Days of Old

[EssOne]

Company drill team. Charley Company, 7th Battle Group, 3rd Brigade, United States Army Training Center Infantry, Fort Ord, California. May,1961. Yes, Mildred, those rifles really are M-1's. This was the most fun I ever had in the Army. I'm the skinny 18 year old kid 4th from the front.

 

OK, here's the other one. Same outfit, same drill team, same day, different formation. This one shows the M-1's a lot better than the photo above. My M-1 was a Springfield Armory rifle with serial number 792554, which puts its date of manufacture as 1942. I'm the skinny kid in the front row, second from left. That steel pot was so big on me I always figured that if I went into combat I could throw it down, jump in, and fire from it.

 

We stayed in the 1941 barracks of the Greatest Generation and were largely trained by them. We broke in on all of the WWII weapons - M-1 rifle, M1918 BAR, M1919A4 and A6 machine guns through the end of '61, then transitioned to the M-14 rifle and M-60 machine gun after that. It was really neat to have trained on all of the classic American infantry weapons of WWII, and then to have gone on to a completely new and different generation of weaponry. I liked the M-1 a lot better than the M-14, and the BAR had no peer, but the M-60 had it all over the Browning .30's in my book. The Army came up with a squad automatic rifle based on the M-14 with bipod legs and a pistol grip, but it had such a high cyclic rate of fire and such sharp recoil that it was uncontrollable and didn't last long. Long ago and far away, but I wouldn't take a million bucks for the experience. Fort Ord was the most beautiful training post in the Continental Army Command. They shut it down as a training post in 1976, and it became the home of the 7th Infantry Division. It was eliminated  during the big round of base closings that followed - around 1991 or so.

 

Oh by the way, notice how perfect our trouser legs are above the boot? To get those perfect blouses we cut the ends out of coffee cans, slid the cans up our legs, put the boots on and then bloused the pants down around the coffee cans. We wore the gloves for the photos only - they were so slick we couldn't hang on to the rifles, so they were just for looks. Fun.

 

EssOne

Edited June 7, 2015 by EssOne

[10-Ring]

Thanks for sharing, I always enjoy write ups like these.

[R1100R]

We used linoleum strips to blouse our boots.lol. I miss the khaki' s.
Great pictures.

[btq96r]

You old timers really did have it tough back in the day...I would never have wanted to have to tuck in my shirt with a duty uniform. :D

Edited June 7, 2015 by btq96r

[Monkeyman2500]

Great pics and good story EssOne.

[K191145]

You old timers really did have it tough back in the day...I would never have wanted to have to tuck in my shirt with a duty uniform. :D

 

We had the old O.D. green fatigues when I was in, tucked in shirt and black leather boots, you actually had to polish. I believe it was in 81 when we changed to the BDU's and didn't have to tuck in our shirts.

[DWARREN123]

Neat pics. A little before my time in.    :up:

[btq96r]

We had the old O.D. green fatigues when I was in, tucked in shirt and black leather boots, you actually had to polish. I believe it was in 81 when we changed to the BDU's and didn't have to tuck in our shirts.

 

I had to shine boots myself.  As I am fond of saying to younger troops, "I was in the BDU Army."  I had a pair of jungle boots so well worn in that it felt like a handjob for my feet. 

 

Switching to ACU's and the desert boots full time sucked.  The desert boots were good to go when broken in, but that took forever compared to leather boots, and they never lasted as long as quality leather jungles did. 

[EssOne]

Neat pics. A little before my time in.    :up:

Only because you ain't old as dirt!! I am. :usa:

[enfield]

I'm almost old as dirt.  Basic at Ft. Polk in '71.  Polk is the garden spot of southwestern Louisiana.

[Pete123]

I can tell from EssOne's posts how much he enjoyed being in the military.  I would definitely have gone into the service if I could do it all again.......can't say for sure I would have wanted to be on EssOne's voyage to Europe - the one where they opened to door and looked up at the sky, but saw only water. 

[crossfire]

Basic at Fort Riley, Kansas 1966.

[Dirtshooter]

Thanks for the pics Essone and to you and all the other vets. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AND SACRIFICE TO THIS GREAT COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had 3 BIL's 1 retired Army, 1 retired Navy and 1 short time Marine. I always wanted to go into the Air Force, but because they had this police action in Vietnam I decided against that. I really do appreciate all that the vets have done for my freedoms. I have a good friend that is a WWII vet and was on the Bataan death march and my wife's only remaining Uncle is a 90 year old WWII vet that served in the Pacific. I know I haven't been in the service, but consider myself a great patriot. OORAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

[hipower]

Thank you for your service, sir.

And thanks again for sharing your pictures and memories.

[K191145]

I had to shine boots myself.  As I am fond of saying to younger troops, "I was in the BDU Army."  I had a pair of jungle boots so well worn in that it felt like a handjob for my feet. 

 

Switching to ACU's and the desert boots full time sucked.  The desert boots were good to go when broken in, but that took forever compared to leather boots, and they never lasted as long as quality leather jungles did. 

 

When we got our 2 pairs of issue leather combat boots, our drill seargent made us march through a big muddy wet ditch, soaking the boots and we drilled all day until the dried on our soar a$$ feet. That pair was broken in that day, the other pair we used for inspection but we still cleaned and polished both.

Remember sitting down with a cotten ball and the lid of a Kiwi black polish can with water trying to put a mirror finish on your inspection boots? I can still do that today.

Edited June 7, 2015 by K191145

[TNWNGR]

Great pictures and even better story and back stories as well. When I first went to college mandatory ROTO was still in place but rapidly on its way out. Nope I never went into the military and the only Basic Training School I attended was Police Basic or more commonly referred to as Police Academy by the public.

I have no experience with the M-60 or BAR but do have experience and background training with the Garand, M-1A, BM-59 and M-14. While I generally like the M-1A I really like the Garand and civilian variant of the BM-59 much better. The real BM-59 was also more fun to be around, I just hadn't the coin to go that route back in the 70's.

[EssOne]

When we got our 2 pairs of issue leather combat boots, our drill seargent made us march through a big muddy wet ditch, soaking the boots and we drilled all day until the dried on our soar a$$ feet. That pair was broken in that day, the other pair we used for inspection but we still cleaned and polished both.

Remember sitting down with a cotten ball and the lid of a Kiwi black polish can with water trying to put a mirror finish on your inspection boots? I can still do that today.

That was us exactly. They switched from brown to black boots in '57, and still had some brown ones in stock when I enlisted in '61. The poor slobs who got them were given a big wad of steel wool to get the brown dye off and a bottle of black dye to change the color. They worked themselves bloody but it never worked. Heck, with a good spitshine you could still see brown shining through for years to come. I missed getting them by about three guys. Whew!!

Edited June 8, 2015 by EssOne

[Grand Torino]

Great pictures and story...thanks for sharing. You make me feel young again.... Basic training for me was 1968.

[R1100R]

Basic training for me was 1975 and I am still serving. Going to retire this next fiscal year with 40. This old SGM is going to Fort Living Room for his last assignment. Not going to make the 6th uniform change that starts this summer since I enlisted. Edited June 7, 2015 by R1100R

[EssOne]

Basic training for me was 1975 and I am still serving. Going to retire this next fiscal year with 40. This old SGM is going to Fort Living Room for his last assignment. Not going to make the 6th uniform change that starts this summer since I enlisted.

Thank you for your years of service, Sergeant Major. Best wishes for a good retirement.

[crossfire]

When we got our 2 pairs of issue leather combat boots, our drill seargent made us march through a big muddy wet ditch, soaking the boots and we drilled all day until the dried on our soar a$$ feet. That pair was broken in that day, the other pair we used for inspection but we still cleaned and polished both.

Remember sitting down with a cotten ball and the lid of a Kiwi black polish can with water trying to put a mirror finish on your inspection boots? I can still do that today.

You not only drilled  in those combat boots, you took PT in them too. The best thing that happened to those old leather combat boots was when all the leather and the stiches rotted out in Vietnam and they gave us new jungle boots.

 

Spit polish, it's like riding a bicycle. Once you learned how, you never forget. All the tricks and shortcuts you learned to keep those inspection boots looking like a mirror.

[enfield]

It was running in combat boots that taught me you can get blisters on the ends of all your toes at once.

[btq96r]

Remember sitting down with a cotten ball and the lid of a Kiwi black polish can with water trying to put a mirror finish on your inspection boots? I can still do that today.

 

My shine kit in the closet next to my dress shoes has the cotton balls and kiwi just like you mention.  I think everybody that had to shine boots in the Army can still shine shoes into a mirror on cue.

 

 

Not going to make the 6th uniform change that starts this summer since I enlisted.

 

Congrats on the retirement.  At least this uniform change is going to help fix the abomination that was the ACU. 

Edited June 8, 2015 by btq96r