Show see here a private hargrove by murion marion hargrove iwko I 1 SY SYNOPSIS Norsis CHAPTER I 1 edwa edward rd thomas thoma marto marion n law lawton to n hargrove feature editor of 0 f the charlotte Char lotts N C news receives receive e I 1 a 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 I 1 issues issues his quota ot of tree free advice to prospective inductees duc tees after his induction hargrove with his new buddies leaves for fort bragg where he Is to receive nil his basic training CHAPTER 11 II private hargrove tells of the physical exam the first few days ot of army how he was outfitted with his uniform and how on the sixth day he received his first KP duty d u ty he to Is classified as a send semi sen d skilled killed cook CHAPTER III hargrove relates his conversation with his sergeant who is trying to find out why he spends so much time on KP duty he also reports on the session the train trainees e es are put through by the exercise sergeant he has trouble learning 7 how to handle his rifle and Is given plenty of special attention by the sergeant and corporal the sergeant gasped where would you get a torpedo he demanded the guard smiled brightly the same place you got that damned battleship he said heroes are born not made sa theres therea one job here that is nothing but gold goldbricking bricking in itself the ahe latrine orderly detail you go to work after lunch and spend the rest of the afternoon watching the fire in the water heater and feeding it regularly every two hours the next morning you sweep and mop the washroom and spend the rest of the time until lunch watching the fire again all in all you lead a lazy carefree existence there was a slipup sripup somewhere yesterday I 1 was latrine orderly instead of a KP it was probably the mess sergeants idea the boys bois started out after lunch tor for en an afternoon of drilling in the b I 1 the guards answer was prompt and decisive id call the corporal to haul away your dead body sir warm carolina sunshine and learning to drive trucks across ditches an hour later I 1 decided to take a casual look at the boiler bailer when I 1 opened the furnace room door a blast of strong brownish smoke struck me to the ground I 1 lay there tor for several minutes tapping r ny my forehead thoughtfully while m more ore smoke poured out when it still slackened alter after five minutes I 1 crawled under the layer of smoke to the boiler there the sickening vapor was pouring nonchalantly through clinks in the door dont come telling ii me ne about it said sergeant ma davidson take out the pipes ond end clean them an all of them I 1 had to see the top sergeant to get my instructions when 1 I returned to sergeant davidson I 1 was happy again ma I 1 told him the top kick says ays fa tor ar yau you to supervise the job the sergeant was furious with rage and frustration I 1 grabbed a screwdriver and he grabbed private downer who had bad a blacic mark by his big name for not wearing his identification tag the three of us started work first p put U t out the fire in the boiler shake I 1 it t down throw ashes ash on it it still burns shake it dovi down more re th throw row sand on it still burns close the bottom door shake it down more throw ashes and sand on it curse curs it after too long it dies the man who d devised eals ed the system for connecting an indoor boiler and an outdoor chimney should be parched with his own pipes and stuffed with oily soot unscrew a pipe lift it gently coax it from its socket rocket easy does it careful there when you have it almost out inhale for your sigh of relief crasha the whole network of pipe pipes bounces off theolor the floor scattering ashes and soot over half the battery area A after fer eli gaff ifan an hour ot of scrubbing and n d wiping the interior regions of a all II 11 the pipes ready to go up again all but one of them are in place and the last one is ready to be fitted careful therel there ea easy sy bowl watch cull catch it the boys come in from the drill 1 field i eld at and head for the showers e rs there is no hot water get a load of 0 that hargrove they fume in an unnecessarily nasty manner he gets a job where all he has to do Is throw a shovel of coal on the fire every two hours and then when we come in there i jaent aint no hot water there aint even la no 0 fire throw the bum out pa I 1 grinned weakly as I 1 reported to the supply sergeant for work you must be that nice sergeant thomas W israel ive heard so many nice things about no little man he said im the nice sergeant israel youve been running your loud mouth about im the nice sergeant who always gives you the wrong clothing sizes arid and hides your laundry and does all those awful things youve been telling about me so help me sergeant I 1 protested tested 1 I never named thee but to praise ben been trying to poison your mind against me 1 I am also the nice sergeant he said who Is going to let you earn your seventy cents today take off your fatigue blouse my man and prepare to sweat today we make mak 0 pr progress 0 gress we are going to unpack rifles it seems to me that when the manufacturer prepares to pack a box of army rifles his cruel streak comes out at its worst from the look of the rifles he has his three year old daughter prepare a compound of molasses pitch and u used sc d motor oil the gooler goo ler the better he slings each gun into the resulting im mess ess sloshes slashes it around for a while arl and d then lays it neatly into the box you use a swab about the size of a tablecloth to wipe the grease from the rifle when youre halfway through the first rifle you have to use the gun to wipe the grease from the cloth when you have finished you need a large coal shovel to wipe the grease off yourself there is nothing so conducive to itching as the inability to scratch just when the molasses pitch axle grease mixture covers your hand to the point where you cant see the outlines of the fingers that left nostril starts tingling at first it itches only a little and you decide to suffer it so you dont wipe your hands on the seat of your trousers instead you pick up another rifle and your hand sinks to the elbow in the goo which wraps it this is the stage where your nose gets peevish and impatient and decides to itch in earnest finally you decide to give you wipe your hands an operation which w aich takes a good three or lour four minutes for satisfactory results you lilt lift your hand to scratch your nose only to find that your nose itching any more mori I 1 was doing fairly well this morning even when you take the itch it ch into consideration until the mess sergeant happened to stroll by hello little man he sings gally gaily with a horrible gleam in pis his eyes youve not been around to see me ma for a long time arent mad are you I 1 look at my hands at the rifle at the old shoe and at themes the mess sergeant I 1 hold my tongue health is wealth we miss you terribly in the kitchen 11 he coos even when you go griping around that my food foad Is the worst to in the army I 1 just saw the first sergeant and I 1 asked him to let you be a KP just as soon as he can spare you oh were going to do wonders to that kitchenware you and va L he pats me on the forehead with ominous tenderness and departs 1 oak fl ail I 1 kilo the sergeant yelled out of the win at me so I 1 dropped MY brabra and went upstairs five paces away he turns for a parting snot shot blabbermouths Blabber mout ut I 1 he snorts I 1 suppose hes good to his mother though the sergeant yelled out the win dow at me so I 1 dropped my broom in the battery street lind and went upstairs he was sitting on the foot locker thoughtfully rubbing his chin with the handle of his mess kit knife ralph oxford got called up to the battery commanders office this morning he said and do you know what the old man gave him ive got a pretty good idea I 1 said it if he gave him what he gave me when I 1 got called up it has four letters starts with an h and ends with an 1 I the sergeant closed his eyes and slowly shook his head oxford a sore thumb to tha platoon like you are he groaned oxford got a bright red stripe to wear around his sleeve oxfords Ox fords no fireman I 1 told him youre dern right he aint said the sergeant starting with today oxford and zuber and roll and maclejewski and pappas and mihal lakakos are acting corporals corpor alst I 1 knew there must be a moral to ill this so I 1 waited for him to go on now why you have been one of those six boys he asked CHAPTER R V me the idea had never occurred to me im just not the executive type I 1 suppose back at the news the boss told me that if I 1 stayed there sixty years id never get promoted im just not the type that gets promoted lets look at the record said the sergeant he pulled his little black notebook from his pocket on the drill field saturday morning you pulled forty eight boners out of fifty marching commands everything you did was backwards friday morning you tell fell out tor for reveille without your leggins legging saturday you had ha d your leggins but no field hat monday morning neither of your shoes was tied and none of your shirt buttons were buttoned tuesday morning it was without leggins again im never really awake I 1 protested until ten you aint awake then he scoffed every monday morning without fall fail I 1 have to wake you up at least a dozen times I 1 have to look behind all the posts around here to see which one youre sleeping against you snore and disturb your classes tool he was exaggerating there I 1 told him I 1 dont snore and im sleepy only on monday morning the rest of the time im alert and energetic youre too energetic some he roared just this morning when the lieutenant was c och coach o ch tog ing the platoon in rifle sighting you were on fatigue duty as usually that was a pretty onel one you ran up and down the battery street twenty two times in thirty minutes and you saluted the lieutenant every time A mess sergeant according to military legend Is a cook whose brains have been baked out you passed himl him do you th think ink he aint got a thing to do but r return turn your salutes all morning this was evidently a rhetorical question to so I 1 answer it you dont salute an officer every time you see him when youre right there at his big side practically all day you salute him the first time you sei see him and the last time youre going to see him and then when the lieutenant explains that to you he sighed th then e n what do you dot dol the next t time im e you see him you salute him again and then ask him was you supposed ap pp 0 sed to salute him that le he put his head in his hands and drummed sadly on the toe of his big toot foot locker he raised his head after a time and looked irto into the notebook again I 1 knew what was coming next mhd and I 1 edged toward the door and then you low rated the mess sergeants recipe for creamed beef on 6 n loi 10 a sTand T rna told him fim f ha s i 5 0 vv was W as the worst in the army and you said you was going to start easing in the next battery that hurt his feelings so bad that he burned the potatoes tor for the next three I 1 promised to apologize to the mess sergeant the sergeant read out of 0 Ms ills notebook tor for five or six minutes more enumerating the things I 1 had consistently done wrong vow now do you know he asked wearily why you dont get the red stripes when they give them out 1 I suppose im just not the executive type I 1 told him ITO BE CONTINUED col E |