I recall at the reception station in Fort Dix, N.J., we were all sitting in an auditorium and getting instructions when the base chaplain asked, "Who here will not cry in basic training? Bet your neighbor a candy bar if you will not cry."

So, I did because that neighbor was a guy I met in Buffalo, N.Y. After all the commotion, the chaplain said all of us who made the bet and said we wouldn't cry have lost because everyone will cry going through the gas chamber exercise.

Well, I won because the week that we were to go through the gas chamber my squad pulled kitchen police duty; therefore, I did not cry through basic and have yet to collect my candy bar.

B-5 26 Bravo Bears 3rd Platoon, "Third Herd"
Aug. 15, 1988 to Oct. 21, 1988