Show offered for your reading enjoyment under the sponsorship of the TELLURIDE TELL POW POWER ER COMPANY i h ILI see here I 1 0 private hargrow hargrove by marion hal Hay hargrove c grove W aci N U SYNOPSIS CHAPTER I 1 edward thomas marlon marion lawton hargrove feature editor of the charlotte N C news receives notice from his draft board that he Is to be inducted into the army before he begins an accounting of his actual experiences in training camp he issues his quota of free advice to prospective inductees du duc tees alter after his TZ in induction action hargrove i with his new buddies leav leaves es tor for F fort 0 rt bragg where he Is to receive his basic train training ing CHAP CHAPTER TEi 11 II private Haf hargrove grove tells of the physical exam the first few days of army how he was outfitted with his uniform Uni term and how bow on the sixth day he received his first KP duty he Is classified as a semiskilled cook after we we se served breakfast I 1 fo found d a very easy job in the dining hall w where here life Is much pinker than it is in the kitchen A quartet was for formed m ed and we were singing horrie home on the range bange A corporal passed by lust just as I 1 hit a sour note he put the broom into my left hand the mop into my right there was a citizen soldier from kannapolis Kanna polls to help me clean the cooks barracks for a time it was awful we tried to concentrate on the floor while a news broadcaster almost t tore 0 re up the radio trying to de decide ide whether we were to tie be in the army ten years or twenty we finished the job in an extremely short time to impress the corporal this we found later Is a serious tactical blunder arid and a discredit to the ethics of goldbrick ing the sooner you finish a job the sooner you start in on the next the corporal liked our work unfortunately kannapolis Kanna polls was allowed to sort sori garbage and I 1 was promoted to the pot and pan polishing section I 1 was themos themes Ko keness assistant he washed and I 1 dried later we i formed a goldbricking gold bricking entente we both washed and made conrad wilson dry pollyanna the glad girl would have found something silver lined about the hot sink so did 1 I at least 1 I 1 told Ko kokenes kenei this will give my back a chance to recover from that mop when I 1 said mop the mess sergeant handed me one he wanted to be able to see his face in the kitchen floor after lunch he wanted the back porch polished we left the reception center hall ball a better place to eat in at A i when you finish cleaning those canso cans I 1 want to be able to see my bacq ace la in them any rate but KP Is like a womans comans work never really done conrad wilson marked one caldron and at the end of the day we found that we had washed it 11 twenty two times jack mulligan helped me up the last ten steps to the squad room I 1 finally got to the side of my bunk gentlemen I 1 said to the group which gathered around to scoop me off ff thi the floor 1 I dont ever want to see gee another kitchell kitche nl the next morning we were classified and assigned to the field artillery replacement center gene shumate and I 1 were classified as cooks I 1 am a semiskilled semi skilled cook they so say y although the only egg I 1 ever tried to try fry was later used as 89 a tire patch the other cooks include postal clerks tractor salesmen railroad engineers ri bricklayers and one blacksmith but well learn already ive learned to make beds sweep mop wath wash windows and sew a fine seam when congress lets me go home will I 1 make some som k woman a good wifel wife I 1 1 CHAPTER ill III I 1 tiptoed into the squad room so th that atthe the sergeant notice that I 1 was wearing fatigue clothes Ms his voice rang out to me as I 1 passed palsied Ms his door and I 1 slunk in I 1 guiltily the sergeants gerge ants face showed that b h wa hurt you were on KP again today you hargrove j 1 I 1 lowered lowered i my eyes and scuffed my too toe against the floor yes sir 1 oh 1 I ge t 10 lo to disco discouraged u ry ad some tir times ribs the sergeant sald sal d try so hard to make something ot of you and what good does it do every time I 1 go through the kitchen I 1 see you in there scrubbing the sink dinkl how many times have you been on KP this week only three times sir I 1 said avoiding his eyes it was all the corporals fault sir I 1 said looking around to make sure that the corporal there to defend himself just because I 1 right faced a few times when I 1 was supposed tup posed to left face and I 1 when I 1 should have and because I 1 forgot and smoked in ranks and a few other things like that and said the sergeant shaking his head sadly you just turned around casually every time lie he or dered about face and you kept watching your feet all through drill and you stayed out of step all morn tag ing and you took those plo strides of yours and walked all over the man in front of you and you sassed cassed the drillmaster three t times and you generally spoiled spoil ed the whole mornings morning s drill why cant you be a good boy and learn the drills 1 I dont mean to be bad sir I 1 said and another thing the sergeant moaned why must you III all hargrove lie said mopping m his brow youre not supposed to salute a noncommissioned commissioned non officer lust just go to bed say sir air to the noncommissioned officers and forget to salute the commissioned co M ones he mopped his forehead wearily do you know what the top sergeant told me today no sir I 1 said twisting my cap and awaiting the worst he said and dont sir me that when the battery commander had you on the carpet yesterday you stood there leaning on the table and you shifted your feet eight times and you saluted tour four times during his talk and when you saluted you gave a european heel click and bowed and when the captain dis missed you you told him thank you sergeant and forgot to salute when you left 1 I remembered it on the way back to the barracks sir air I 1 explained then I 1 went all the way back to the de orderly room and saluted him properly holy jumping Jehosha phat moaned the sergeant was there anything else sir afir I 1 asked to in a whisper all hargrove he said wiping great drops of perspiration from his forehead thank you sir I 1 said I 1 saluted clicking my heels and turned to go hargrove the tired voice said youre not supposed to salute a non noncommissioned commis stoned never mind hargrove just go to bed IBI 1131 just look ook at me the exercise sergeant roars in a voice that would go tow four miles against the wind just juit looka I 1 weigh two hundred and eight pounds and im in the worst physical condition ive ever been in I 1 ought to be busted tor for the way ive allowed myself to get fat and flab byl im as hamedl you look at the exercise sergeant sr geant and wonder what hes leading up to to you he looks like tre the after taking part of a malted yeast advertisement verti he could probably lick his weight in police dogs his next statement explains everything ery thing now im going to show you an exercise that s so simple its irs almost ridiculous even I 1 can do it now I 1 dont want to hear anybody down there admitting he hes I 1 in worse shape than I 1 am it if I 1 can do it you can do it or elsel else I 1 he outlines the exercise and you begin wondering how a contortion haip happened ened to wind up at fort bragg this self styled tat fat and flabby 1 calisthenics master ma ter have any knees or elbows you stand there waiting to hear his spine tall fall apart under tinder the strain but he omes comes up all in one piece the way I 1 want you boys IQ lado do IV it he says bermina ghoca fully you begin gin io to fe feet el your our face getting gray and you wonder why a bolt of lightning come to deliver you brorn the prospective t torture or one two three r four our five six seven eight one tw two 11 the first three or tour four times are the hardest after that you get the swing of it its really tome tame stuff you decide the next exercise says t the he sergeant Is what we call the quarter hall half and full knee bend it goes like this ho he shows you when you see it the corners of your mouth go 90 up in a sneer of derision unless the corporal is looking ho he hum you say to yourself why do they take up time with this play exercise one two I 1 three four quarter half full recover rec over your knees get that tired feeling after the third time after the sixth time you feel your eyes getting glassy after the ninth youre boat ing in space by the time the exercise is over nothing matters any more A messenger from the batte battery ry orderly room mounts the platform an and d talks for a while to the e exercise sergeant the sergeants face falls he turns to the ranks wa with th disappointment written all over his face sorry to tell you this boys he said but well have to stop here it ere no more exercise this morning all U play and no work you know what th that at means you have to take your typhoid shots now before you have marched oft off the drill field you notice that you still collapsed in fact you sou find to your you r disappointment that yo youre ure beginning to feel good all limbered up quarantine has been lifted for us of the july 17 contingency it if the he I 1 sergeant looking over my shoulder I 1 id d say it its s about time before our release from isolation army style I 1 was able to get around and swap lies and gripes with every one of the boys in our group A little under per cent of them came up with the same account which reads as follows our battery has the worst food in the army weve we ve got the worst sergeant in in the battery no kidding though our platoon makes all the others look crummy here two weeks already and I 1 haven t pulled KP or had the sergeant jump me a time yet dont don t tell a soul but I 1 think they re going to make me a corporal adlof all of which is a lot of hot air actually fighting to get into the mess hall first at every meal gaining weight and tanning where they used to blister sassing their sergeants who deplore them as a s the sorriest sarri est lrich bunch 0 of rookies they ever sweated over every one of them has been on KP at least once As for being made corporals in the next few days ho hum pa by the tha tune time congress says I 1 may go home and be a mere ci civilian villan again I 1 suppose ill be the best soldier at fort bragg at least I 1 seem to get more individual attention than anyone else private tutoring I 1 always tell the boys we were at work theother the other morning learning how to handle a rifle the sergeant was putting us through our paces hargrove he said with infinite sweetness where Is the balance of your rifle this is all the supply sergeant gave me sir I 1 said 1 I thought it was all here the sergeant slapped his forehead an and d mumbled something furiously under his breath wonder child hs he said this pointing is the balance of your rifle I 1 cant imagine why they call it that unless its because when you hold the rifle there hargrove Hare rove he said eald where Is the balance of your rifle with one hand its balanced lie he then went on tor for a i few minutes explaining pla ining a few of the things I 1 had bad still failed to master now do you understand it he asked beaming at me with a look made of all sweet accord ITO BE CONTINUED |