I was stationed at Ft Polk for both basic and AIT. January through June 1966. We were mentally prepared to go to Vietnam. I was one of 5 of 132 to receive orders for Germany. I still pray for my friends and wonder if they made it home and why I was so fortunate. JohnCostello SP-5
I wonder how many made it out of Nam ok,. those that were WIA, and those KIA? They were not doing AIT training books when i did AIT. Just a photo of platoon 8×10 which i got a print from a fellow recruit who ordered and payed for at the time, 45 yrs later.
Company B-2-2. November 1965. Assigned to Company A Special Troops (AG) and assigned to building 317. May have out processed this person. Small World. Thanks for posting.
Did my basic training at Fort Polk in 1968. I was in Delta Company 3/2 and my platoon drill Instructor was Sergeant Willie Simms. One of the happiest days of my life was, following graduation from basic, when I was NOT trucked over to Tigerland for AIT - combat infantry. 😳 I went elsewhere for AIT and thank my lucky stars I didn't end up a 'grunt' in Vietnam. Tigerland trained more combat infantry soldiers that served in Vietnam than any other training facility in the Army. Thousands of Tigerland graduates came home in a bag. Many thousands of others didn't die in the war - but it killed them just the same. Those guys deserve an enormous amount of respect - and yes, your gratitude. They paid a very high price for a largely ungrateful nation. I am still pissed off that the idiot politicians went and changed the name of the fort. It is no longer called Fort Polk - but for those of us who trained there in those difficult days, it will forever in our hearts & minds be remembered as Tigerland, Fort Polk, Louisiana. ✌
I was there TDY for AIT in April-May '66. What a rathole that place was. Remember the wind blowing through the spaces in the barracks walls where the clapboard didn't meet? At least I was in "clerk school." After graduation people were being sent to England, Turkey, Germany... one guy was sent to Milan, Italy. His job was go to the train station daily to see if any soldiers showed up. The Army gave him an apartment, car, and a closet of civilian clothes. I went back to Fort Hood. Ft. Polk was awful.
@kelsolass Would you mind seeing if one of those photos are Leroy Backus please? He was C-1-5 and this is the first time I’ve found this yearbook. I got his military papers but no copy of his dress uniform photo. He went July 1966
A-1-5 Jan/April 1966. 18 years old. Hated nearly every minute of it, but did enjoy the rifle range I mussay. Couple of guys and I, none of us taking it all too seriously would salute each other, just to piss off the cadre dorks in the shiny helmet liners. Got my first Article 15, but amazingly still made E-2. Then Ft Sill for AIT, which seemed like a vacation after eight weeks of basic at Puke.
HEY! I was in F-1-5 in the exact same time frame! EXACT!! Tell me more! I only lasted 77 days, and got processed out due to a heart condition aggravated by the La. heat---so I spent some interesting time , like three full weeks, in a holdover barracks in the vicinity......amazing experience, full of stuff and characters no one would believe who hasn't been there.
@@williamcervetti1455 I assume you were drafted, right? I volunteered for the draft when I signed up with Selective Service, office in Berwyn, Il. Got my draft notice on Christmas Eve, ordered to report downtown Chicago Jan 6, took my physical and was on a plane for Ft Polk that night. Almost got drafted into the Marines. Now that's a strange and funny story I don't tell much cuz it's one that's hard to believe. Polk was a bear, abusive, sadistic, foul mouthed drill sergeants, bad weather, no sleep, meningitis scare (guy in the barracks next to us died of it), sleeping with the windows open in winter, hot as hell though when we graduated. I remember the sand and mud, and eating standing up in the rain with food floating around in those steel mess trays. PT every day, those horizontal ladders you had to do back and forth before getting into the mess hall. So where are you from? Did they discharge you outright or did they have you keep coming back? I knew one guy, rejected at first (heart murmur I think) they reclassified that way.
HI took me over an hour to find this reply of yours, though i did connect it to a recent search for the Ft Polk yearbook --anyway numerous glitches with my password and forgetting which email I registered with on youtube. SO I JUST now saw this. Much to relate. I have become somewhat obsessed with the whole Basic Training story, and some years back reconnected with my bunkmate and really talented drummer still living in Las Vegas after successfully working as a drummer in all the Vegas venues with some big names for years. I will save the real communication for when I get home in a few hours, I am at Wegman's superstore here in Bergen County NJ--- I repair over here for privacy and to buy tomorrow's Racing Form at the 7-11 nearby, which always has it ,,,,later "young trooper"!@@hiramnoone
Hey there---I don't know why that below from 8 hours ago displayed that way, or why the one short message I wrote just now apologizing for not having time tonight as promised doesn't show up at all. I suggested b/c of the nature of the stories I had to tell that it not be done on this youtube thread to be seen by the eyes of strangers. Maybe a priv message on FB or regular email? Up to you.@@hiramnoone
