Did a year in the Infantry while in Vietnam and was wounded 6 months after I arrived. If you think this would be the time period I would be glad to check my year book. My orders said advanced infantry training at Fort Polk, LA. ME!!! Others experienced many of the same things, just in different ways. A few still worked the mills, one of which, Stevens Mill, was a textile mill located in North Andover. Your story perked up my ears as soon as I saw Fort Polk. For those days, we ran in formation down through the parade ground past the reception barracks and under Highway 101 to the rifle range. Any veteran with a cancer diagnosis who was exposed to agent orange is eligible for VA Medical Benefits.

But it was this very sort of worker who moved his family to North Andover to help their children get a chance at a better life. LOL. Does anyone remember a drill Sgt. Went to Ft. Sam Houston for AIT training as a Combat Medic, from 01/67 thru 04/67. Hello I had 2 brothers who trained in fort polk 167 Johny Humberson and Gary lynn Humberson both were in Vietnam 19 67 19 68 if any one knows them contact me on face book Humberson david @yahoo.com. I came home pretty beaten up and didn’t ever want to deal with politicians again.

God Bless. Five, it was hot and humid and it rained.

Mine was Ft. Ord.

Gary, I understand. Thanks Mike, but I really can not remember my DIs” names. Better trained than the other “AIT” 11B’s I think. It was what was expected of me, and I thought that was a common thing that members of any family were expected to do. All but a handful went to Nam. NEED HELP WE WERE SPRAYED DURING TRAINING PLEASE CONTACT ME AT jimmyandclaudia@gmail.com thank u jimmy. ( Log Out /  Above one was the sign “white” and above the other “colored.”  I was educated as to the ways of the “old south” which had yet to give way to a new way of thinking. Still have my official transfer orders from Knox/Polk roster training brigades SSN ect. I won the trophy for my battalion for the PCPT. Obtained port calls and extracts from morning reports for AWOLs. I also got involved with sports car racing and became a member of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Took my Basic Training a Polk, South Fort I believe, Mar 1968. Made SP5 in April, 1968. I found out that summer two thing, first, I received 10 cents an hour more than a woman who held the exact same job and started exactly when I did. He was a soldier’s soldier and died from agent orange last year. We stood on that asphalt pad out back until about midnight. I was then shipped to north fork to perform kp for a few weeks while the quartermaster and signal battalion was preparing to embark for Vietnam. Change ). I was in Echo Co.in S. Ft. and Charlie Co. at N. Ft. TO MIKE CASLEY I hated the Army for that. My arrival at Fort Polk had taken me through the south that was still struggling with desegregation. ( Log Out /  BCT in Fort Polk, LA in April 1972. Proud to have been sent there. I was there until Oct. 1968, when I was REFRAD. In the bunk next to mine was a black man who upon hearing the news of Dr. King’s assassination broke down and cried. Levied to Vietnam but PUEBLO Spy Ship was seized and all in our class sent to ROK. Unlike today, troop numbers seemed to depend upon enlisted & draftees to a much greater degree than reservists. he really made it hard on us Texas guys. While doing so, I devised and implemented a special processing method for processing in reservists, and got a Army Commendation Medal for it. When I turned 14 I somehow learned of a summer job at Calzetta’s Farm. I took basic and AIT training at Ft. Polk July-Nov 1971. Each of these barracks had about a two foot crawl space beneath them that extended the full length of the building.

Being out of the bush would have been different maybe just more patrols as usual? Although I had numerous friends who got shipped to Vietnam, I was so blessed and grateful that my name never came down on a list, and I never had to go. Lucky me, most of men were national guard/enlisted reserve, after graduation I had gotten a copy of orders sending me to Ft.Polk Louisiana,AIT, these orders were canceled/revoked. The U.S. Army has spent considerable time, effort, and money on locating, identifying, and inventorying thousands of archaeological sites on Fort Polk and the property owned by the U.S. Forest Service where the army trains. War is not for the weak. Does anybody know if they had yearbooks for the AIT Units at Tigerland?? I still have that lighter today. Completed Infantry AIT at Fort Polk in July of 1971. Tom Rafferty who later transferred to finance , Vinnie Mulvaney, Tom Kirila, Bill Damrel, Willie Williams, Mineola,Tx are some of the guys I worked with. I was a kid (like most everyone else) when I arrived from Chicago at Ft. Polk in the fall of ’72 and early ’73 for Basic and AIT – I just wish I could figure out (or remember) exactly WHERE I was there….. Echo-3-2 comes to memory, but I’m not certain that it’s from there. Approximately one day before graduating from basic training we got our orders. Her driveway was less than a third in length of my own driveway which made the job all the more desirable. And his statement, rather than being a suggestion, came across as a command.

But that put a chip on our shoulders that we carrying the rest of our time there. Sgt Simms was my DI. As a 2nd LT got orders to VN after one yr. A week later orders were cancelled for all cadre at the Fort. Fort Polk,LA army basic training photographs. Our office supervisor was, if my memory serves me correct, was 1LT. We had been brought tightly together just as they had wanted. All in all, things could have been much worse for this 1969 draftee. Have picture of him from album. The quick build up of US forces in Eurpoe was to deter further Russian aggression. Trps, as well. I took Basic and AIT at Fort Polk, North Fort from March into August 1972. Of course there was no television so we were woefully unaware of what was going on in the world around us. In basic training we separated the NG personnel by regions where they lived in the US. The post was closed and we were denied day passes to leave the fort. They had not problem taking us from a march into what in the military is called “double time.”  This simply means that we were jogging, full pack on our backs and rifle in our hands. You knew where you were going when you got here. What they were was a box that contained a can filled with meat and potatoes, a can of fruit, a chocolate bar, and a pack of four cigarettes.

We reported to Fort Polk April 9, 1967.

Your tour reflects many of the same incidents I and many many other 11B’s experienced. I always had money in my pocket and that was what was truly important to me. "Each generation, there is a world of difference in the change of vehicles, weapons, aircraft and training methods and it's just amazing to see how things do change" said Army Veteran and Sulphur resident, Steve Flenniken. I would certainly be interested in seeing those pics, I was assigned to D-3-2 and in that time period I had completed a course at the Ft. Polk Academy and was serving as a Drill Corporal at that time. Don’t know if this is the same guy, or if a copy of his photo would help you, in any way, but, if so, you can contact me at richeyv@gmail.com, and I’ll be happy to send you a copy of the photo. The 1st Sgt was known as Pineapple. I was at Ft. Polk in 1968. After the results came back I was visited by two Warrant Officers and told that I had the highest score they had ever seen and that I could avoid basic training and go directly to Fort Wolters for flight training as a helicopter pilot. The CO told me that he would only hold me over if I went to OCS and that after OCS I could apply to flight school. That was my introduction to earning money, and from then on I was always thinking of ways to earn money. If you scored within a range below that you could go to Fort Wolters after completing Basic Training. Daddy helped bring the combat trackers to light. ( Log Out /  Anybody says the marines had it harder don’t know what they’re talking about…propaganda. He was a little squirt and I was 6′ 2″ and weighted 190 lbs. The choice got me assigned to Fort Polk Louisiana instead of Fort Dix New Jersey where most recruits from the Northeast went. Good luck, Mike. Training was intense. We were told that we would not be allowed to leave our company area that first weekend.

One woman related to me that she had worked in that mill for over 35 years doing piece work the entire time. We were sheltered from the greater world. I was sworn into the US Army on February 19, 1968 at the Boston Army Base. At the completion of AIT soldiers with last names beginning with A,B,C,D got orders for Germany, while E thru Z went to Nam. It had in those years only just begun to inherit the 2nd generation immigrants from Lawrence, mostly Italians and Poles. Selecting patches as statements military status ect. So, we either worked in the same office, or you worked down the hall from our office. BTW, you should be able to get a copy of your service records from the Veteran’s Service Records section of the National Archives, if you’ve not already done that. Anything from small groups to several greyhound buses.

Arrived at Fort Polk From Chicago where it was 4 Degrees in Feb of 71 and 70 at Polk I thought I died and gone to heaven until I met My Drill by the name of Lopez real asshole hated us Chicago Boys he said we were all Gangsters.

The Tet offensive had occurred just a little earlier in the year. Fort Ord was closed when I was drafted due to spinal meningious. If this was your training company I would be glad to send you the pictures of the cadre. I wonder how many didn’t make it back alive from those rosters? The Mess Sgt cussed us out like crazy. I went to ft Polk la right after basic training in ft Leonard wood mo I was at tiger land around June 1971 then I went to ft benning airborne. Got there about 7:30 pm or so. I left Fork Polk on July 15, 1967. I remember that Fort Polk was called “Little Vietnam” and “Tigerland”. Each job had a color coded ticket in it to signal when it was due to be finished.

After returning to Fort Polk in mid-1967, as stated above, I worked as a Personnel Records Clerk, and one of the companies that I maintained records for was my basic training company, E-1-2. Received Letter of accommodation from CO and was promoted to PFC there. I was at Fort Polk, La. I was stationed at ft Polk in sept 1964 to nib 1964 south fort . I was in college and had a student deferment. It was the only modern design house, a ranch, which was ever allowed to be so constructed around the otherwise colonial area around the common. I also acquired a negative feeling for unions, but that was due to my ignorance, and was something I later replaced with knowledge and a healthy respect for unions and their membership. The rich waited at the door for their 8 cents change after giving me 50 cents, while the poorer customers never thought to do such a thing. At the time, piece work was exempt from the minimum wage. Couldn’t believe the lousy treatment after being treated like crap in basic. Anything that was not related to our being properly trained as a soldier was not approved of. But we were also trained that we could not think about such things. Did see him again until last week. Jan 1967, about 4th week into, I came down with bronchitis/pneumonia, spent approx 3 weeks at Bragg hospital, after release was assigned to another basic training unit, E102 to finish where I left off.