Upon completion of the two months of Infantry Rifleman Training, as a Sharpshooter :), followed by two months of Military Police Training, including judo classes, I came home on leave (furlough) in November of 1953 for a few weeks before being sent to the Canal Zone, in the Republic of Panama.

On Thanksgiving Day, 1953, I was on the U.S.S. Goethals when we ran into a bad storm, that resulted in most of the thousands of soldiers aboard ship, getting very seasick.

They did not feel like eating.

In fact, only about six men (including me) showed up for a Thanksgiving Dinner, that had been prepared for thousands.

Grandpa Thompson was smothered with Thanksgiving Dinners, but, I was able to eat myself out.

They asked for volunteers to write for the ships newspaper, so I volunteered and wrote aritcles and poetry for the U.S.S. Goethals shiip newspaper, for the whole trip down to Puerto Rico, and then on to the Canal Zone in Panama.
Lying on the deck, after the storm, watching the dolphins, getting suntanned, watching all the others scrubbing the floors,and just scribbling away, all the way to Panama.

I was assigned to the 544th Military Police Platoon a Fort Kobbe, Canal Zone.

Still seventeen, I was probably the youngest Military Policeman in Panama.

Most of my duties were controlling traffic at the main gate, patrols, and I even worked in the jungle, learning how to limb coconut trees for something to drink, and on small speed-boats in the bay of Panama, checking small cargo boats for illegal items.

Here are a few of my unusual experiences:

1. Going after a crazy person, who ran off into the jungle. I chased him till he caught me, and that was the start of my career as Bring 'Em Back Alive Bob.

2. After bringing back that 200 pound crazy guy, it was very easy for me to catch animals that had wandered into the family housing areas. Most of the men were afraid of reptiles and other animals, so I accepted all assignments, at any hour, catching: anteaters, honeybears, armadillos, sloths, jungle rats, boa constrictors, and iguanas.
A very large iguana, that I was trying to catch, jumped into a group of about 30 Military Policemen, who had heard the complaint called in, that there was a crocodile on someone's lawn.
Several truckloads of Military Policemen showed up to see me catch the crocodile. When the gigantic iguana lizard jumped off an enbankment, into the middle of all those policemen, they ran screaming in every direction. The iguana measure 5 feet, 9 inches, and is by far, the biggest one I ever, ever saw. The other men thought I was crazy when I caught the iguana, and nobody would ride in the back of the truck with the iguana and me.

3. Another unique experience was working on stakeout, hiding in the quarters areas where women were being raped.

Even though I was very young, I was the only Military Policeman that every caught a prowler in the women's quarters area.

He is the only person that I caused to serve time in the military stockade (prison).

After he served his time, and got out of prison, I met him again. I was on patrol and got a radio call that a man was molesting a little girl at the Fort Kobbe Beach, which was on the Bay of Panama.
As I approached the beach in my Police Jeep, I saw a man running away, and....detained him (got him to stop). It was the same man, and he went to miliary prison for a second time.

4. I boxed as a middleweight (165 pounds) for two boxing seasons in Fort Kobbe and in the Panama Area. I won my first three fight in the first round, and was eventually awarded The Best Sportsmanship Award by the post commander.
My friends kidded me that I got the award because I was nice enough to end the fights quickly.

My trainers encouraged me to become a professional figher, for two reasons:

1. I was winning fights and did not really know much about boxing. My trainers felt that I could learn all the boxing skills and be a truly formidable fighter.

2. They felt that I had, what they called "a fighting heart". they felt that I had the greatness of a fighter, already in me.

The biggest honor I ever received in boxing, was in a fight I barely lost. I was bloodied up, and bleeding pretty badly, because I had run into a boxer who was really good, and he had had years and years of training, before coming into the military. In the final minute, I literally ran after him, trying to catch him. After the fight, I saw that he was afraid of me. When I exited the ring in my corner, the crowd rose and gave me a standing ovation.

During my years in Panama, I asked quesions alot about Spanish, and eventually learned enough where I became a translator for my police unit, without every having studied Spanish.

If I had a pass for a few days off, I would get on a teenly little bus, heading off for some remote rural area, and spend several days without hearing a single word of English. It is a great way to learn a lot of Spanish fast. Later, I learned that this method was called Total Immersion. It is a great way to learn anything. Being Totally Immersed in it.
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After three and a half years doing military police work in the Canal Zone, I came back to the States and became a main gate officer, stockade (military prison) officer, and supervised prisoners as well as transporting serious offenders to the Fort Leavenworth Federal Prison.
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I continue to receive a small, ten percent military disability check, every month, for injuries and surgeries, acquired during my nearly six years of Active Military Duty.
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My service time also qualified me for the Korean G.I. Educational Bill, which paid me monthly for four years of going to college, and resulted in my getting a four year B.S. Degree in Spanish.

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My overall attitude as a solder was different than most, because, I was a volunteer. Most of the men I met in the army had been drafted, and were not volunteers for anything.

This volunteer attitude permeated my military experiences, allowing me to get exposure to a variety of things that others avoided. For example: learning Spanish by asking what words meant (and learning songs in Spansh, and, singing them), boxing, catching crazy people, etc., all those animals from the jungle (that I knew first hand), and, being the only one in the military that was able to climb a coconut tree to get a drink for his buddies.

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During those years in the U.S. Army, I was trained in many skills, had such a great variety of experiences, met so many people (and animals), coped well with so many unusual situations, that it has instilled a sense of confidence in me, that I carry with me every day of my life.