Basic training Part 2.2

The one time I pulled KP in basic was when one of my Platoon friends wanted to play football for the 2nd Brigade Saints Football Team.  He found out that he was on the KP roster the Saturday of the game.  I told him that after breakfast I would come down and ask to replace him so he could play.  It was a Saturday and we didn't have anything scheduled that day so what the heck.  I went into the mess Hall after breakfast and asked to see the First Cook.  I told him that I had volunteered to replace my friend so he could go play football.  The First cook hollered "DRO"  and a guy in a fairly clean uniform came over.  He was told to go out side and relieve Parnell from cleaning those Pots and Pans. I was then asked if I knew how to run a buffer and clean.  You bet I do, and I did.  I really cleaned up that dinning room and it stood tall when the noon lunch rush hit.  I worked that hard after lunch and the First Cook at least acted amazed that I even wanted to wax part of the floor.  That mission was accomplished and I was no worse for the wear.

You remember from the last story I told you about the only weekend end I had off in Basic?  Well, the same guy I had done KP for was on the same bus I took to Springfield.  He and four others were going to go find a cowboy bar and see if the girls liked men in uniform.  I went back to our barracks on Sunday Afternoon and those other four guys came dragging in almost too late.  I asked where Parnell was and was told that he was at the post Hospital getting the dressing changed on his head wound.  He showed up a couple hours later and when he took off his green jacket, it was clear that only about half of his uniform shirt was left.  He was covered with scrapes and bruises. When he took off his hat, the top of his head was covered with a bandage.  It seems that the cowgirls loved the guys but, the cowboys took real offense at attempts to meet and mate.  My friend Parnell shouted KI-AAH! when the first cowboy approached and was promptly hit over the head with a beer bottle. He said that he played rear guard as the others escaped from the bar but he took a lot of the attention and it wasn't much fun.  He said that the only thing that saved him from worse injury was the fact that he was able to slide under a pick up truck and the cowboys left him alone.  Funny thing - no one called the cops and even when he went to the local hospital no one seemed to think that it was out of the ordinary that a bunch of GI's were thrown out of a Cow Boy Bar in Springfield.  Hand to hand training might work on the battlefield but not in in a bar.

PVT Petty aka MUD