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Chapter 14: Eighth Week Panel
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Fourteen Eighth Week Panel I don't know but I been told Eskimo pussy is mighty cold. - Army marching song The longer oes wem on, the harder it was for some of the men to keep their bearings. By the end of the sevemh week the ones who wanted to leave had transferred to Casual Company. When the eighth week began, we were down to 193 men from the original 256. Most of them dropped out on their own, but a few had been dropped for medical reasons. During the eighth week, the Army had its fi rst chance to evaluate us at what was called the eighth week panel. T his was the Ilrst chance to get rid of people the Army didn't want. We had been preparing for this, the first ful! evaluation since the beginning. We didn't know it unrillater, but one of the key elements in evaluation came from "peer critiques." Starting in the founh week each company member had to rank the top five and [he bonom five candidates in his piaroan. We had to write formal Observation ReportS (ORs) about the candidates in leadership positions, and we were told [hat there was a special notebook kept in each TAC officer's ourer office where we could go to write private thoughts about other candidates' performance. ~ Look, men," Lt. Ireland, the slim, wispy TAC officer for sixth platoon , explained, "if you see something that causes you to question the courage, judgment, or integrity of another candidate, it is your duty to let us know. It is our job to evaluate each of your leadership abilities. We expect you to help. So your ORs-boch the formal ones and the private ones-are very imponant. If you let a dud get through here and he becomes a platoon leader in Vietnam, your life could depend on it. Watch everyone carefully; report everything questionable." The most important time that people were evaluated was during leadership tasks. Every Friday night a new duty roster was posted listing the leadership positions for the next week from Student Company Commander, Smdem Executive Officer, on down to Smdem Platoon and Squad Leaders. The people listed kept their jobs for a week, and we scrutinized their performance and filled our ORs at the end of the week. But it became curthroat. J thought they must have adapted some of the techniques from Korean prisoner of war camps where POWs were broken down by a system of rewards and punishments that made it every man for himself. The "book," as we called it, became the most feared device because it was anonymous. Anybody could sneak into the TAC office and write a damning OR. "Candidate Smith of the placoon was seen copying answers on the first-aid exam," or "OC LD. Burns failed to butT his sectioll of the platoon floor Tuesday night," or "Candidate GUlhrie keeps antiwar literature in his footlocker." People got jumpy; they didn't know who co trust, so rhey t'Tusted almost nobody. And there was good reason to trust nobody, especially the TACs. The TACs developed favorites-mainly favorite targets. And if they decided they wanted to get rid of somebody, it was pretty easy for them to do ir. On Friday ofthe seventh week, the dUly roster for week eight came out and was pOSted after the night's chow. Each platoon would send a representative to get the assignments and reporr to the rest of the platoon. This week Sugarman, a shorr Georgia boy, went from our plaroon, and when he got back, we assembled in the latrine. "The Deuce will be well-represented next week," Sugarman drawled, prolonging our anxiety, "Second Platoon gets the week's Company Commander." People yetled at him; someone threw a roll of toilet paper. "Git on with it, you piece a shit, tell us who it is!" Sugarman paused and looked carefully around the latrine before he read from his list, "~C Tommy Trailer, Student Company Commander." AI; he went on down the list, I discovered that I was to be a squad leader 102 Fort &nning Bllm [3.93.173.205] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 13:30 GMT) for {he week- a minor job but a job nonetheless. When we got back to the room, Trailer was excited. ''I'm really glad to be selected to be the CO for next week. I think it means they have confidence in me. You know, we're here...