Basic Training

"Well, now, I was drafted into the Korean War. We call it the Korean War, but of course, it was a police action." Grandpa sits across from me at his kitchen table. "So, they sent us off to basic training. Boy, that was a time. We had to get up early every day, and be ready to march in formation. They taught us to shoot a gun. Of course, I already knew how, but some guys got there, and they had never handled a rifle in their life, so they had to teach everybody the same way. We even got to try shooting the machine guns, they had targets set up down the range, but sometimes the instructor would say, 'pick a tree, and take it down' and we'd aim at a tree, and shoot it. We'd take turns on the gun until the tree finally came down.

One day, we were marching in formation, along a row of tents. The drill sergeant had to duck into a tent, so he yelled for a halt, and we were all supposed to stand there, and wait for him to say to go again. I was standing in the back, and I could do a fair impression of his voice, so I yelled, 'Forward March!' and the line of guys took off marching. When we got to the corner, I sent us to the right, down past some buildings, and on down the road. I stopped yelling orders when he finally caught up, but nobody would tell him it was me. We were all so sick of marching in formation that we liked the idea of him coming out of that tent, and finding his platoon all gone. Everybody got a good laugh out of that one."