Boot: The Making of a Soldier, 1968
By CRAIG E. MCKERN
Of I hr Emerald
The private E-l. his girl fol
lowing. stepped out from behind
the fetid latrine's combination
windbreaiter-door and faced the
young second lieutenant square
ly
The officer had noticed their
semi-hidden, kissing embrace
and stopped to investigate—do
ing his regulatory duty
• What company you from, sol
dier-’" he asked, notarizing the
private's name.
' A-5-2. sir," answered the 17
vear-old volunteer.
"You graduate today?”
"You’re damn right, sir.”
The gold bar smiled under
standing^' and drove off. leav
ing the slick-sleeve and the girl
to complete the long walk from
his company area to the frame
building for relatives and
friends visiting the 200 just
graduated green suits of Com
pany A. 5th Battalion. 2nd
Training Brigade i Basic) at
North Fort Lewis. Wash
He and his buddies had fin
ished their eight-week funda
mental course in applied war
fare—the notorious introduction
to the military' way known as
Basic or Boot to millions of
Americans who know of it from
highiy-active participation.
The troops t as soldiers are
collectively known), receive
identical training whether they
are regular enlistees, draftees
or Reservists and usually have
identical low opinions of the
Army’s methods of mental prep
aration for combat.
These methods include in
struction and practice in marks
manship. tactics, bayonet, hand
to-hand. first aid. escape and
survival (if captured by the
enemy.’' not from the Army*,
land navigation and a variety
of other soldier skills.
"Just like the Boy Scouts but
with M-14s instead of B B guns,
is a sample comment The young
trooper who offered it forgot—
perhaps because of the approach
of his platoon sergeant — to
add that the Boy Scouts were
never quite as demanding as a
sergeant in the L.S. Army
“What is the spirit of the bav
onel? KILL!
Basic training is an experi
ence that must be lived to be
fully appreciated as a program
of rigid discipline and intimi
dating harassment leading (the
Army hopes) to the individual's
submission to the system. Ideal
ly, the soldier would function
mechanically within his squad,
platoon and eompany, perform
ing routinely as a cog, but with
pride—esprit de corps—in the
wheel
“Woijm-b—no goon. Whiskey
—no good! PT—so good!”
Physical training serves to
build morale in two ways: it
boosts strength and confidence
for the soldier and is used as
punishment, most commonly
when one man errs, all go down
for pushups to emphasize the
bad example and his mistake,
which could be real or imagin
ed but certainly petty.
The social pressure to con
form to the Army way is tre
mendous, and each man is deter
mined not to blunder, bringing
on the disapproval of his com
rades.
“I want to be an airborne
Ranger,
I want to go to Vietnam,
I want to live a life of danger,
Kill me a few scroungy Cong”
—gung-ho Army marching song.
The product of this intensive
eight weeks of 4 a.m. to mid
night. seven day-a-week training
is a soldier, proud of hirnself,
strongly identified with the
Army’s operations and goals as
America’s defenders against all
comers, and thinking and be
having in military fashion.
T volunteered for airborne
infantry when I enlisted,” said
an 18-year-old Seattle trooper
“and I can’t wait to get over
the pond.”
Others, mainly draftees and
Reservists, were more conser
vative, but still strongly per
suaded that the l S. position
and presence in Vietnam is cor
rect.
'I used to think the service
was just a lot of marching crap
and boot polishing, but I can
see its purpose as an agent of
democracy and defense much
clearer now." said a 23-year-old
draftee who flunked out of
Washington State his sophomore
year. "All 1 knew was what 1
had observed about the ROTC."
he continued
But these reactions to the mil
itary are a culmination of daily
life in a coal-heated wooden
barracks first used in World
War II
With 50 other trainees in com
mon predictment, the trainee is
committed to from four months
of active duty for a Reservist
(ultimately six years) to four
years for an enlistee. The
short-time National Guardsman
or Army Reservist quietly
gloats over going home at the
end of the eight-to-11 weeks
of advanced training that fol
lows Basic.
The enlistee, and to a lesser
extent the draftee, need to jus
tify their participation in the
service as a desirable thing to
do Wouldn't you defend your
occupation as a student or
teacher as necessary and good'*
The soldier may hate it for its
harassment and manipulation,
but he'll generally defend it as
well.
"Hell No. We Won’t Go” vs.
“Airborne—all the way”
Dissension over Vietnam and
high draft quotas mean the
induction of many young men
without friendliness or optim
ism towards the military or its
offerings. Men previously con
ditioned to anti-war, once in uni
form. weight thoughtfully the
price of following their con
sciences by refusing service in
the Army: those who have re
fused are now either undesir
ably discharged and or reduc
ing rocks at Leavenworth. This
forced prostitution of ideal
amounts to the price one must
pay for the privilege of being
American, the draftee may ra
tionalize. reflecting on calls to
war heard by young men of
the world's countries throughout
history. The draftees in A-5-2
were conscripted not only into
a uniform, but into a dog tag
mentality.”
Conversion to the Army way
is aided by the instruction and
example of the training cadre
sergeants, the backbone of the
Army. Responsible for 50 men
and at least a ten year veter
an. the NCO (non-commission
ed officer) is a professional in
skill as well as service. Most are
fair and knowledgeable, many
have several overseas tours be
hind them, including combat
duty in Vietnam. Despite the
indictments against them in
soldier's letters home, few poor
personalities are allowed to
train the troops in Basic.
Private Jerry T of Portland
put it this way: "Our sergeant
is real straight. He’s ready to
go to bat for any of us if we're
right and the lieutenant or the
major is wrong: but he sure
can chew tail when we're not "
Another trainee. Private Roger
S. of Spokane felt that •‘the ca
dre are trying to teach us things
to save our lives in Nam. We
all listen up when Sarge talks
because what we don't know
will kill us in Asia
Training Inlfnw
The training is intense, us
ing Vietnam as a research iab
for gathering the meat of the
curriculum. Jungle camouflage,
boob;, traps, search and interro
gation techniques and etnpha
sis on night operations are add
ed courses The result is a sol
dier who is more likely to re
turn home from combat than his
WW II or Korean war counter
part. a new type of warrior for
a new type of war. At least this
is what the held commanders in
Vietnam hope they have in
their units—since anyone can
die at any time, their personal
lives often depend on the effi
ciency of the men in neutraliz
ing any Vietnamese big enough
to carry a small grenade into
headquarters
it is to the draftee's advan
tage ( once be has decided that
deserting is not worth three
years in prison) to fully obli
gate himself to the system, to
assimilate combat lore, to get
gung-ho All the games against
the Army and induction end
when the trainees realizes how
far out of his own hands his
life is. With no control, he
must prepare for the worst U he
cares to live through 12 months
of combat in a land with no
king's X. no sidelines and no
rules Anyone, the trainee
knows, who thinks he can fake
it in Vietnam will come back
in a cargo, not a troop, plane
It's true, so many people have
already gone and the realist in
uniform doesn't care to be next
in line. Would you?
Fruit Can Ashtrays
The private kissed bis girl
again as they neared the visi
tor's building, an unheated ex
garage filled with square ta
bles adorned by No. 10 fruit
cans serving as extra adequate
ashtrays. It was a dismal place
and then only for visiting, al
though warmth and food was
available a half-mile away
at the snack bar. the military's
idea of a combination restau
rant reprieve. Seeing the coke
machine in the garage was emp
ty. the G1 and the girl, lacking
anything better to do (facilities
being in short supply), started
for the Army’s Halfway House,
a reminder of civilian life for
those in captivity.
After enjoying an oatmeal
hamburger and coffee trucked
Oregon Daily Emerald
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vacation periods. Bi-weekly June thru
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THE
Cathay Restaurant
invites you to enjoy our
• Fine American and Chinese food
for lunch or dinner.
• Live music and entertainment in
the "Shelter" at the Cathay nightly.
• Fine bar
facilities
COME IN
TONIGHT
165 W. 1 1th
Phone 342-3391
in from an Army mess hall in
Alaska, the couple watched sol
diers without visitors sit and
exchange rumors, stare vacant
ly, practice totaling up the time
remaining in stir loops, sen
ice), or dreamily caress the Gl’s
plastic-fantastic lovers, the juke
box and the pinball.
The selections were telling:
the military is full of masochis
tic troops who played records
extolling, mainly, the virtues of
life off-post Married men favor
ed "Have You Got Cheatin' on
Your Mind." while reminiscent
acid-rock tunes were preferred
by single men Eating your own
heart out (or your huddle's,
if you could get to him) seemed
to be a favorite pastime, and
just about everything was car
nivorous on occasion.
Time So Short
The soldier and his sweet
heart, however, were being de
voured by the clock Their time
together started at noon and
would end, by order of the ma
jor, precisely at 3 p m. Tomor
row would tind her at home
again, spilling perfume on pink
letters for him, he would be
1,000 miles down the coast at
Fort Ord for eight more weeks
of schooling nerore, most pkc
ly, Vietnam port call.
Walking towardH tin- Ims tluit
would lake her to SoaTac, to
the plane of separation, the two
spoke quiet reassurances and
Kentlo IhouKhta to each other,
their speech interrupted by
sporadic firing from third •
week basic at the nearby range.
She looked at the painted sign
in front of the A 52 headquar
ters: blue background, with ’ Al
pha-Cators" in black across the
top, white borders, and a de
piction of an alligator armed
with a bayoneted M 10 herding
an Oriental type in black paja
mas, who was presumably a
J’.O.W The gunfire and the war
and the uniform next to her
brought the war 7,000 miles
closer
Eyes moibtening blurred his
face, and she began to under
stand exactly what and how
much could be lust in war; 20
years ago, nearly every mother
might have told her and she
wouldn't have believed
Now the kias goodbye, now the
lieutenant smiled understand
ingly, and now the gay blue
eyes matched the windy gray
of an afternoon in January at
Tort Lewis, Wash.
- <
^ 1. \\li.it on earth is. that.**
Thr wmltl's fii?H almost
pcrf'd puklr filt er.
2. What cl you mean
‘almost f
It keeps rejecting Jills.
•3. i low'll you make out
with vour M-if-sharpoiiing
toothoirk?
I gave it up to work
on my prc-stretched
rubber bund.
4. Ever considered going into
a field more likely to give
you a liv ing income?
But I want to be of
service to humanity.
And 1 like the challenge
it provides.
5. Maybe you ought to look
into the openings at Kquitublo.
They’ve got a wide range of
fascinating jobs that give you
the chance to be of service.
And they also give you a
salary you can live on.
Say, think they’d be
interested in my
fail-safe lint picker?
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Jhe EQUITABLE Life Assurance Society oi the United States.
Home Office: 1285 Ave. of the Americas. New Yoik, N.Y. 10011)
An Equal Opportunity Employer, M/ E k, 1008