INDUCTION to NAVY (En route Omaha, Nebraska)

INDUCTION to NAVY    (Today`s date  10-6-2012)
---- Leaving Faith , South Dakota)

Leaving Faith in the Caboose of the little train.... There were only a couple
of people besides myself...... The other young guy turned out to be
Kirk Hall , friend of my brother Joe.

This little train stopped everywhere.  I think it
took three days to go from Faith , South Dakota
to Omaha , Nebraska.

Waiting to be called to the Navy, I had broken a
little horse for my brother Neal.  Although he
was a small horse , he turned out to be spawn
of the devil.  He would kick and bite and
anyway--- I had something broken inside and
everytime I went to the bath room a lot of blood
came out of me.

I mentioned my problem to Kirk and he told
me I should drink some Castor Oil, so the next
little town we stopped in I ran across the street,
bought a small bottle of Castor Oil and ran
back to the train, drank the oil and waited.
It worked----- among other things I stopped
bleeding .    I was so afraid the Navy would
turn me down if they discovered I was hurt , so
this solved that problem.

On arrival in Omaha we joined hundreds of
young guys, lined up for physical examinations.
Kirk and I  both passed and we were sworn in.

Several hundred of us, now U. S. Navy sailors
were marched to another train .
This train was an old rattle trap, about a mile
long and already loaded with newly inducted
service men. 

The trip to San Diego , Naval Training Station
seemed to take forever.  Actually, I think it was
a little longer than that.   Whoever was in charge
of such things routed the train through the South, down through Arizona, on old rails that
had not been used in years.  I guess the
reason was to avoid an attack on the train.

No air condition  existed in those days, so we
tried to keep the windows open for air, the
trouble was, nobody had the good sense to
close them when we went through tunnels.
The result was we breathed pure smoke from
the locomotive `til we came out the other
side.

Finally, arrival at the U. S. Naval Training
Station , San Diego.  Kirk and I, both
apprentice seamen, were assigned to Company
174, Navy Chief J. B. Baker (commanding)

It became plain very soon that I was not
suited for the military.   South Dakota cowboys
generally do as they damn please.
Chief Baker apparently had orders from the
pentagon (or Santa Clause) to break my spirit.
I was assigned to clean heads--- that meant
scrub the toilets.

With my bare hands ?

I soon learned that little task , but
every morning we mustered in formation
and waited and waited and waited for the
Chief to come and read our names (call roll).
So,  I could see no sense in this and after
days of this cat and mouse game I went and
sat on the curb and lit a cigarette.

Guess what Chief Baker had been waiting
for all these days  ?  That`s right.  He had
been waiting for exactly that moment.  (Me)
I was assigned to walk around the flag pole
every night for a week, with my rifle over
my shoulder and my loaded sea bag hanging
from the barrel of the rifle.
The armed guard, in charge of guarding the
flag pole was instructed to poke me with the
bayonet on his rifle every time I slowed my
marching around the flag pole.  This was
for four hours every night from midnight
until 4:00 A.M.

Just to show me there were  no hard feelings
I was assigned to carry the colors (the flag)
in front of the company as we were trained
to march around the parade ground every
day until we were near death.  I think I died
but was too tired to know it.

The talk was going around about schools.
I wanted to get in to "Cooks and Bakers"
school and if not that, Aviation Machinist
school.   In my peaked little head I saw either
of them as a soft touch.
Kirk wanted to be an electrician.

Would`nt you know , Kirk was assined to
Electrician`s school  and the god`s of war got
one final revenge on me----Hospital Corps School.

This is just too agonizing to burdon you with
now---- We will go into the Hospital Corps school
next------ Cowboys have to suffer tooooo.

----- John Crowley