It was 1952 and I was at Fort Jackson, SC. I was waiting for my orders shipping me to Virginia. Each morning I had to stand roll call, with about 300 other soldiers, read the bulletin board to see if my order had been published, then loaf around all day until the next morning’s roll call. I asked around and found most guys had to wait about two or three weeks before they got their shipping orders.
One morning just before roll call I overheard a sergeant talking to the First Sergeant. “Sarge, how about seeing if there is anyone here who can type. If so, send him over to Orders and Movements.” The First Sergeant asked at roll call, but no one volunteered.
Later, as the formation was breaking up, I told the First Sergeant I could type, so he sent me over to Orders and Movements. There, the sergeant showed my how to type up orders and pointed to a foot-high stack of 201-Files.
When he left, I dug down and found my file near the bottom of the stack. Guess whose shipping out order was published the next day?