I did AIT there the Summer of 67. They trained me to operate a Road Grader and after AIT they stationed me there permanent party in the Concrete Paving Equipment Operators Course. They did not even have a road grader in the outfit. One cold February day in 1968 we were chipping dried concrete off of steel forms when the SFC in charge walked in and said he needed 2 volunteers to try out for the FLW rifle team. I jumped to my feet and volunteered. For the next several months we shot the National Match Course twice a day and once on Saturday. I also was exempt from the duty roster. I went on to shoot the 5th Army Matches in Fort Riley and shot well enough to make the 5th Army Team for a few months. When I returned 1st Sgt Crabtree was so pleased one of his engineering troops made the 5th Army team that he put me in for soldier of the month and I even made it. They promised me a $50 savings bond but I never saw it.
It got to minus 20 F one week during the winter and froze the propane lines to the furnace. All we had was 2 wool blankets and our long johns. That was one cold night. They had to move us to an old barracks that still had a coal fired furnace for the rest of the week.
I remember sitting on the roof of the barracks watching the lighting storms off in the distance. That is the only place I have seen Lightning Bugs. One of the troops was from Kentucky. He paid a visit to a black whore and caught a case of the crabs. He did not want to see the medic as he would be reported and get in trouble. So he stripped naked and proceeded to rub a bunch of stuff on his crotch. As I recall it was a mixture of aquavelva rubbing alcohol and what ever else he could find. When he finished he literally ran around the barracks twice screaming and then he sat on his foot locker picking out the dead crabs.
Yes I remember Little Korea well.
