Basic Training at Fort Polk, LA

I went into the Army on the first day of March 1967. I enlisted because my draft board had made me “1A” and said I would be drafted in the Spring. If I must go, I thought it better to enlist and get a school I wanted. I signed up for flight school and was headed for Fort Wolters, Texas, for Primary Helicopter Training. But first I had to go to Basic Training. And because virtually all helicopter pilots out of flight school went to Vietnam they wanted those going to flight school to get as close to Vietnam as possible. Fort Polk, LA, was as close as they could get. Heat, humidity, snakes, insects, and swamps made Fort Polk the choice.

On the day that I was sworn into the Army in Syracuse, NY, there were about fifty young men sworn in at the same time. Then with all of us in a room they started telling us where we would be going. They read off the names of about twenty five men who were going to Fort Dix, NJ. My name was not called. Then they read a list of about the same size of those going to Fort Benning, GA. My name was not among those either. Then the specialist reading the names asked where “Karn” was. I identified myself. He asked if I knew anything about Fort Polk, LA. I told him I did not. He then proceeded to tell me that Fort Polk was “the arm pit of the world”. He told me I was the unluckiest guy in the world. I was a bit shaken but how bad can it be?

Well, I can tell you that for a farm boy from upstate New York I was not impressed with Fort Polk. Basic training was just as I had been told. I was yelled at and pushed until I thought I was going to drop. The weeks wore on and I hung on! There were some important things I learned in basic.

In basic training we ran and ran and ran! Some days it seemed like we would never stop. Some of the guys “fell out of the run” which means they couldn't take it anymore and would start walking. That brought them extra physical training and a great deal of being yelled at. I never fell out but it hurt really bad during some of the longest and hardest runs. Feet, legs and most other body parts ached and were crying for relief. There was a great deal of me that wanted to quit but I didn't want to fall out. I learned to push-on through pain and fatigue.

The Army spent a great deal of money on me over twenty years. It cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to teach me to fly and then keep me qualified in the aircraft I flew. At one time they told us that the Army calculated the cost of flying a Cobra helicopter to be about $1,700 per hour before adding the fuel costs and what ever the cost of ammunition was. And the ammunition was was also very, very expensive. But the most valuable lesson for me personally came in basic training. As we marched they called cadence and we responded by repeating it and as we ran they called cadence and we repeated it. One of the ones they called when we ran had lines like this, “We can make it, we can take it, PT (physical training) so good. One mile so good, two miles so good, three miles so good” etc. etc.

Many times in my life when times have been hard and I have been hurting, my mind has returned to those familiar words, “We can make it, We can take it” and I have been able to carry on. Life has been very good to me but still there have been hard times and I do not want to “fall out of the run” of life. I am grateful for that lesson of being able to take it!

On most days in basic training we lined up for morning exercise before doing the daily run. Squad leaders stood at the front of their squad . I was a squad leader so I always stood up front in full view of the drill sergeant who was leading the exercises. I had a good friend named Ray who was also going to go to flight school and he was another squad leader. Each morning they would announce an exercise by number and then call on a trainee to say what exercise that was. Ray just couldn't seem to remember them. So when the drill sergeants realized this they would call on Ray every day. And every day Ray would just say “Ah” or nothing at all. At that point the drill sergeant would tell him to “drop and give me twenty”. Which means get down and do twenty push-ups. After a few days of this I laughed when Ray didn't know the answer. I was told to drop and do twenty push-ups too. From then on every day Ray was asked; every day he hesitated and was told to drop and give them twenty. Every day I laughed and every day I dropped and gave them twenty. Eventually they would just say Ray's last name and tell him to drop and without even looking my way tell me to drop and give them twenty. I always felt Ray felt better knowing someone else was going to have to do the push-ups too. I didn't have to laugh but the laugh was worth the push-ups! Basic training needed a little fun – it was hard!

Humor is a wonderful thing. I have seen some pretty tense moments in life and some times the right amount of humor has helped lighten it. Of course there are times and places humor doesn't belong but sometimes it is just what the situation calls for. There are almost always things we can do to make any situation more bearable! Let's not burden ourselves more than we need to!

Among the drill sergeants in our company was a baby faced looking young guy. He had served in combat in Vietnam and was the newest of the drill seargents. He was not assigned a platoon but did a great deal of filling in for the others. He was at the line going into the mess hall almost every day and every meal. He would walk the line looking for a uniform that wasn't correct or anything else he could find. We washed our hands before going to the mess hall line. Then we did the low crawl, the horizontal ladders, push-ups, and other exercises to get to the mess hall. So much for clean hands.

One day while in the line for the mess hall this young drill sergeant saw me smiling. So he ordered me to drop and give him twenty push-ups. Which I quickly did. After that he looked for me every meal time. And every meal time I smiled and then dropped and knocked out my twenty push-ups. I could do the push-ups pretty easy and it was worth it to me. I liked smiling and I believed then and still believe that he liked our little game. And he respected me that I would not stop smiling no matter how many push-ups it cost me.

Attitude is an amazing thing. Events happen in our lives and we cannot control all of them. Some people go through life and are very happy while others can have the same or better things happen to them and they are unhappy. Things don't make us happy or sad or angry. Events don't need to make us sad or unhappy. How we look at life, events and things is what makes us happy or sad. And the great news is that we can decide whether we want to be happy or sad or angry.

While we were bivouacked in the field we did training during the day. Much of the training was to go to the range and shoot our M-14 rifles. The range was about a half mile down the hill from where our area was and where we ate our mess. One afternoon shortly after eating lunch I was at the range. One of my squad members named Lopez came up to me and told me that Drill Sergeant Mitchell was upset and wanted to see me back at the mess area. And he told me that Mitchell said I better double time (run) up there. So with steel pot and M-14 I ran up the hill. When I came close to Mitchell he told me to "Drop” and get into the “front lean and rest”(the position to start doing push-ups). When this is done with your rifle you must drop and get your hands under the rifle to keep it from touching the ground. Rifle then rests on your hands during push-ups. I dropped! I waited! Mitchell was talking with some other sergeants.

After a few minutes Mitchell came over to me and had me knock out seventy five push-ups. Then he asked me if I knew why I was in the front lean and rest position and doing push-ups. I responded by telling him I did not. He informed me that one of the members of my squad (Lopez) had been carrying his weapon like a shotgun. That is a big time “no no”! He asked if I would like to go talk with Lopez. I responded that I would.

I ran back down the hill and instructed Lopez that he was never to carry his weapon like a shotgun. I was a bit angered by the extra work I had to do because of his actions.

Many times we make extra work for ourselves or others. Often our thoughtless actions make others live more difficult. Life would be easier and nicer for us all if we considered how our actions will affect others. Every persons actions affect others either for good or bad. Truly “no man is an island”.

There is one big lesson I learned when we went to the field to spend a week. We were in North Fort Polk and the bivouacked area was in South Fort Polk. That meant a forced march of about seven milesof about seven miles. (A “ced march is where you are marched nonstop to some place. It is a push hard type of deal.) Part of the way we marched and part of the way we ran. We carried our backpacks which weighed about fifty pounds, our gas masks, our M-16 rifle and of course we wore our steel pots (helmets).

As we were jogging along with all of our gear we went through a dip with a stream in it. The Drill Sergeants had thrown a gas grenade there to simulate a gas attack. So while jogging along carrying all of our stuff we had to put on our gas masks. Putting on a gas mask while jogging, carrying a backpack and a rifle is a pretty good trick. You take off your steel pot and put it under your left arm, you balance the rifle the best you can while you pull your mask out of its carrier and then put it on. Then just “clear it” by blowing out air and then replace the helmet and keep running. It was a hot humid day and after about a half mile of jogging in the gas mask I began to realize that it was filling up with my sweat. So every quarter mile or so I pulled the mask away from my face and drained the water out. I was sure this was not going to be a fun camping trip.

When we arrived at the camp site they told the men to ground their equipment. This means that we could put down the packs and leave them. We did this in formation and in our case it was done on uneven ground with tree stumps around. Unfortunately it was not done neatly enough for the Drill Sergeants. All the leaders, including myself, were called back and chewed out for it not being neat. Then we had to do seventy-five push ups with our packs on our backs, steel pots on our heads, and our rifles resting on our hands. This was not a fun trip!

The first day we were instructed on things to watch out for. We were told about the snakes in the area and they had some freshly killed ones to show us. Dark came before we finished training for the day. Then the leaders were told that they would have to go into every man's tent and with their flashlight make sure there were no snakes in their tents. The only problem was that all of the leaders, including myself, had left their flashlights in their tents. So we crawled carefully into our tents and found our flashlights and checked everyone's tent. This we did every day from then on.

We were camped on a slight grade. Every night we returned and collapsed from the hard tasks of the day. About four or five nights into the bivouac I had a frightening experience. The nights were hot and humid and I slept on top of my sleeping bag which was on an air mattress. I awoke in the middle of the night and realized there was something cold laying against the inside of my right leg only a few inched from my groin. Snakes are cold blooded and so the warnings of snakes getting into our beds came quickly to my mind. I thought the best thing to do was to lay very still, let the snake stay warm against me and don't disturb him. In the morning they will come to see why I don't show up and then they can kill the snake and all will be fine.

There are some periods in life where the clock stops and time does not move. At least that is how it felt for me. So after what seemed like two lifetimes I decided to carefully move my right arm over to where my flashlight was and then take a look at whatever it was laying against my leg. Slowly, slowly I moved my hand! The rest of my body did not move! The flashlight was not there! I know I left it there! Over and over I searched where the flashlight should be. Nope, its not there! Okay wait until morning! More eternities pass. Its still not morning.

Okay, I can't take it any more! I will slowly slide my hand down and ever so gently touch this thing and try to find out what it is. Is it poisonous or not? Is it a snake or not? So for the next long period of time I slowly move my hand down towards the cold spot. Finally I make contact. What is it? Its cold and hard not soft like a snake! Soon I realize that it is a tent stake! I had slid down the hill on the air mattress, thus I couldn't find my flashlight and had gone straddle the stake that is straight in the middle of the tent. I am both happy and mad! I am happy there is no snake and mad that I have lost precious sleep!

I learned that normally our fears are much worse than reality! I think I am like most other folks – too often I anticipate and fear the worst. I guess that is what the saying “A coward dies a thousand deaths and the brave die but once” means. In our fears we live over and over again what we don't want to happen. Each time we go through the agony of something we fear and most of those fears never really happen. Face life with courage and hope and expect the best. Then if you work to make it happen you will be surprised how good the results will normally be!

The last event we had in the field was to go through the infiltration course. It is a night exercise where you crawl across a field and bullets are being fired over your head. And there are areas where there are explosives set up and they are set off to simulate artillery landing around you. And at some points flares go off and you stop moving so it is harder to be seen. It is about as close to feeling the real thing as they can give you.

After a week of being worked hard in the field we went through this infiltration course. As a squad leader I was the first one through of my group. I crawled along and saw the red tracers going overhead. It was almost a full moon night. Part way through when some of the flares went off I stopped and noticed the sky and the tracers flying by. What a beautiful sight it was! I crawled of to the side of the path and told my squad to pass on by and that I was making sure they all made it. (They told us that if we panicked and stood up we would be hit by the tracers. I think it would have been close. Certainly a short man would have an advantage over the tall guy here.)

I laid along the path for probably fifteen minutes as my squad worked its way through the course. It was so relaxing to lay there and look at the sky. 'Sure bullets were flying overhead and there were explosions going on. I found rest and peace here. Looking above the confusion was peace and calm in the sky.

Much of life is like the infiltration course. Life is filled with things flying by and some explosions around us. But if we look in the right direction we can find peace and calm. We all need to find some peace and calm in our lives. No matter where we are, if we look in the right direction there is peace and calm. Look up!

The drill sergeant assigned to our platoon was named Mitchell. He had been to Vietnam and was tough as nails. He smoked filter cigarettes and after the cigarette was finished he would chew on the filter. I am not certain how beneficial having a filter is if you are going to chew on it afterwards.

In the company were two drill sergeants who were brothers. Near the end of our basic training one of them kicked a trainee pretty badly in the leg. I never knew what it was about but it put him in the hospital. The drill seargent that did the kicking was in trouble and was pulled out of the company. We didn't know what was going to or did happen to him. His brother was mad about it and the day before our final Physical Training Test (PT Test) he had the entire company for most of the day. He ran us up hill and down for hours. Our legs were back to feeling like rubber! We were all bitter about it. To graduate from basic training you must pass the PT test. Three hundred points was the passing score and five hundred was the maximum.

Just about everyone in the platoon had made up their mind to get three hundred on the test just to make the entire staff of drill sergeants look bad. Drill Sergeant Mitchell got wind of what had happened and what was happening. He came into the barracks and asked us to all gather around. We did. Then he calmly talked with us. He told us he knew what had happened and what our plans were. Then he told us to not leave a mark (a poor grade)) on our record but to rise above what had happened. That other drill seargent had a platoon in the company and he was pretty proud of them. Mitchell encouraged us to give everything we had on the PT test and show that other drill seargent that we couldn't be stopped by him or anyone else.

The next morning we took the PT test and I think every man in the platoon gave it his very best. Individually our scores were great. Collectively, as a platoon we were the highest in the company. And at the end we were told that we had set a new Army record for a basic training unit taking the PT test.

I have always been grateful that Mitchell admitted that we had been wronged. But I have always been even more grateful that he encouraged us to demonstrate our dislike for that other drill seargent in a positive way and not to let ourselves down! Many times our emotions would lead us to take action that not only hurts others but also ourselves. There are few if any times that we can not find a positive way to come out of any situation. It's always best to take a moment and think through our actions and their outcome. Will our actions bring the result we want? What actions will bring the result we want?

When we finished basic training there were nine of us who were going to flight school and we were held at Fort Polk for a week because Fort Wolters, Texas, was not ready for us. After graduation they told the nine of us that we could have a “pass” for a few hours. After being in basic training for eight hard weeks all of us were anxious for a look at the real world again. All eight of us got on a bus to the closest town which was Leesville, LA. I had not heard good things about it but how bad could it be after basic training and Fort Polk? I had gone to school in Georgia and knew there were poor towns in the South.

As we rode the bus into Leesville I was taken back a bit. There were many poor shacks and down right filthy places. Everyone was anxious to get off the bus and get to a bar. I got off the bus and asked when the next bus back to Fort Polk was. It left about fifteen minutes later and I was on it.

Later in the night the other eight guys returned. They were dragging Riley. I asked what happened. They said they were in a bar and Riley pinched this girl as she walked by. Back then Coca Cola came in thick hard glass bottles. She had one and she proceeded to work him over with the bottle. His head, unprotected by hair took quite a beating. There were probably ten bumps on his head. The next morning he wasn't a whole person. He just moaned and groaned all day long.

There are places you just don't belong and things you just shouldn't do. Leesville didn't look like the place to be for me and pinching a girl proved to be an even unwiser choice. Many times we are tempted to go places and do things that aren't too smart. Sometimes we do them even knowing that we may get a few bumps. Some bumps we make it through but there can be fatal bumps along the road. Riley's bumps could have been fatal. Life gives us enough bumps without going out of our way to find them!