In 1966, as a boot in Platoon 1113 at Military Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, I was selected to do my obligatory three-day stint in the mess hall on kitchen police (KP) duty. I was assigned to be the “butter man," which was a coveted position. As butter man, my sole responsibility, as you can imagine, was to prepare and serve the butter patties at mealtime. I was the only boot allowed in the reefer to break up the large butter slabs into patties, in preparation for the next meal. I would be in there for 20 to 30 minutes at a time.

The reefer is where they kept many of the goodies, such as pie, cake, ice cream, cookies and so on.

A gruff mess sergeant, while spitting in my face, warned me not to touch anything except the butter and that he better not find out that I was scarfing the goodies. Well, for three days I did my duty as butter man, but I will not admit to sampling a few goodies. Let’s just say I ate well during my stint on KP.

My time as butter man on KP served me well. Arriving in Vietnam on my way to a line company I was pulled out of transit and again selected to serve KP in the officers’ mess in Chu Lai, but those are a few more good stories.