 | Company C, 10th Battalion | |
On September 20, 1965, Stafford O'Neal, Leon Mooney and I left Engelhard enroute to Raleigh to be sworn into the United States Army. Earlier that year the Draft Board had sent a busload of us to Raleigh to take a physical and the written test for the military. Those of us who were classified as 1-A were told that we had anywhere from 90 days to a year before we could or would be drafted. Because of this response I decided that I would join the Army to get the training that I wanted rather than be drafted and end up in the Navy or Marines.
On September 21 Stafford, Leon and I were sworn into the United States Army and later that evening we traveled from Raleigh, North Carolina by train to Columbia, South Carolina. We stopped along the way to pick up a few more train cars of new recruits from Pennsylvania, who were also heading to Fort Jackson. This train ride was really an experience. Many of these recruits who had just joined us were drunk and using electric razors to shave their heads.
But we finally made it to Columbia and Fort Jackson. After processing in at the Reception Station we were moved to our sleeping quarters, which were large tents on concrete pads. We stayed in these tents for a couple of days or so and then were taken to Company C, 10th Battalion, 2nd Basic Combat Training Brigade near gate # 3. Though Stafford, Leon and I took basic training together, we stayed in different barracks.
As we prepared to graduate we found out that our Recruiter and AFEES personnel had got over on us. We had enlisted in occupations we thought were heavy equipment operators, but soon found out it was for combat engineers. We were given two-weeks leave before we had to report to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for training. Sergeant First Class Charles McFadden was my Drill Sergeant during basic training.
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