Contributed By Doug Ferguson
I just finished reading well-known economist and social commentator Thomas Sowell’s memoir, “A Personal Odyssey” that he wrote in 2000 about his chaotic life that shaped him from a poor black kid from North Carolina into what many feel is one of the true great intellectuals of the our generation.
His description of life in the stateside Marines during the period in the 1950’s, when the Korean War was just starting, reminded me of my experiences in Basic Training as a Reservist in the Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey in 1961 after the Korean War was over. There were similarities and also differences. Reading it inspired me to write about these and how I chanced to see some true unsung American heroes during my training.
The main difference was that when Sowell was in the Marines stateside, many of the cadre and officers he came in contact with were “peacetime” soldiers and had never been in combat. Few combat veterans had yet returned from the Korean war and were active stateside. As a result his account of military life after basic training was more critical as it reflected the bureaucracy of the peacetime military. Despite that, his Marine traditional basic training was far more difficult than mine in the Army as a reservist.
When I was at Fort Dix in 1961 virtually all my basic training cadre were either Black or Hispanic Korean War combat veterans and career soldiers. As a result, these guys knew what it took to survive in combat and what really made good soldiers.
I came to respect these war veterans and after re-living my military experiences while reading Sowell’s memoir, vowed to write more about them. With Veteran’s day being held this month, it seems a good time to do it.
Our Platoon Sargent was a tall, lanky black guy, originally from a farm in North Carolina who had been injured by shrapnel in combat. He had been returned back to Fort Dix to join the Basic Training staff there. He walked with a slight limp due to his injuries.
Our Field First Drill Sargent was a tough and well built Puerto Rican man with a slight moustache and a stern jaw who could bark out commands in classical “Field First Drill Sargent” style! He had completed his tour of combat duty and had returned to the stateside army. He re-enlisted for five years while we were in training. I remember his emotional return to our barracks the evening he did.
Both were career soldiers, having joined when they were very young. Each had small private rooms at the end of the barracks building where our platoon bunked in traditional “open” Army barracks style. During our eight weeks of basic training there was virtually no time when one of them was not there looking after us. The rest of our training cadre all had been in combat, were mostly made up of minorities and were all career soldiers.
Virtually all of the members our training company were reservists from New York City, exceptions being me and another guy from Upstate New York. I found out later that such training companies were nicknamed “Goldstein’s Army” by the cadre because the Reservist Recruiting officer in New York City’s name was Goldstein! Our platoon housed in our barracks building consisted of about half of this company.
I had heard the term, “City Hicks” before, but as our training progressed, I got to see how accurately this applied to this group! Most of them had never driven a car in their life nor had lived anywhere other than in an apartment with their parents! Their outdoor experiences in nature were restricted to Central Park or the beaches of Fire Island. Yet they thought they were really “hip” and tough! To them the whole territory between Newark and the Los Angeles was a wasteland, excepting only Chicago, as having any modern civilization! That included us rural “hicks” from Upstate!
On our first bivouac march through the “piney woods” of Fort Dix at coastal New Jersey, I recall a very funny event typifying “City Hicks”. We were plodding along single file with our M1 rifles and heavy backpacks through an area with few trees, but lots of scrubby bushes growing out of the sandy soil. Suddenly several guys directly ahead of me began shouting and jumped out of the path we were taking and scattered into the brush! With the path now cleared, I could now see what caused them to scatter. It was a small common garter snake!
I yelled, “It’s only a garter snake!” and eventually our single file march resumed. As our training progressed there were many other such events, but I will always remember how this “hip” and “street wise” group reacted to their first encounter to a creature in the wild!
Our combat hardened cadre, especially our Platoon Sargent, did their best to shape these city kids into some semblance of real soldiers without getting into trouble themselves. To a one, they exhibited a dedication and patience to this task, in spite of it’s frustrations that impressed me then and sticks with me to this day.
To me they were great Americans and were among the “Unsung Heroes” that reflect why our America was great in my lifetime.
Doug Ferguson is a retired engineer living in Palmer Alaska who has had a life long interest in nature, science, human behavior and American history.