Another Place - Episode 9

Another Place Another Time

Book One

Jake and Whispers

Episode Nine

There is only one way to become airborne qualified, and that is to complete the three-week training course at Fort Benning; there are no exceptions. The first week is nothing but intense physical training. The second week is intense physical training with the addition of specific parachuting skills and techniques. The third week is the same as the second with one addition, five parachute drops: four during daylight and one night jump.

Sunday afternoon I signed in at The Airborne Training Center. I had no expectations of Airborne Training beyond the fact that I knew there would be a lot of running. Platoons from The Airborne Training Center ran all over the post, in fact they ran everywhere they went. After six months of physical training, I knew the running wouldn’t be a problem for me. Since I didn’t personally know what the rest of the training would be, I didn’t waste my time thinking or worrying about it.

The running was a problem for many of my fellow trainees. Had the class been a normal class, that is, 80 to 90% just out of AIT, the running wouldn’t have been much of an issue. However, mine wasn’t a normal class. It was an unusual mix of National Guardsmen, Army Reservists, and regular Army soldiers who had reenlisted for either Special Forces or the Rangers. Before they could begin Special Forces or Ranger training, they had to become Airborne Qualified. For the most part, the Guardsmen and Reservists were men who had joined a National Guard or Army Reserve unit to avoid serving in Vietnam. In 1968, the only Guard and Reserve units that still had openings were airborne units. They had to become airborne qualified within a year after joining the unit. Failure to do so meant automatic active duty for two years. The Guardsmen and Reservists in my Airborne Training Class had completed their Basic Training and eight weeks of advanced training. However, when given the choice of going home for a few months or going to Airborne Training immediately after AIT, they had opted to go home. Now, approaching the end of their year’s grace period for becoming Airborne Qualified, they had lost the conditioning they’d had six months earlier. For them, and for most of the regular army trainees, running was a major issue.

At the end of the first week, over half the class had washed out. By the end of the second week, only 40% of the original group remained.

In the middle of the second week, I became the Acting Platoon Sergeant, a position I held for the rest of the training. No one in my platoon washed out in the third week. In the second platoon two guys, one National Guardsman and one regular army, made it to the first jump, but refused to get on the plane. As for me, I had never been on an airplane before in my life, so I found it rather ironic that my first plane ride ended abruptly with my first parachute jump. Actually, I ended my first eight plane rides with parachute jumps. It wasn’t until months later, on the way to Vietnam, that I experienced my first landing when we stopped for fuel in Anchorage, Alaska.

My Airborne Training Class graduated at 1000 hours Friday. I led the First Platoon past the reviewing stand. The graduates were a proud group; the Guardsmen and Reservists because it meant they could remain in their units; the regular army personnel because it meant they could go on to either Special Forces or Ranger Training. I was proud because it meant I was three weeks closer to meeting my dog.

I finished number one in Airborne training which meant another promotion. First, PFC and three weeks later, Corporal, not bad for someone who spent sixteen weeks in basic training, I thought.

Captain Kennedy, Captain Cox, and several of the instructors from the Scout Dog Training Center attended the graduation. Afterwards, I loaded my gear in Captain Kennedy’s Jeep, and we went back to the Scout Dog Training Center for lunch.

As we were eating, Captain Kennedy turned to Captain Cox and said, “Well, Henry, if the kid here finishes first in Ranger training, he’ll make Sergeant, and then it’ll be all right to take him out in public.” Everyone laughed. We finished eating, and Captain Kennedy said, “Leonard, I have to go back to the office now. My new class is three weeks into their program, and it’s getting a little sticky for some of them. If you like, I’ll pick you up Sunday and take you over to the Ranger Training Center.”

“That’ll be great, Sir. I’ll see you then.”

********

I could have taken a one-week leave before starting Ranger Training. However, because of class schedules, that would have delayed my Scout Dog Handler training by three weeks. I wasn’t willing to do anything that would delay meeting my dog.

Ranger School was more demanding than any training I’d done. Unlike many of the trainees in my Airborne Class, the Ranger Trainees were in exceptional physical condition, and they were serious about completing the course and completing it to the best of their ability. No one who signs up for Ranger Training does it with the idea of just getting by.

At the end of the first month of training, I checked the class status board. Halfway through the training, four of us shared the top position. I spent that weekend at The Scout Dog Training Center.

Sunday afternoon, Captain Kennedy came to the Center to play with the dogs. After lunch, he took me back to the Ranger School. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I said, “Captain, when you first brought me over here four months ago, you mentioned Scout Dogs, and you mentioned Tracker Dogs. I know what Scout Dogs and their handlers do. What are Trackers?”

“Leonard, you never forget anything. Trackers are just that, dogs and men trained to track and find either downed aviators or the enemy. Tracking and finding downed aviators is self-explanatory. Enemy tracking takes a bit more explaining. I’m not talking about enemy discovering, that’s what the Scout dogs do. In Vietnam, the enemy can disappear like smoke. When that happens, the infantry will often bring in a Tracker Team whose job is finding the Viet Cong or NVA (North Vietnamese Army).”

“I know Scout Dogs and their handlers go to school here, what about the trackers?” I asked.

“They’re trained at Fort Gordon, a much smaller base than Fort Benning, near Augusta. They have two tracker training courses there. One is three months, just like the Scout Dog course. The dogs that go through it are mostly retrievers. The second Tracking course they offer is for dogs and handlers who have already completed the Scout Dog Training. Most of the trainees and dogs for the special tracker training classes go to Fort Gordon TDY from Vietnam, because they have shown an aptitude for tracking. Occasionally a team goes directly from Scout Dog training because of their outstanding performance in training. That course is four weeks.”

We rode in silence for a few minutes, and then Captain Kennedy added, “The IPSD (Infantry Patrol Scout Dog) unit that I knew in Vietnam had only two teams that were both Scout and Tracker qualified.” He paused, recalling, and then added, “They were something special, the dogs and the men.”

During the last month of Ranger training, we somehow managed to get weekend passes on two occasions. Almost all the trainees used them to go to Columbus, Georgia and Phoenix City, Alabama to drink, gamble, and frequent the local prostitutes. I went to the Scout Dog Training Center, played with the dogs, and cleaned the kennels.

With one week left in our Ranger Training, we received our final weekend pass. I checked the status board before taking a base taxi to the dog unit. There were now only two of us tied for top position in the class, Staff Sergeant Hernandez from Fort Carson, Colorado, and me. I never knew what Hernandez did that weekend, but whatever it was; he got kicked out of school and gave me sole possession of the number one position. I didn’t give it up or share it with anyone for the rest of the training.

Graduation day was wet and cool. The drizzle that swept the parade ground kept well-wishers and proud relatives to a minimum. However, the weather didn’t deter my parents, Captain Kennedy, Captain Cox and all the Scout Dog Training Center personnel who could get away from their duties for an hour.

The 3rd Army Band began playing as the 541st Ranger Class marched onto the parade field. Two platoons of new Rangers graduated that day, eighty men who had completed two months of extreme physical and scholastic training. That training included courses in advanced mathematics and leadership, basic medical care, basic Vietnamese language instruction, extensive small arms, light artillery and explosives training, combined with hours of strenuous physical training, numerous field exercises and three night parachute drops. As near as I could tell, they were all proud of their accomplishment. As for me, I was only two days away from meeting my partner.

Captain Kennedy and Captain Cox took us to The Oaks, an exclusive restaurant in Columbus, for lunch. Over lunch, Captain Cox explained to my parents that since I was now a Sergeant, it was all right for me to be in public with him and Captain Kennedy.

Everyone laughed.

I post two episodes of Another Place Another Time every week

For info on receiving each episode directly on your Kindle click here
Or, if you don’t want to wait, click here to purchase the complete Kindle version of the book.

Currently I’m working on The Mystic Trilogy – the first volume – The Sages – it is posted weekly –
click here to read the latest and all previous episodes.