978 (Friday):   Today was very busy.  In the morning, we had our mid-cycle PT test and I did OK on it.

 

RESULTS: 

2-mile run:  12:35

60 seconds of sit-ups:  41

60 seconds of parallel bars:  102

Run, Dodge & Jump:  22 seconds

Inverted Crawl:  17 seconds

 

I passed every event and maxed the 2-mile run and parallel bars.  MAX for the 2-mile run is 14 minutes. Bill Yount had the fastest time, OF COURSE, with 10 minutes, 30 seconds.  Again, we were running in combat boots, so I thought we did good.  MAX for the parallel bars is 84.  My score of 102 bars was 2nd highest in the battery.  The highest was 109. 

 

By the way, on my PT test, I got 452 points, 5th best in our platoon of 32.  The best scores were:  490, 476, 474, 460 and my score of 452.

 

Our platoon got 2nd place on the PT test.  Our average was 418.  If it hadn’t been for some of the “fatsos” and “lazys”, we would be in Phase 2 and wouldn’t have to do more PT over the weekend.  We would be drinking beer or pop, even listening to tapes or the radio and taking pictures with cameras that we COULD buy at the PX.  But now, we are stuck in Phase 1 and can’t leave the battery area.

 

After the PT test, we got more shots - one shot in each arm.  Right now, I can’t feel the one in my right arm, but my left arm hurts like crazy.  After the shots, we had to get ready for a parade.  Certain people, 14 from each platoon, were picked to march in the retreat ceremony at 1st Headquarters where Major General Jack N. Merritt, the Post Commander, was located.  He judged our battery and 3 others in our battalion.  We put on red dickies and helmet covers, spit-shined our boots and starched our uniforms too.

 

After the parade, our Battery Commander, 1st Lieutenant Reddick, said we did a fine job.

 

July 8, 1978 (Saturday):  We have a fat guy, named Tailor, who got a little blanket party early this morning.  He’s a big, fat, slobbering baby.  I have never, ever, seen anyone like him.  He can’t do one pull-up, one half-correct pushup and can’t run 2 miles.  Whenever he has to run or do PT, he fakes being ill or lame. 

 

After the blanket party, Tailor went to the drill sergeant and told him what happened.  The drill sergeant told him he was eating too many marshmallows and dreamed the whole thing.  He said that, in his dream, the marshmallows grew to the size of pillows and that’s why he THOUGHT he was in the middle of a blanket party, but that he just dreamed the whole thing.

 

Right after that, Tailor walked over to the latrine building, went to a toilet stall and tried to either commit suicide, or pretended to, by taking a bunch of aspirin.  When the drill sergeants found out, they ran over quickly and forced him to throw up.  He is in holdover now.  After Tailor left, the drill sergeant talked to us all in formation and said, very sternly, that there better not be any blanket parties in the future.  I think the drill sergeant knew Tailor was telling the truth.

 

Tonight, I got FIREGUARD duty; YIPEE!  Today, we had a full-field layout inspection by our drill sergeant. 

After the inspection, we had to do 50 pushups, because the drill sergeant was mad.  The pushups didn’t bother me too much, because we did them on the barracks floor, instead of usually doing them on the gravel, and the pace he gave us with his count was very slow, so I had time to rest with my chest on the floor in between each pushup. 

 

This morning, we cleaned weapons and had a battery briefing on Phase 3.  BIG DEAL! Our platoon is still back in Phase 1, because we got last on two inspections; one was full-field, the other was in-ranks. This weekend has been awful.  We are in Phase 1 and all the other platoons are in Phase 3.  Everybody, except our platoon, got to go anywhere on post they wanted to (in their khakis).  Meanwhile, we did PT in 100 degree weather for almost an hour.  After that, we had to work on the outside area around our barracks and three or four other buildings. 

 

July 9, 1978 (Sunday):  We polished boots all afternoon, because we had a boot inspection in the late afternoon – about 6 or 7 pm (I am getting my boots so shiny now that I can see myself on the whole boot).  This was not a formal inspection and Drill Sergeant Mull just glanced at my boots.  He wasn’t even in his uniform and he smelled like whiskey.  He said my boots and a few other guys’ boots on the first floor looked good.  However, when he walked upstairs, the heat, mixed with the booze, must have got to him, because, right away, he started going off on everyone upstairs.  He began throwing bunk beds and footlockers around, making a big mess.  We were all fearing he would come downstairs and do the same thing, but he didn’t.  He just walked out.  At that moment, I was so glad I slept downstairs.  Those poor guys up there spent a lot of time fixing what he messed up.

 

July 10, 1978 (Monday):  Today, we had a bunch of bull on the M72A2, M302 and M60.  They call it training.  It seemed like 110 degrees in the shade and they wouldn’t let us unblouse our shirts or pant legs.  That made our training "a lot of fun".  We couldn’t even sit down.  We stood for 3 hours.  They treat us pretty rough lately.  Our platoon can’t eat ice cream or drink pop at the mess hall, because of PT test scores.  That really bums me out! 

 

July 12, 1978 (Wednesday):  Today, we did a 15-mile road march with backpacks.  They told us it was 15 miles, but I think it was farther, because it seemed like we marched all day.  We went up into the Wichita Mountains.  We had to walk really fast for quite a while, before we got to the mountains, but the guys in front of us finally slowed down a little going uphill.  We got one 5-minute break and one water break.  For the water break, we didn’t get to sit down.  We just waited in line to get water, but we did get to stop walking for about 5 minutes, so that was nice. 

 

It was getting close to dark when they told us to stop and paired us with a battle buddy to set up our 2-man tents.  Right after my battle buddy and I got our tent all set up, they told us to tear it down and move out.  You talk about head games.  I was devastated.  We marched about another hour until they told us to set up our tents again.  By that time, it was pretty dark.  We had to use our red-lens flashlights to see.  We were all hoping they wouldn’t make us move out again and, luckily, they didn’t.  We ended up sleeping there overnight.

 

July 13, 1978 (Thursday):  Today, we played Army and fired 20 blank rounds as we advanced our offensive positions (fire and maneuver).

 

July 14, 1978 (Friday):  Today, I went on the grenade range and threw 6 dummy grenades and 1 live grenade.  The dummies popped like firecrackers.  Also the 6 dummies I threw were on my grenade qualification.  There were 6 stations to the test.  Actually, all it involved was running on a path to one place where we threw a grenade.  After we finished there, we’d run to another place.  Top score was 60 and I got 58, which is Expert.  Maybe that will make up for my poor rifle score I got a while back. 

 

Sure is hot down here.  It felt like at least 110 degrees out at the range.  We have to unblouse our shirts and pant legs when it gets over 100, I think.  But, we didn’t unblouse today.  I thought I was going to have heat stroke or something.  There was no shade around, but there was a big pond about 200 meters from the grenade range.  It would have been nice to cool off in that pond.  The heat really bothered me today, because I had to wait behind 150 guys to throw my grenade.  It took about 1 minute for each 2 guys to throw their grenades, because we had to follow certain safety procedures.

 

The fire alarm went off in the building tonight.  It rang for quite some time while I wrote a letter to my Dad.  Drill Sergeant Carter came and looked over the barracks and the fire alarms, then left.  Later, an electrician came and turned it off.  Nobody pulled the alarm and there was no fire.  It scared the heck out of me while I was writing.  There were only 3 of us in the barracks when it went off.

 

July 15, 1978 (Friday):  Hooray, I’m finally in 3RD PHASE!  Unfortunately for me, I can’t go anywhere, because my khakis are at the dry cleaners and we aren’t allowed to go outside the battery area without them.  So, I wrote a letter to my Dad instead. 

 

July 18, 1978 (Monday):  We are done with Basic Training and we’re now in AIT.  All that means is that we won’t be doing all that basic training stuff.  For example, we don’t have to do as many pushups as before.  We are going to class on the self-propelled howitzers, instead of the M16, or military customs and courtesies, or the role of the Army or CS gas.  Now, all we are doing is getting ready for the mid-cycle test and studying the howitzer.

 

July 22, 1978 (Friday):  I decided, since I’m in 3rd phase AND have my khakis, I would go to the 1-2-3 Club, a small, on-post bar (or Enlisted Club) with three other guys.  We all sat down and started ordering.  The lady asked me what I wanted.  I told her I was only 17, but she said, if I’m old enough to be in the military to defend our country, I’m old enough to have a beer.  So, I drank a few beers that night.  I thought that was pretty cool what she said.

 

August 7, 1978 (Monday):  Since Chip Rasmussen is wearing my boots, I can’t polish them, so figured I would write my Dad a letter.  Chip weighs 110 pounds, so I don’t have to worry about getting my boots back.  He’s only wearing them around the battery area anyway.  By the way, I can’t find the little runt.

 

August 18, 1978 (Friday):  We graduated from AIT.  I sure am glad that’s over.