Pictures from Quartermaster School
Fort Lee, USA
I spent about five months in the Army Quartermaster school at Fort Lee, Virginia. This was for AIT (job specialty) training. I was an equipment records and parts specialist.
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| Havin' beer at the so-called "Head Busters" cafe. Most of us were in Golf company, some in Whiskey company. The little flag says "Golf." We were the only company I know of to have a logo such as this. |
 The Boys of Company G – Beer garden outside "Head Busters" cafe. From brains, to kool, to calm, to nuts – G Company had it all.  Here a bunch of the Golf crew are doing one of the company yells. Our "military bearing" carried over to our relished off-time.  Foolin' around outside the "Head Busters." I can't remember their names any more.  We have soldiers in this small photo from New York to Hawaii. Sunglasses seemed to be the rage. |
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Nap timeWould you believe it? My nemesis, Dorshak (from Basic), turned out to be my bunk mate at Fort Lee. Here he takes one of his many lunch-time naps (we were already pretty beat by noon). As soon as we got to Fort Lee, he began to irritate the hell out of me. He'd say purposely annoying things; he'd do stuff like grab my shoes to go out, and on and on. His "footgear" is right, mine left.I was on the top bunk directly above his. True to antagonistic ways, at night he'd often kick my mattress from below. I'd keep tellin' him: "Knock it off, or I'm comin' down!" Often I had to jump down and give him a wedgie or whatever and then try to get back to sleep. Most nights we eventually wore out and fell asleep. Other nights he'd keep at it, and I'd be tired the next day. He too. |
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Hotel PittPitt had to be the class clown in high school. He certainly was at Fort Lee. He was married and set his wife up at a local motel outside the fort. They invited some of us Golfers over to party.In this picture are Pitt, his wife, myself, Dorshak, and one other whose name escapes me at the moment (plus the photographer). And yea, I'm in the same room with Dorshak. I never would have guessed it, but I grew to like Dorshak immensely. We would drive out to places in a rent-a-car when I could get one. |
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| Sigmund and I and 'The Brain' is just behind us, who got the highest class scores. Sigmund took some time to get to know. He was from New York, and I liked to listen to him talk because of his accent. Every time I hear a New York accent, it reminds me of Sigmund. Like me, he was destined for Germany. I met some of the Fort Lee people in Frankfurt on my second day there, but Sigmund was not among them, and I was soon gone. |
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| Most of the persons in this picture I hung around with. Sigmund is
left, with Dorshak, who was originally an irritant to Sigmund too, as I
remember. This picture cracks me up . . . Sigmund puts his hand on
Dorshak, because, like me, he seemed to grow to like him. Dorshak, yet,
seems a bit blown-away by it. (Yea, we like ya.) Dorshak was headed to
Airborne school next. Third from the left is Dempster. He was from Louisiana and really had a Louisiana accent. Used to talk with him a lot. The tall soldier in the middle is Pitt. The second-to-rightmost was Gabriel (also in basic with me) from Chicago. We took a trip to New York one weekend and had a blast. He and I also drove back to Chicago together after we were done at Fort Lee. I think he was going to Germany as well. Never saw him there, though. |
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| On the left is Hamet, the "as if" man. He said that constantly. I'm right next to him, and Walker is to the right of me (I think the one on the far right was also named Walker, but I can't remember). Walker was at Fort Leonard Wood with us, and he and a buddy of his wrote out a cadence (song) for our company – Echo Company – that everyone adopted. I think he might have gone to Germany too. |
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After Fort Lee, I was destined for Europe, which I had asked for. That upped my minimum active duty service requirement from two years to three. But I was offered a bonus and ended up going four. I was fairly sure I'd end up in Germany (the odds were that). But for the time, I just had to wonder where I'd end up (and keep my fingers crossed). Before the plane ride, I was able to take a couple of weeks of leave time, so everyone back home could get a chance to see the new haircut I was sporting. |
