Well, I'm coming to the end of the Veteran Honor Roll for 2011. I'm ending with myself. I served in the Wisconsin Army National Guard from 1986 – 1992, my unit was the 132nd Support Battalion HHC company based in Madison Wisconsin. I achieved the rank of Staff Sargent or an E6. For those of you not familiar with ranks in the army, an E1 is the first rank; private, an E6 is a n NCO (Non-commissioned Officer). In civilian life that would be like mid management. I was in charge of six to seven soldiers in my section. Believe it or not I couldn't find a picture of myself in uniform – maybe I'll find one in the future. Like my brother and cousin, I joined for economic and education opportunities. Unlike them, I had already graduated from technical school with my AA in data processing, this enabled me to go in at as a private first class and MOS qualified as a 74F (computer programmer/analyst) – which meant I didn't attend AIT (advanced individual training). I chose the Guard, because I didn't want to go into the military full time, and like that the Guard serves both state and nation in times of emergency. I admit, when I first went into the military, I did it for the money, then sometime during basic training, my thoughts and attitude changed. As corny as it sounds; I was proud to serve my country – to do more then the average person would. I also changed personally. I would describe myself before basic training as a painfully shy person.
Basic training, hmmm, how to explain basic to those of you who never when through it. Basic training can be described as Dante's Hell. There are 3 phases to the army boot camp. The first phase is “Red” this is where you meet your Drill Sergeant. Drill Sergeants are a different species, they love to yell at you and they control every part of your life. Their favorite activities are putting you and the rest of your platoon, or any combination into “the front leaning rest” ( the starting position for push-ups while you stand) or doing push-ups. They love saying “DROP AND GIVE ME 20!”
The second phase is “White”. During this phase you go out to the rifle ranges and the grenade ranges. As a side note M16's are OK, but grenades ARE FUN! By now you've been out in the field, 2-3 nights in a shelter half. A shelter half is half of a “pup tent” you pair up with someone else put your halves together and that's your tent, there is only room for your sleeping bags, your backpack is your pillow. While in the field you will be introduced to the MRE – meals-ready-to-eat. It's cold tasteless and pack with salt. There are one or two that aren't too bad. I liked the beef stroganoff and ham with cheese. Two other parts of the second phase are self-defense and the obstacle course. You also start to get a little freedom, this for me meant that we had some time at night that didn't have a Drill telling us what to do. The last phase is “Blue” . This is the most challenging because you have to pass two tests – the PT (physical training) and a basic soldiering test where they test you on what you've learned during the first two phases. You also get to go on long march, I think ours was 10 miles. One of the last challenges is the night patrol with live fire.
After going through basic and moving up the ranks to E6, I became more confident, assertive, and in control of my shyness. In short, a stronger person. I think the real turning point for me was attending Basic Non-Commissioned Officers Course (BNCOC). When my unit sent me to Camp Ashland, I thought it was just more army training, nothing more. When I arrived at Camp Ashland, they gathered us in the commons and did the look to your right, now look to your left; at least one of these people won't be graduating. They broke the class of about sixty-six soldiers into six classes of eleven. In my group two soldiers flunked out at the end of the first test. I got my eyes opened, I could flunk-out, fail, I couldn't go back to my unit a failure, that wasn't an option. So, right at that moment I decided I was graduating.
