[downeaster]

I am not interested (read able) but your post brought back memories of basic training. It was Texas in August. Our DI would have us fall out after dinner when the temp was more tolerable. We called it "monkey drilling". Unorthodox commands. One of the favorites was "Simon says". No one wanted to the first out. He would do a string of commands one right after the other. The trick was to remember them. We actually enjoyed it.

Anyone remember?:

I gotta gal n San Antone
She don't like to sleep alone
Hip-hop
Wring out the mop
Left-o-right-o-left.
Sound off!!!

[John_W]

I took basic at Ft. Polk, LA. Our company was half regular army and half reserves. Hall of Fame tightend Charlie Sanders of the Detroit Lions was one of the reserves and they picked him to be our Field First. The drill sgts also let Charlie lead all of our marches since his steps were so long. He was 6'4" 230 lbs, so when marching in the third platoon like I had to, we were running most of the time just to keep in step. I think I've done all the marching I want to do. Besides I ride the bike for 60 minutes each day at MVP, play on 2 softball teams and play 18 holes once a week. I could probably still fit in my uniform but I'm 2" taller now than when I went in the Army at age 19, but only 20 pounds heavier.

When I came back from overseas I was stationed at Hunter AAF in Savannah, it's where the Army was training Vietnamese pilots to fly helicopters. By the fall of 1972 the base was starting to shut down and the flight training had stopped for the most part. Suddenly we no longer had new troops coming in, so even though I was an E-5 I had to pull guard duty and funeral detail. That was the worse part of my 3 years in the Army. About five times we were sent down to Jacksonville to a cemetary, there would be 7 soldiers each with a rifle and one squad leader. We would ride a little green Army bus for about two hours down I-95 and after the family arrived we got the nod, our squad would fire our rifles 3 times each for a 21 gun salute. It was kind of surreal because by late '72 it seemed the war was about over and so far away, and then suddenly we saw them putting a soldier in the ground.

[manaboutown]

During the first six months of 1965 at Fort Jackson, SC where I played in the band the trumpet players pulled the funeral gigs to play taps. They were the last to be picked up in the vans and had to sit on the motor housing up front since all the seats were taken. The Viet Nam conflict was just getting started for the US so the burials were almost exclusively for "old soldiers".

[NECHFalcon68]

Ft Benning - Jump School - "Jody Jody have you heard, we're gonna jump from a big iron bird..."
Black hats...beat your boots...6 minutes...stand in the door....1 mississippi 2 mississippi 3 mississippi 4...
Fond(?) memories of time 43 years ago and about 40 pounds lighter....
Can't walk a straight line now.....

[outlaw]

Have you tried line dancing?

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by NECHFalcon68

Ft Benning - Jump School - "Jody Jody have you heard, we're gonna jump from a big iron bird..."
Black hats...beat your boots...6 minutes...stand in the door....1 mississippi 2 mississippi 3 mississippi 4...
Fond(?) memories of time 43 years ago and about 40 pounds lighter....
Can't walk a straight line now.....

Enjoying reading all of these memories.


Here is one more big and heart felt THANK YOU to all of you. I am so proud to live here with you all..

[Whalen]

When my father came home from the Korean War I was little more than a toddler.
He taught me cadence and I would march around the living room singing:

Sound off 1,2
Sound off 3,4
Sound off 1,2,3,4
Sound off
Go to your left, your right your left....

There were others but that's the one I remember.

Thanks for the memory, a good one from a long time ago.

[Walt.]

This could make for some interesting line dancing on the square.
Perhaps they could play Vaughn Monroe's "Sound Off (the Duckworth Chant)."