February 1966, Fort Ord, California

Being a part of the fifth Platoon we ran everywhere because we had to keep up with the rest of the Company, we learned discipline and teamwork. We also laughed and often wondered why we were there.

Platoon Sergeant Penn was not one to stay with the mundane way of teaching us "close order drill". After drilling us on the basics, commands and precision he one day added a new twist. He had his four squads marching all over the parade field and through exact calls had us back into a platoon marching in sync with the company. Needless to say we drew a lot of attention during these maneuvers.

One of those times of laughter came after lights out. Enter Pvt. Hughes singing near the top of his lungs after a late shower. There were guys trying to quiet the man down, when little Willie Johnson rolled over in his rack, stuck his head up and said "Hughes, if your brain was in a bird, it would fly backwards." There was so much laughter and hooting after that we ended up with all lights on, our Captain, one Lieutenant and our Platoon Sergeant restored order. Willie Johnson, from South Central Los Angeles could not talk without a stutter, except for that one time after the lights went out.