Memories

I got really lucky that they needed troops to stay at Benning.  They were still sending a few people to Viet Nam after their advanced training even though the was was winding down.  I could have been one of them had the higher ups had any animosity about me washing out of Airborne. We moved from the casual barracks into the regular company barracks as summer was beginning and it was hot.   Not just hot, it was fucking miserably hot. They separated me and my cohorts, Charlie and Dan, into different parts of the barracks though.   Charlie and I got rooms but Dan was in an open bay, like those for trainees.  Now I had a little money in my pocket so I said to myself why not seek some of the comforts of home.   I needed rock & roll music so I bought a cheap stereo record & cassette tape player. I picked up a cheap 19" black and white TV at the same place. I really needed cool air so went downtown and I rented an window air conditioner for the room...

After graduation from the Military Police Academy I moved on to Airborne School at Ft. Benning, Georgia, just across the state. Jimmy Carter was Governor and it was a nice change of pace for me at the time. Once there, however, I was put on zero week" with two of my buddies from MP School, Dan Nathan and Charlie Rein.   We weren't going to join a training company right away.  We were billeted in the "casual" barracks with other guys held there in what they called “zero week”. The company needed troops to do all of the grunt labor around the barracks such as sweeping, mopping, making dog tags, you know…real important challenging stuff. The Drop Towers at Ft. Benning Troops are raised up by cable in chutes and dropped to teach them how to land before the real thing The casual barracks was the place that they housed all of the guys who had jumped out of perfectly good airplanes and made not so perfectly good parachute landings. Their injuries weren't s...

Some folks might wonder why I would join the Army while the Viet Nam war was still a hot mess.   The war and the protests were all over the nightly news but I only knew of one person who had any direct experience with it, and I didn’t really know him. The oldest son of the Groth family had gone to Viet Nam as a door gunner on a helicopter in the Air Cavalry. He was on a mission and was firing his machine gun and was shot in both arms by the enemy.   He returned to the US, was treated and released from the Army.  I'm not sure of his long-term disability. In my initial enlistment I had joined as a grunt… Infantry.   Those were the guys that did most of the fighting and dying.   I only learned that after joining and that knowledge was part of the reason why I backed out. My two uncles, Frank and Dave, on my dad’s side, had been to Viet Nam as pilots in the Air Force.   Frank had been shot down over North Viet Nam but was rescued.   Both were fam...

After returning from my vacation New Orleans I found a no-brainer job as a car hop at Steak n’ Shake, and moved into an apartment with a guy I met named Fred Welshans.   The money from slinging burgers and fries, mainly tax free tips, was fairly good and I had a little saved up so I decided to register for Junior College at the Florissant Valley Community College.   I had to take general math because I didn’t have any advanced math other than algebra in high school.  I also signed up for radio broadcasting, and art. It didn't take too long to realize he math was hard and boring.  I also realized I didn't have the voice, witty repartee or musical acumen to be a radio DJ.  And I knew that I'd never make any money throwing clay pots or sketching nudes, though I enjoyed the latter immensely.  My concentration wasn't really on school, however, mainly because living with Fred, my new roommate, was a constant party.  Doug Murphy was friend from high...

After the first of the year in 1971 I was back a McCluer Senior High. Not much had changed and nobody missed me.   I was still a geek and my cool was 750 miles away in New Orleans. A new restaurant was opening close to my house called Mr. Steak. They hired me as Head Cook making about $1.40 per hour. After a month I was promoted to Assistant Manager and went on salary at $200 per week. The Head Waitress and I started dating. Pam, a pretty redhead, was a year older than me, having just graduated the previous year in 1970. For graduation her dad bought her a new car.   Not just any car.   She had a 1970 blue Dodge Challenger. Oh, how I loved that car. She had a boyfriend her age but, I guess she wanted a young stud like me “on the side”. Her boyfriend was a grease-monkey kinda guy with one of the fastest cars on the street. I didn't mind this at first. Initially I thought it was cool sneaking around behind his back but after a few month the love triangle was to...