OH LAWD chapter 32



KP Duty aint so BAD
image courtesy photobucket.com

I was too busy to concern myself with how the girls felt after I sent them home, and what they were thinking.

I had never gotten this aggravated with Marly before.  I usually let her have her way and didn’t say anything.  

 

Since I was a year older than she was, I always thought I should protect her, even when she got older; but what went on this past week was the end of letting her have her own way.  There is a time to speak up and that is what I did!

I was sure that being around those immature college kids was the source of this careless attitude, and I wasn't buying it. If this was the way she planned to act and live her life, then the less I saw of her - - the better, and that went for Linda also.

I hadn't changed only matured a bit.  Part of my harshness was the result of seeing this type of loose living on a daily basis.

 

While I wasn't what some call a religious nut I had enough spiritual training to know right from wrong and what I saw day by day was wrong.

Even though the girls were over twenty, I knew if Ma and Linda's mother knew how they acted when they visited me, they would have been shocked and hurt so I planned to keep it to myself.

The increased military presence in the gulf caused me to pay more attention to what was going on in Europe.  On December 7th my world changed along with the rest of America.

Last year (1940) the selective service was passed by Congress, and I had registered for the draft not expecting to be called to serve in the army.

My plans were to be a chef and eventually own my own place.

Men of all ages joined or tried to join the service while I hesitated because I didn't want to leave my work.

Then one day I received an official looking letter saying, “Greetings from the office of the President of the United States of America.”

It wasn't long before I was in boot camp with the lowest grade given to a solider. I looked pretty tacky in a uniform that didn't fit, and those boots were like lead on your feet.

I learned the second day of boot camp the one thing you didn't do was to complain about anything.

The sergeants were one hundred percent mean, and were looking for someone to vent their anger on.

 

The main thing I learned was to say, “Yes Sir,” and to hide out as much as possible, because if the sergeant saw you he would find something for you to do that you wouldn't relish.

One other thing worth mentioning was something called mess. That was another name for food.

The first time I sat down to this “mess,” I almost gagged, for I thought they had mixed up our food with the slop for the hogs.

Some guys lost weight during basic because of the rigors of training, but I lost many pounds because I couldn't stomach the food.

My mother was an excellent cook, and as I learned the cooking trade I did my best to cook decent food.  Up until now, I never ate anything that was unpalatable like what they were feeding us.

Now what was strange, there was this guy from the swamps who thought the food was great; better than anything he had ever tasted.

I usually passed my plate over to him, and watched him gobble it down.

 

One solution I found, before I perished from hunger was to do just enough wrong to be assigned to KP, where I did kitchen work, and I could fix myself something simple but decent to eat.

It wasn't long before the kitchen staff caught on, and they had me cooking for all of them. In their opinion, it was gourmet food.

Finally basic training was behind me, and to my delight I was assigned to kitchen duty for the time being.

Oh Lawd    

 

To be Continued