I along with many of my friends living in Woodside, New York received our draft notice the same time, July of 1967. It was the height of the Vietnam War and I remember everyone displaying an outward "Gung Ho" attitude, when inside I'm sure we all thought about being away from home for the first time and possibly going to Vietnam, where many of us went.

Then came Basic Training at Ft. Gordon, Georgia. Who can forget getting off the bus in hot humid Georgia weather in July and having orders barked at us by a guy in a Smokey the Bear hat. He knew where we came from and it was clear that New Yorkers wouldn't have it easy down South.

How about when we waited in line with long "hippy" hair or a greesed back duck tail like I had, watching everyone going up a hill into what looked like a small barn and coming out the other side with no hair. That's when we all knew we would have no say in what happened to us for the next eight weeks.

Then early wake ups to run three miles, learn the challenge of completing the parallel bars and yelling our Service number before we could eat breakfast. You also learned to eat very fast so as not to leave anything on your plate, since you could only expect three meals a day and no snacks.
Then the was PT, where your Drill Sergeant basically ran everywhere you went backwards. That was certainly intimidating. Don't forget the the company competitions that created a camaraderie and a special energy to win and not let down your Drill Sergeant or fellow soldiers.

I could go on and on, but suffice to say it was a culture shock that became easier as weeks went on and we got stronger. A difficult time that made us men and disciplined team players and was the first training we would receive that certainly contributed to our survival in Vietnam.