Page 167 - Anthology

After basic, I went to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, for only a week before being sent to Fort Benning,
Georgia.

While at Fort Benning, I pulled a little prank on the Sergeant. We were in an area called Sand Hill. The
Sergeant was always busy; one day I saw a group of five or six men standing around, so I asked them
what they were doing. They were headed to the motor pool to take a driver’s test. I thought that sounded
better than me pounding leather as an infantryman, so I went too. While I was gone, they had a roll call.
When they called my name, I didn’t answer because I was up to the motor pool. They marked me down
as absent without leave (AWOL).

I passed the test to be a driver; when I went back up to the company the Sergeant asked me where I’d
been. I told him I went to the motor pool for testing like you told me to do. He said: “I didn’t send you up
there.” I said yes you did Sergeant. We argued back and forth until I convinced him he had sent me. He
was so torn up trying to get the company settled. He finally accepted it and I was sent to drive ¼ ton,
duce-and-a-half, ¾ tons and jeeps. I was moved to the main post and attached to the motor pool.

1951 Army C-1 Jeep