Show 0 0 see ere 9 private harbir hargrove ovel Marion ilo carion hargrove Hay grove fig wit MY I 1 C IL 1 CHAPTER XIII mil adi T 1 well we allt he ha said hemming and hawing a little three stripes means hes just juit a plain buck sergeant six stripes li Is a master sergeant im a supply sergeant two grades above a buck sergeant and one grade below a master sergeant im expecting to be a master sergeant in a month or so as high i as ai pyou you can get 1 I say anything for a while ajust just sat mat there looking like I 1 was it soak I 1 to n then I 1 asked him areal ai calm like ilke and ignorant how im many any trape does a private first clan have so help me he looked like he war vas going to choke for a while i then he came back with a snappy I 1 answer in a hash flash well he said first class private have one stripe just like us supply apply sergeants only their stripe i Is bottom upward from ours their stripes point down well vell sir air I 1 thought id die I 1 almost popped trying to keep from laughing but I 1 kept a straight far face a then I 1 said laid things sure have changed since I 1 was in the army back then three or tour four years ago supply sergeants were just plain i buck sergeants and first class privates were the only one stripe men yeah 1 he said sort of weak like time fume changes a lot of things anat was all he had to siy say he looked sort of foolish and pulled the ord cord to get off at the next stop so there was another bull session shot to hell bell maybe it was for the best beak though I 1 have a chance against a fellow with that much talent NI ran out of cigarettes this afternoon near my old cooks battery so I 1 thought id drop in on first sera ser a leant goldsmith who smokes the same brand that I 1 sergeant goldsmith Is the old type of top sergeant with a heart of GI shoe shod leather leatherland leat herand and a voice that would put the stoutest bugle to shame great gods and little paychecks he be railed look whets loose again the latest little man or j arent reporters supposed to know the me only news ive heard beird today I 1 told him helping myself to a coffin nail from his desk is that sending all the first sergeants in the replacement center to panama for lard labor service de polish your brass and you might make acting corporal be tore the wars over oh its lovely to run into an old top sergeant who cant put you on kitchen police when you sass back at him I 1 well son ron said goldae any time they need an instructor in coal hauling or cr fertilizer pitching ill write out a recommendation for you we were joing going to give you a specialists cia claUs lists tm rating in cavalry v sanitation before you left us you got a light have you U I 1 asked taking the lighted el cigarette garett from his hand I 1 dumped three more tags fags from his pack into tny hand and stuffed them into my shirt pocket our photographer smokes too I 1 explained i the in first sergeant ler geant over in your battery tells me he be sald said that you spend so much time on an KP that the boys boy au all think youre the mess sergeant I 1 how bow are things over here I 1 asked him now that ive left and an you have to get somebody else to do your year reading and writing youre a tweet sweet little lad ad har grove he purred we really do the basket had in it a cheerful little blaze tried enough to take action photographs I 1 on a nio moonless unless night miss you here when you were here I 1 never had to worry about where I 1 was al going to get another man when nhen there was a stovepipe to be cleaned or a street who to be swept now I 1 have to go and sear search ch around search mind you youton for someone chos been a bad little boy never had that trouble when you were ideas gerg sergeant bant I 1 told him propping my feet on his wastebasket you never miss the water until its gone under the bridge this battery owes a lot to me look out there at al that grass growing crowing in front of the orderly room that grass be there much less be that green it if I 1 spent time and labor asprin sprin wing kling it with fertilizer and think how much cleaner the windows were when I 1 was here to wash every one of them every week IT ill bet you had a clean floor in the bat tery since I 1 laid down my mop hows sergeant making out with his grocery budget I 1 asked trying to feed you on forty two cents a day the last time tim I 1 saw him he was working out plans to feed you on buncombe county turnip greens or pay you to eat at the service club oh that he said ive saved so go much on cigarettes since you left the battery that I 1 could afford to eat uptown now if I 1 wanted to an and d lets leave any remarks about bun combe county out of this and let lets a leave your feet out of my wastebasket pa from now on I 1 must deny myself one of the fundamental rights and joys of mankind I 1 must quit bumming matches from those near and dear to me mathat that Is if I 1 want them to remain near and dear to me whenever I 1 ask anyone around center headquarters even or bishop or bushell for a match I 1 get one of two answers both of which are getting very tiresome by now I 1 hear either the pat matter has your ore fire gone out or just light your cigarette on on one should of our conflagrations there should be a small arson in yonder corner since I 1 am a patient and long suffering child I 1 make no scathing remarks in return tor for these jaded witticisms I 1 merely shrug my frill frail shoulders pathetically and seek greener pastures it so bad their refusing the match the worst part of it is the reminder of an incident which might well be forgotten the incident is of no consequence but it might as well come off my chest being a slave to the despoiler of human health and well being the cigarette I 1 still have a fondness tor for an occasional switch to a pipe I 1 dont especially enjoy the taste of pipe tobacco and I 1 dont believe even the most avid pipe smoker especially cares lor for it most of them like me merely like the feel of a pipe in their mouths and the dignity and solemnity a pipe gives them when they punctuate their conversations ta ons by jabbing the air with it S smoking mo king a pipe only occasionally astill I 1 still have not become overly proficient at keeping the little things burning when I 1 buy a can of tobacco I 1 buy a five cent box boi of country matches with it half my s smoke ma ke Is tobacco the other ba half if is georgia pine smoke from the match I 1 was busy today typing out a oto atory ry and I 1 had bad lit my pipe tor for about abou t the twenty second time I 1 threw the m match etch into the wastebasket and forgot all about the whole thing I 1 m was ras absorbed in my work I 1 noticed by degrees that our office was wai becoming lighter and warmer I 1 noted the fact with a rich feeling of comfort but no great interest in finding out the cause it until I 1 reached for another match to light that pipe again that I 1 noticed my wastebasket the thing had in it a cheerful little blaze bright enough to take action photographs on a moonless night there was nothing to get excited about I 1 told the remainder of the public relations staff the sergeant majors corps of assistants and the aw filing ng d department I 1 nonchalantly put my foot into the basket and started stamping out the fire the thing would have worked too except that the length of my foot was greater than the diameter of the wastebasket the foot stuck and I 1 could not stamp corporal sager of plans and training leaped to the rescue pried the toot foot from the basket grabbed the basket and sp sped ed away to the water cooler I 1 followed him bilm and poured myself a cup of water I 1 still saw no cause tor for excitement to the bystanders catcalls cat calls un seemly laughter and accusations of arson I 1 turned a fatherly ear and a quieting voice I 1 explained patiently that setting fire to wastebaskets was an ancient and honored pastime in the newspaper world I 1 told them that one of the best newspaper men north carolina has ever seen uncle john dickson former city editor of the news used to set his wastebasket on fire at lea least st twice a a week by tossing cigarettes or bum ing matches into it it was a mark of certain industry a sign that a man was wrapped up in his work nevertheless the incident has bas es tor for me a now reputation of carelessness and absentminded absent minded noss ness one ona which I 1 do not deserve I 1 shall be hooted at 1 from the windows of 0 the service club even green ro rookies 0 kles will snicker when bhea I 1 dodder down headquarters rs street it does doe n no good goad to point out bu sheal w who h 0 often walks out ot of the mess hall hal with his dirty dishes in his ha hands or lU who puts puta new blades in his razor without removing the old ones and abid thereby y gives his face ace the old bacon treatment nothing does any good whenever I 1 try to defend myself I 1 get deeper in the mess I 1 idleness and soft living h have ave made my comrades a bunch of drawing room hecklers boy I 1 like to get these babies out on maneuvers with mel me IES maury sher my old buddy when we were together in the student c cooks 0 0 ks battery had been on an extended furlough before he returned I 1 had left on a three day p past ass tor for charlotte we had not got together for or two or three weeks week s so I 1 went over to his battery to look him up the battery street was almost em empty apty pty the mess hall door was wall locked the mess sergeant was nowhere to be seen finally I 1 f found a soldier who had seen sergeant sher abher in his room so I 1 looked for or him there the sergeant lay bonfils on his lazy back on a stilted bunk in his cadre room reading dorothy parker the windows of the room had been equipped with flimsy green curtains and partially deflated holiday balloons fluttered against them on the wall above the bed hung a small oil painting of a forest with an 1111 icy white mountain in the background A writing table had been installed and on a shelf in over his bunk were a reading lamp a small radio and a neat array of books I 1 stood there surveying the place for a while what in the sweet et name of military hardship ha have you ave got here I 1 asked him all this s place needs is a couple of morris chairs and a sign reading what Is home without a mother beginning to look nice aint it he said just a few minor bil prove ments here and there know where I 1 can pick up a small upright piano at a good price I 1 looked over the room again and my y eye fell on the resplendent form orest scene you get this canvas knickknack its an original it it aint nothing else but he sa said id painted by a erlen a ot mine u up P in columbus guy knocks them 0 off if like that in about twenty minutes how do you like jt it aside from the tact fact that the waterfall Is a little frothy and the mountain looks like something from a menthola tum turn advertisement atwould do credit to any mess sergeants room in the whole replacement placement He center you notice this he said lifting himself lazily from the bunk from the table he took an ordinary looking beer can with anettra an extra lid on it john bull beer he said cant buy it anywhere except in my fam ilys restaurant in ohio and pennsylvania he lifted the top lid revealing a businesslike cigarette lighter I 1 took the can struck the flint and a roaring blaze leaped at me it burned merrily away not bad huh good advertising scheme it should come in handy I 1 told him anytime the furnace goes blah that little conflagration would heat a whole barracks in three minutes flat he twisted the dial of his radio and a high pitched feminine wail bounced off the tar far wall ive been listening to the opera most of the afternoon the magic flute what happened to the magic skillet I 1 asked how come youre lying around here instead of bustling about your kitchen tickling the pal A have you any last words before ikass 1 pass EP on an you the sergeant asked ates of the men with your culinary delights as they say in the army c cooks 00 ks manual no supper tonight he explained airily were just changing cycles and there aint nobody here but the noncommissioned officers like my self I 1 told thereto them to go and eat next door this is the life Itte little man he yawned dawned nothing to do nothing to worry about just lie ile around read lead and listen to the opera sons sans a as we french say without care Vs 04 the first geree tnt looke d over his glasses with a rather unpleasant gleam in his eyes he glanced sig antly at the top of mayhead so BO I 1 removed my cap the first ser eer geant adjusted himself in his chah chad ani ands and s bleared wa throat 1 piali private afe hargrove he be began slowly and deliberately the government of the united states to whom no task seems impossible has tackled the job ot of pulling you a little of the way out of your abysmal ignorance with complete faith that heaven will help them in this job they have begun a series of lectures about why you are being trained to fight whom you are being trained to tight fight and all the other little things you should know yes sir air I 1 said hesitantly running my finger around the inside of my iollar collar you mean the radio lectures on tuesday and thursday afternoons from four until tour four thirty the first sergeant said the entire population has been invited by upstairs to gather in the mess halls to hear and discuss these lectures yesterday afternoon you iou on hand have you any last words before I 1 pass KP on to you its ita a rather long story sergeant I 1 began here we go again sighed the sergeant have a chair and begin breaking my heart it will make you feel better to have that off your chest before you go to the kitchen sergeant I 1 asked him were you ever editor of a high school newspaper la Is this long story about me or you the sergeant asked please continue with your story well sir air I 1 continued only a high school editor could know the pain that isita my heart only he could sympathize with me I 1 have gone back to my old job I 1 had years ago I 1 am again a true high school editor I 1 am editor ot of the replacement center section of the fort bragg post meeting such a dignitary is ons end of the greatest occasions of my life the first sergeant said dryly TO BE CONTINUED |