Company E Ninth Battalion Second Brigade Infantry
Graduation: March 23, 1969
Thirteen weeks training - no liberty.
After graduation I was put on the bus for AIT (Advanced Infantry Training). I left for Vietnam fourteen days after graduation!
About the sixth week of the cycle we had a barracks inspection. We were living in a two-floor barracks built around 1940. Each floor had two platoons. Our floor side was Alpha. We were issued six pair of socks, three pairs to wear and three pairs for barracks inspection. The same for all issued items. After chow our barracks was called to formation. During inspection, a fly was found in a locker on Alpha side. Drill Sgt. T. Smith said we had to bury the fly. It had to be put in a match box with cotton liner. We had to bury the fly in a 6'x6'x6' grave. He left us with two entrenching tools. North Carolina soil is like concrete. We finished the burial detail around 11:00. Drill Sgt. Smith asked if we buried the fly on his wings or belly. Needless to say our answer would be incorrect. We dug up the fly and then had to dig a new 6'x6'x6' hole. There was something said about having to honor the fly with a new grave. We got to bed around 2 that night.
I don't know what we learned from that experience, except that we all hated flies.