The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1943-07-23

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 cheer
fully. 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 tor
ture.
Zone. 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.
"The next exercise" says the ser
geant, sis what we call the quar-
ter, half and full knee bend. It
| goes like this" He shows you. When
you see it, the corners Of your mouth
60 up in sheer Of derision (unless
the corporal is looking). Ho Hum,
you say to yourself. Why do they
take up time with this play?
Exercise one, two, three,
four" Quarter, half, full recover.
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 float
ing in space. BY the time the ex-
ercise is over, nothing matters any
more.
Before you have marched of 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 linn
bered up.
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 our release from isolation,
Army style, was able to get around
and swap lies and gripes with ev-
cry one Of the boys in our group.
A little under 100 per cent of
them came up with the same ac-
count, which reads as follows: sour
/ battery has the worst food in the
Army. We've got the worst SER
| geant in the battery. No kidding,
though, our platoon makes all the
others look crummy. Here two
weeks already and haven't pulled
KIP or had the sergeant jump me a
time yet. Don't tell soul, but I
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 KIP
at least once.
BY the time Congress says may
60 home and be a mere civilian
again, ! suppose I'll be the best sol
der at Fort Bragg. At least ! seem
to get more individual attention than
anyone else. Private tutoring, ! al
ways tell the boys.
We were at work the other morn
ing learning how to handle a rife.
The sergeant was putting us through
our PAGES.
'Hargrove," he said with infinite
sweetness, where is the balance of
your rifie?"
"This is all the supply sergeant
gave me, sir" ! said. II thought
it was all here"
The sergeant slapped his forehead
and mumbled something furiously
under his breath. "Wonder-child, !"
he said, 'this (pointing) is the bal
ance Of your rifle. I can't imagine
why they call it that, unless it's be-
cause when you hold the rifle there
with one hand, it's balanced" He
then went on for few minutes, ex-
planning few Of the things I had
still failed to master.
''Now do you understand it," he
asked, beaming at me with look
made Of all sweet accord.
mo, sir" ! said.
The sergeant sighed YEARLY.
Private Hargrove,' he said, fright
down by the next barracks there's
group of young people who are prac-
ticing with rifles for the first time.
They haven't had theirs for three
days like you have. Run along
down there and see if you can keep
up with them"
tried. There was some confu-
sion about the orders, however. At
the end of a movement where /
wound up with my rifle on my left
shoulder, the rest of the detail had
theirs on the right. I noticed also
that ] usually finished command
long before the others.
The sergeant in charge of the de-
tail commented on this, "You know,
Shorty" he said, ''you have all Of
these routines worked out much bet
ter than the War Department was
able to do them. Where it took
them sixteen counts to complete the
sixteen-count manual, you always
manage somehow to complete it in