On August 30, 1964, in the wee hours of the morning I found myself standing on those "yellow foot prints" thinking that I must be the dumbest person on planet Earth. But, sneaking a peak, there were about 70 other scared s–tless recruits who probably thought the same thing.
Time has fogged some of the details but we were all assigned to 1st Bn, A Company, Plt 178 with SSgt Moon, Sgt Asocar and Cpl Gardner as our Plt Cmdr and DI's. Of the 70 recruits who made up Plt 178 we had what would become known as the "Johnson Twins", Pvt R.E. Johnson and Pvt W.W. Johnson.
Our Plt Cmdr and two DI's decided that it was too confusing to single out one or the other. So, it was always just "PVT JOHNSON….." and they both had to sound off. Back in the quonset hut area where the DI's administered individual attention, if one had to do push-up the other had to join in.
I guess I forgot to mention, one of the Johnson's was a white recruit and the other an African-American recruit. It did become somewhat funny to the Platoon as the 12 weeks went by. Both Johnsons survived to graduation. DI's never run out of ways to mess with their recruits.
I hope I remember this story correctly.
Thanks SSgt Moon, Sgt Asocar and Cpl Gardner. We couldn't have done it without you.