We didn’t quit….We persevered!

I joined the Army while the USA was still in Vietnam. My recruiters name was “Roy Rogers” I always thought that was funny. Yes, he lied to me…that is another story.

I was a Warrant Officer Flight Candidate. At the time, all Warrant Officer Flight candidates regardless of where they lived in the country went to one basic training post, Fort Polk, La. the hell hole of Army basic training posts! They said that was because Fort Polk was the closest in climate to South Vietnam that we had in the USA. Guess they wanted us ready, even though the war was officially over; we still had troops there.

Being young and naive I thought that being a future helicopter pilot the Drill Sergeants might treat us with a bit of kindness, considering they were all Nam vets and knew what the helicopters pilots did for them over there, they’d be understanding. Well, No way! Kindness and understanding were just not part of their vocabulary! If anything they were harder on us! We were mixed with many other “trainees” but it seemed we had a target on us at all times. I even ended up in the hospital for a week, but still graduated basic training on time. They wanted us ready, ready for hell! We didn’t quit, not a one of us..

It took a few years of maturing to understand why the drill sergeants were so hard on us. Fort Polk was more than just a harsh climate; in fact it was the first “weeding out” of those Candidates that couldn’t cut it, those that couldn’t handle the pressure, those that when broken, physically, emotionally, couldn’t rise back up. “Those” were the ones you couldn’t count on.
It turns out the Drill Sergeants did understand and only wanted to see the Best of the Best get through.

One year later, of the 28 Warrant Officer Candidates that started in my flight school class we graduated 14. 14 of the best, that didn’t quit, neither did those who were eliminated; they all served the time they committed to when they enlisted.