Evening star., 1943-03-28
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DWMARION HARGROVE
MARION .HARGROM

an exercise that's so simple it's al
most ridiculous. Even I can do it.
Now, I don't want to hear anybody
down there admitting he's in worse
shape than I am. If l can do it,
you can do it-or else!'
He outlines the exercise and you
begin wondering how contortionist
happened to wind up at Fort Bragg
This self-styled fat and flabby'
,calisthenics master doesn't have any
knees or elbows. You stand there
waiting to hear his spine fall apart
under the strain, but he comes up
all in one piece.
That's the way I want you boys
to do it," he says, beaming cheerfully.
You begin to feel your face getting
gray and you wonder why a bolt Of
lightning doesn't come to deliver you
from the prospective torture.
"One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Six Seven. Eight One. Two
The first three or four times are
the hardest. After that you get the
swing of it. It's really tame stuff,
you decide
A Deceiving Exercise.
THE next exercise" says the SER
geant, lis what we call the quarter,
half and full knee bend. 1t goes
like this He shows you. When
you see it the corners OF your mouth
go up in sneer of derision (unless
the corporal is looking. Ho hum,
you say to yourself Why do they
take up time with this play?
"Exerci se-One, two, three,
four" Quarter, half, full re-
cover. Your knees get that tired
feeling after the third time. After
the sixth time you feel your eyes
getting CLASSY. After the ninth
you're floating in space. BY the
time the exercise is over nothing
matters any more.
The exercise sergeant signs with
bubbling energy and bounces exu-
berantly on his toes. Didn't that
feel good?" he asks. You nod feebly,
expecting to collapse at any minute.
A messenger from the battery or
derly room mounts the platform
and talks for a while to the exercise
sergeant. The sergeantS face falls.
He turns to the ranks with disap-
pointment written all over his face.
Sorry to tell you this, boys" he
says, "but We'll have to stop here.
No more exercise this morning. All
play and no work-you know what
that means. You have to take your
typhoid shots now"
Before you have marched off the
drill field you notice that you still
haven't collapsed In fact, you find
to your disappointment that you're
beginning to feel good. All limbered
up.
The Dark Side of Life.
I told our platoon sergeant that
it was just like carrying papers.
The bag is sometimes so heavy to
the route-carrier that when he sets
it down he feels as if he's floating.
There you go, Hargrove,' the
sergeant sighed. Always looking at
the dark side of life!"
Quarantine has been lifted for us
Of the July II contingency. If the
sergeant wasn't looking over my
shoulder, I'd say it's about time
Before your release from isolation.
Army style. was able to get around
and swap lies and gripes with every
one of the boys in our group.
A little under 100 per cent Of them
came up with the same account,
which reads as follows: Our bat
terry has the worst food in the Army
We've got the worst sergeant In the
battery. No kidding. though, our
platoon makes all the others look
crummy. Here two weeks already
and I haven't pulled K. P. or had
the sergeant jump me a time yet.
Don't tell soul, but think they're
going to make me a corporal" All
of which is lot of hot air.
Actually, they're fighting to get
into the mess hall first at every
meal. They're gaining weight and
tanning where they used to blister.
They're sassing their sergeants. who
deplore them as the sorriest bunch
OF rockies they ever sweated over.
Every one of them has been on
K. P. at least once. AS for being
made corporals in the. next few
days-ho hum.
Continued tonorrow.)
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