When I enlisted in the Army in August 1961, I was sent to Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo. Oh, what fun the first four days were. There were four Andersons in the basic training company. Guess who got woken up at 4 a.m. the first four mornings in a row for kitchen police? I had a thought that if this were an indication of what the non-commissioned officers cadre of trainers was like, we were in deep trouble.

The highlight of basic training was near the last week, when we were all lined up in formation to be addressed by the company commander. He announced because of what was going on in Berlin, the entire company would be shipped to Fort Riley, Kan., and the 1st Infantry Division was going to be reactivated, except for the four guys that enlisted for the Airborne School. They'll be going to advanced training and then to Airborne School.

Until August 1964, I served with the famed 101st Airborne Division, all four of us did.