Fort Jackson
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| Good old "Basic Training". I arrived at Fort Jackson that night to start my basic. Like everyone else, you get your hair cut off, shots and more shots, uniforms that don't fit, pick up cigarette butts that you didn't throw down and yelled at a lot. You find out real fast that you never volunteer for anything. I ended up at tank hill, A-2-1 for my basic training. I really liked basic, just getting out of school; I was in great shape. (Otto see me now) We had a fantastic CO, fresh out of Rangers School. Within a week, our whole company would run with our arms down at their sides. He was so proud of his company; he would run us past the base commander's office every day to show us off. There were several future ASA guys in the company and it was starting to be apparent to us that for some reason, we were special. We got out of certain details so we could go apply for our security clearances and take more tests. Basic went real good until I got pneumonia during the last week, the most important week. I just knew I would get recycled back. I stayed in the hospital for three days, gave the doctor so much grief, he told me to get out and never come back. When I got back to the company, I found that I had pass with flying colors. Seams the CO put different guys in my uniform to get through the different test. I had always been a runner, had fired expert already so he made sure I made it. | ||||||