Pictures from Basic Training
Fort Leonard Wood, USA
Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood — I arrived in Ft. Leonard Wood for basic in the beginning of January of 1985 after a plane ride to Saint Louis and several hours on a bus to the fort. At first, the weather was OK — crisp and cold, but not all that bad. A week or two later, we found ourselves in sub-zero temperatures. What fun that was.
Here's some of the people I knew while I was in Basic Training. Certainly, there are many more, but I could only put a few pictures up. Since most of what we did was in alphabetical order, so are these ——
|
Avery
He was one of my most persistent antagonists. He didn't much like me throughout most of Basic Training, but by the end of it we were out having beer and foolin' around. I have no idea where he ended up.
|
|
Conway Conway was another famous antagonist; he and I had sort of a hot-cold relationship. He'd say something to piss me off, and I'd ignore him afterward. Then he'd try to be friendly. If I didn't lose the cold shoulder quick enough for him, he'd get pissed at me. Then I'd try to be nicer. Don't know where he ended up. He was from Pennsylvania originally (Conway is a famous name out that way), and he was the first of the many, many people I would keep meeting in the Army that had come from Pennsylvania. |
|
Dorshak
Would you believe it? — YES! Another of the famous antagonizers. This one and I, though, never got along during Basic Training. I hated his guts. He didn't like me either. I don't even remember why. . . . And wouldn't you know it, he was one of the ones that I'd have to contend with at my next post, Fort Lee. Dorshak was originally from Milwaukee. |
| Floyd
Floyd was a reservist from Georgia and one of the older ones in our company. As a part of the "buddy system" we'd have to check each other's equipment and so forth in the morning or whenever. He also came just before me in the Dress Green (with weapon) inspection. Unfortunately (for me), the inspecting Lieutenant Colonel asked him his civilian job; he replied "physical education instructor." LTC Alvord, seeing that Floyd was on the higher end of the (weight) scale asked, "are you sure about that?" I lost it. I tried to contain my laughter but was about as effective at it as a tin can shot full of holes is in holding water. Man, I thought the drills would have my butt later. Luckily, they didn't nail me for it. |
|
Myself
Here's one of me. Smiled for it, so I'm in the minority on that one. In Basic I got the nickname "Flash" because I was always being told to eat faster in the mess hall (or speed-up for something or other). In fact, my drill sergeant told me to be the first one out of there, so I ate like a hungry wolf — I mean really. I'd take a glass of milk and guzzle it, swallowed a burger without hardly even a chew. Soldiers in my platoon just laughed, since they knew the reason. A drill sergeant from another platoon just stared, wonderingly. He must have thought me a total slob. |
|
Gabriel
Gabriel was from the southeast side of Chicago. Because his name closely followed mine (alphabetically), we were usually together in training situations, but he was in a different bay (a large barracks room), since the names in our bay went from Engelking to Foley, including also Erkins, Eslinger, Fanning (a.k.a. "Candy man"), Finnegan, Fischer, Fitzpatrick (a.k.a. "Fitz"), Floyd (as above), and maybe one or two more. (Too bad I don't have room for these pictures.) Gabriel and I got along great the whole time. We both were headed for Fort Lee after Missouri. |
|
Quigley
Early on in Basic Training, I thought Quigley was the koolest. It was sort of unusual, because he was in another platoon. Unfortunately he decided he didn't like the Army and left the post. He either came back or was sent back. He missed some training, and got more than he bargained for. Floyd had to escort him along to the "extra training" camp. To make a long story short, he didn't graduate with our company, but in the next cycle. |
Meet the Drill Sergeants on the next page.
