ON JULY 1, 1953, VANCE HANSON AND I, ROBERT THOMPSON WERE SWORN INTO THE UNITED STATES ARMY IN MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN. AFTER A WEEKS OUTFITTING AND ORIENTATION AT FORT LEONARDWOOD, MISSOURI, VANCE AND I BOTH VOLUNTEERED FOR MILITARY POLICE TRAINING, AND WERE SHIPPED TO CAMP GORDON, GEORGIA. EVENTUALLY, WE WERE BOTH ASSIGNED TO "L" (LOVE) COMPANY TO BEGIN OUR BASIC INFANTRY TRAINING, AN INTENSIVE PROCESS THAT LASTED 8 WEEKS. MY DAD, CHARLES THOMPSON, WHO EVENTUALLY RETIRED FROM THE MILWAUKEE ROAD RAILROAD, HAD WANTED ME TO GO TO THE MILWAUKEE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, BUT I HAD HAD ENOUGH OF SCHOOLING AFTER 8 YEARS AT ST. JOHN'S LUTHERAN SCHOOL AND 4 YEARS AT PORTAGE SENIOR HIGH. IRONICALLY, BASIC INFANTRY TRAINING INVOLVED QUITE A BIT OF CLASSWORK, SO WE SWELTERED IN THE VARIOUS CLASSROOMS THROUGH THE HOT GEORGIA SUMMER. BUT THE TWO WISCONSIN ENLISTEES SURVIVED MUCH BETTER THAN SOME OF THEIR FELLOW TRAINEES. THE WISCONSIN "BOYS" STAYED FOR THE COURSE. SOME OF THE OTHER "MEN", DIDN'T. AT THAT TIME, 1953, ENLISTEES IN THE ARMY WERE VERY, VERY RARE. (THIS WAS BECAUSE, IN AN ATTEMPT TO AVOID BEING DRAFTED INTO THE ARMY, MANY MEN VOLUNTEERED TO JOIN THE AIR FORCE, NAVY, OR MARINES. THUS, WE TOOK OUR TRAINING WITH MEN WHO HAD BEEN DRAFTED, AND IN GENERAL, THEY WERE VERY,VERY UHAPPY ABOUT BEING SUMMONED INTO SERVICE. BECAUSE OF THIS, THE WISCONSIN TEEN-AGERS, WHO VOLUNTEERED, WERE SEEN AS AN INSANE, ALIEN SPECIES. THIS BELIEF IN OUR INHERENT INSANITY WAS FURTHER STRENGTHENED WHEN VANCE AND I SPARRED (BOXED) WITH A PROFESSIONAL HEAVYWEIGHT BOXER AND WRESTLER WHO, LIKE THE GREAT MAJORITY, HAD ALSO BEEN DRAFTED. NONE OF THE OTHER 160 MEN DID THIS. BUT THEY DID WATCH US, PECKING AWAY AT THAT GIANT WHO, I SUSPECT, FOUND OUR EFFORTS AMUSING. AN INTENSIVE TRAINING WITH WEAPONS FAMILIARIZED US WITH PISTOL, RIFLE, SUB-MACHINE GUN, LIGHT AND HEAVY MACHINE GUNS (30 AND 50 CALIBER), GRENADES, TEAR GAS (WITH MASKS OFF) AND THE PLEASURES OF CRAWLING UNDER BARBED WIRE THROUGH AN INFILITRATION COURSE, SPICED WITH PERIODIC GROUND EXPLOSIONS, AND, THE CONSTANT CHATTER OF MACHINE GUNS FIRING OVER OUR HEADS. EVERY FIFTH BULLET WAS A TRACER (WHICH WE COULD SEE IN THE DARK) AND THEY SEEMED ONLY INCHES AWAY. FOURTY-NINE YEARS, AGO. AND MY EARS ARE STILL RINGING. LOTS AND LOTS OF DAY (AND NIGHT) MARCHING. (SOME MEN PASSED OUT IN THE HEAT.) THEN BIVOUAC, AND DAYS OF MILITARY WAR GAMES IN THE GEORGIA SAND AND PINES, LIVING IN OUR PUP TENTS (APTLY NAMED) AN EATING C-RATIONS FROM THOSE OLIVE DRAB COLORED METAL CANS. (OLIVE DRAB IS A MILITARY COLOR.) VANCE AND I BOTH DID WELL WITH THE WEAPONS. ESPECIALLY WITH "THE INFANTRYMAN'S BEST FRIEND", THE M-1 RIFLE. BOTH OF US WERE ABLE TO CONSISTENTLY HIT A COFFEE-CAN SIZED BULLSEYE AT 500 YARDS WITH METAL SIGHTS (NO TELESCOPIC LENS!) WE WERE SHARPSHOOTERS. CAPABLE OF USING PLAIN IRON SIGHTS AND KILLING A MAN OVER TWO BLOCKS AWAY. BEING VOLUNTEERS, WE DID HAVE AN EDGE. AND THAT WAS BECAUSE WE CHOSE TO BE THERE AND SO OUR ATTITUDE WAS A POSITIVE ONE. OUR CULTURE HAS FEW MEANINGFUL RITUALS OF PASSAGE. EXPERIENCES THAT YANK US OUT OF WHO WE THOUGHT WE WERE, AND THROUGH ORDEALS, BAKED A STRENGTH INTO THE CLAY THAT IT HAD NEVER KNOWN BEFORE. ATRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESS OF IRREVERSABLE CHANGE. THE MANY STRESSES AND CHALLENGES OF MILITARY TRAINING, UNHESITATINGLY ACCEPTED, CREATED A BEING WITH AWESOME CAPABILITES, PREVIOUSLY NON-EXISTENT. OUR FORMER LIFE HAD BEEN A SHELTERED COCOON. NOW THAT WE WERE FLYING INTO NEW CHANGES OF BEING, IT WAS CERTAIN THAT WE COULD NEVER RETURN TO THE SAFETY OF THE EARLY COCOON. AN INANIMATE OBJECT, THE CLIP-FED, .30 CALIBRE, M-1 RIFLE, BECAME OUR CONSTANT COMPANION, BECAUSE, ONE DAY, OUR LIVES MIGHT DEPEND ON ITS EFFECTIVELY KILLING OTHERS, TO SAVE OUR OWN LIVES. i WAS SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD, PLUS FOUR MONTHS. AND I WAS MARRIED TO A RIFLE. IT WAS NEVER CALLED A GUN. (THAT WAS AN AUTOMATIC 50 PUSHUPS.) WE LEARNED TO QUICKLY TAKE IT APART IN THE DARK, (OR BLINDFOLDED), AND THEN REASSEMBLED THE ENTIRE WEAPON. BAYONET TRAINING, JUDO CLASSES, OBSTACLE COURSES. AMONG OUR DRILL INSTRUCTORS WERE KOREAN VETS WHO HAD ONLY ONE OBJECTIVE. TO TEACH US HOW TO SURVIVE. AND ONCE LEARNED, SURVIVAL SKILLS ARE TRANSFERABLE, TO OTHER "SKIRMISHES", FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. AT 17, WAY BACK IN 19 OF 53, I TOOK A GREAT DEAL OF VERBAL HARASSMENT FROM OLDER MEN BECAUSE i HAD VOLUNTEERED. iN THE 49 YEARS THAT HAVE PASSED SINCE THEN, I HAVE HAD INUMERABLE OPPORTUNITIES TO TEACH, LEAD, INTERVIEW, INTERROGATE, SUPERVISE, AND COUNSEL. AND I HAVE LEARNED, THAT REGARDLESS OF AGE OR GENDER, THE MOST TELLING PERSONAL STATEMENTS, ARE THE ANSWER(S) (OR LACK OF IT) TO THE QUESTION, "HAVE YOU EVER VOLUNTEERED TO DO ANYTHING?" AFTER 8 WEEKS OF FUN, (MIXED WITH SWEAT, STRESS AND TORTURE), WE BEGAN TWO MONTHS OF MILITARY POLICE TRAINING (WHICH, AGAIN, WE HAD ALSO BOTH VOLUNTEERED FOR.)