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Wednesday, March 20, 1968
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Army life: follow the Guide
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ron Yates was in the U.S. Army from September 1962 to March 1966. Part of this time was spent with the Army Security Agency in West Germany.
By Ron Yates Kansan Staff Reporter
If you, a college student, haven't been in the U.S. Army and you think you are about to be drafted or if you are planning to join, you might keep these helpful hints in mind, offered without charge by a veteran.
If you are inducted into the Army in the midwest, chances are you will be sent to Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., for your basic training. Ft. Leonard Wood is affectionately known as "little Korea" because, as anyone who has been there knows, the entire terrain is made up of rocks, rocks and more rocks—just like big Korea. During your eight weeks of basic training, you will walk on them, get them into your boots, sleep on them, crawl on them and sometimes eat them along with your tasty C-Rations.
After you have been assigned to a training company, you will receive FM 21-13, otherwise known as "The Soldiers Guide." This is your book. Keep it, love it and cherish it. You don't really need to read it because as every good John Wayne war movie fan knows, sergeants don't go by the book.
On page nine of this paper-back goody you will find a chapter entitled "You, an American soldier."
"A great change has taken place in your life," it begins. If you don't already know this, you are in for a bad time. Because your platoon sergeant knows it and he is going to make sure you know it—if it almost kills you.
"You are away from your home and friends. Whether you find new friends and are comfortable in your new 'home' depends entirely on you," the book continues. That is not entirely true. You are away from home and friends, but whether or not you find new friends and are comfortable does not depend completely upon you. Your platoon sergeant and your first sergeant are your "friends" and they will make certain you are "comfy."
The day you arrive at your training company, the first sergeant says something like: "Is everybody happy?" Usually there is no response from the recruits standing in ranks before him. Then in prime voice, he says:
Now that that is settled, the cheerful man standing in front of you will get down to business.
"You bet your — you are. And don't forget it."
"We got any educated college men in the ranks?" he bellows. Thinking they will get an easy office job, those who qualify or think they can, raise their hands.
"Step out in front," he coaxes. About 30 of the 160 or so step forward.
"You people may be college man, but you ain't educated yet," he bleats. "But you soon will be."
"Since you people have been to college maybe you would like to help me instruct the dumb people in the crowd," he continues. "Move out and pick up any paper you see in the area. The rest of you watch and see how smart people do it."
All of a sudden, the ivy walls and campus dollies are a long way off.
"Oobey promptly and cheerfully the orders given to you," FM 21-13 continues. This means when your sergeant says to go dig a slit trench in frozen ground when it is sleeting and you are hungry, tired and you have blisters on your blisters, you grin, pick up your entrenching tool and start digging—fast.
"Remember," the book continues, "even though the order may make no sense to you, there is a good reason why it was given and you'll be much better off if you accept the order and carry it out."
Any veteran will tell you that while in basic training, it is not the best thing a recruit can do to question an order. Sergeants and officers don't like it and they will make use, if you do balk at an order, that you won't do it again. Try running in place for 30 minutes or holding a seven pound rifle in front of you at arms length for 15 minutes and you will see how they "convince" you to see things the army way.
"Some new soldiers think that
officers and noncommissioned officers live in a different world, or that they are deliberately trying to make life unpleasant for the private," the book says.
Veterans will tell you this isn't true. Officers and sergeants don't try to make life unpleasant for new troops. Somehow, it comes naturally to them.
"Don't be discouraged or afraid of what's ahead of you." FM 21-13 says, referring to new recruits. "You can take heart in this fact: millions of Americans like you have gone through this experience before."
See Army page 4
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