People You Meet Along the Way...
When I first got the the 14th Cav, he was the senior guy in the room I was assigned to. There were four of us in an eight man room. The old PFC, a younger PFC who was recently transferred in from the 11th ACR because they were going back to the States and for some reason he couldn't go. He was a short timer. The fourth man in the room was the only black man in the platoon and I didn't see him very much...he was tasked out to work with some other group. For the first month or so, the old PFC helped me settle in, learn my job, learn how to clean the hallway and how to steel wool the floors (every Friday was GI party time and the wood floors got stripped and re waxed) and took me into town and showed me around. He was kind to me and I thought of him as a friend.
A couple months after I got there, another group of replacements showed up and there were several that came to our platoon. We got three new guys in our room. I tried to be helpful and get folks settled and help orient the new guys and such. I thought we were all a big happy family...until one day the three new guys cornered me in the room when the others were not there. Rob, apparentlyl the ring leader asked me if I knew how long it had been since the 37 year old PFC had taken a shower.
Now in the 60s, in the barracks, there were verying degrees of commitment to personal hygiene. Some, and apparantly Rob was in this group, daily showers were bare minimum. Others would put it off...well...until they couldn't stand themselves, I guess. At this time in my life, I fell somewhere in between...two or three times a week seemed a good interval. I said I really didn't have any idea. 30 days. The 37 year old PFC had not showered in 30 days. The appalled look on my face was enough to convince them that I was in agreement that this was not acceptable. I was appalled that anyone would go a month without a shower...that seemed excessive even to my lax standard...but more appalling to me was the idea that Rob was keeping track of it. I began to wonder if he had a column with my name on the heading and a bunch of tick marks...I began to wonder about how long it had been since I had showered.
Rob was telling me that he had spoken to the Platoon Sergeant about this and was told that the sergeant would speak to the PFC about it...but it had been over a week ago and no change yet. He went on about how the PFC had been in the same sox for a week and had pulled KP this week and went straight to bed then got up and went to work with out any sort of clean up at all...and the whole time I was trying to remember my last shower. But his next words broke into my musings and cause a gut twisting panic...Rob said he was going to tell the First Sergeant. He was sure the TOP would be discreet, of course Rob did not want to offend...and a little nudge from the First Sergeant would get our platoon sergeant moving on this. With a smug mug and an affirming nod., he headed out the door in search of the First Sergeant.
Big Jim, the senior man in the room across the hall had asked me a couple of times if I would move into his room. At that moment I decided that it was what I wanted more than any thing...I ran out the door right behind Rob and slipped into the room across the hall. The platoon sergeant was in there talking to Big Jim and when he saw me he said I should go ahead and move...before I could even say a word. I think Big Jim liked me some but mostly he didn't like new guys and he wanted me to fill a space in his room so he wouldn't have to put any FNGs in there. I tried to tell the platoon sergeant what had transpired across the hall and what Rob was doing but before I could get into it, someone in the hall was calling for the platoon sergeant to got see the First Sergeant.
About ten minutes later our platoon sergeant came up the stairs and started calling for everyone to get out into the hallway...he was ashen and shaken looking. As soon as we were all in the hall, the First Sergeant came into the hall...he walked right up to the 37 year old PFC and told him that Rob had said the PFC hadn't showered in a month...was that true? The PFC hemmed and hawed a few minutes and said it may have been a couple weeks...the 1SG produce Rob's calendar with the little tic marks...the PFC allowed as how it might have been a month. At that point, the 1SG led us all to the shower room, ordered the PFC to strip...then supervised the PFC in the proper method of showering...with the whole section as witnesses. I was mortified. I can't imagine what the PFC must have felt like...and the morifiedest of all was Rob and his two companions. The whole time this was going on, our platoon sergeant...a Korean War vet who was pretty scary in his own right...stared a hole in the three amigos. At the conclusion of the shower lesson, the 1SG passed very close to our platoon sergeant, putting his face an inch away from him and quietly said that he expected that he would not be required to do the platoon sergeant's job for him again...would he? Platoon Sergeant blanched an even paler shade of scared and assured the 1SG that his assistance would not be required again.
And that is why I wanted to change rooms. As young and dumb as I was...I could see what would be in store for the fellas in that particular room in the future and I didn't want to be in the epicenter of the crapquake that was heading their way.