Fort Benning Blues

Chapter 3: Learning

Three Learning And, ils 1, 2, 3 whattd. wefightin'for? Don~ ask me catls(] don't give a damn. Next stop is Viet Nam. - "] Feel Like I'm Fixin'to Die Rag" - Country Joe and the Fish The major purpose of the first few weeks of DeS, I decided, was to harass us as much as possible so the breakable ones would be gone soon. The most stressful and the simplest way to torment 256 men was to place more demands on our time than we could possibly accomplish. We had to be in bed by 2230 and no one was allowed to get up except to go to the latrine, a rule that kept us from writing letters, polishing boots, straightening gear, ere. during the only time left. Of course, we often were up during rhe nights. Rancek's nightly blitzes became regular. The next morning at 0500 the lights would come on, and people would stan yelling, ~Out of your bunk and onto your feet, off your ass and into the street!" By 5: 15 we had to have our clothes on, have our bunks made, and be outside in formation ready to take the morning run around the Airborne track. Back at 6, we would clean our rooms from 6 to 6: 15, eat from 6:15 to 7:30 (most of that time spent moving through the chow line), and be in formation ready to move out for the day's insrruction at 7:30. We would then run (he mile over to Infantry Hall where we had such classes as «Character Guidance" and «Rules ofWar" or to one ofthe ranges where classes on mines, grenades, .45 caliber pistols, M-16s and other weapons were held. At night we had a mandatory study hall from 7:30 to 9:00. Then from 9:00 to 10:30 we had to spit-shine our boots, polish our brass, clean the platoon area, and get our rooms ready for the next day's routine. But there was never enough time to accomplish everything, and so everyone took to leuing something slide. Some CUt corners on boots, others on brass, still others tried to take care of their personal equipment and slack offon duties as platoon members (cleaning the toilets, for example ). It was the TAG' duty to find Out where the corners were C ut, and when they did, they reveled in their discoveries. "Grunson, what's this green shit growin' on yore brass, boy? You mus' like layin' in that mossy crap on the groun', so whyn't you jus' drop down there an' knock out twenty-five.~ So, Grunson or whoever was unlucky enough to get caught would dutifully begin the increasingly difficult task of pushing up and longing for sleep and a little peace. I found that at first rhad been able to blend into the mass of bodies without calling attention to myself. Listening to some unlucky soul strain at pushups duting the first week, rhad been able to look over the company area carefully as I stood in formation at attention. I looked cautiously, for we were supposed to stand rigidly, eyes forward at all times. My company, like all of them, had a small open space in front of it that was known as the "pride of58th Company." Landscaped with rocks, grass, and a few flowers, 58th Company had a small wooden arch erected in front of it. Painted in careful letters on the arch, which was supposed to resemble an Eastern pagoda, was a quotation that must have been taken from a Hemingway sound-alike: For Those Who Have r'oughtfor It Lifo Has a Flavor the Protected Never Know. The company next door had a similar area, a similar pagoda, but its motto was more mundane: Our Training is Designtd to Let Charlie Give His Lifofor His Country. "Charlie" was the universal reference to the Viet Cong, though there were more derogatory terms like "gook" and ~s[ope." 22 Fort Brnning Blun When the unlucky candidate with the green brass got through with his pushups, the company was ready to start om for its first class of the day, which was supposed to be about leadership and one later that morning about Claymore mines. Before we left, though, one of the TACs, a short, stubby second lieutenant named Satmonelli, had something to tell us. "Men, you're about...