Basic - AIT, July 67 - Nov. 67. 11B10, Vietnam 68. AIT Night Evation Course, could have made a movie.

Tom

Absolutely the worst place I ever have been, including Vietnam. I had my SP FA Bn. down there for a Nuke ARTEP in 1984 and we were up in the north fort area (AKA Horsehead) With just a light rain the tank trails were rendered impassible even with tracked vehicles. I watched one of my M-109's slide off the road like they were driving on ice. The mud was terrible. We were constantly shooing wild horses and wild cattle out of our buvouac areas. One of the nastiest animals to be found was the pigmy rattlesnake which was everywhere. Another nasty critter was the fire ant. I lost a 109 for two days after they backed the spades into an underground hornets nest and stirred up a fire storm. Three of the crew were hospitalized for stings and we had to get the post engineers out to fumigate the 109 and surrounding area before we could move it out. I believe this place was the inspiration for "Camp Swampy" in the Beetle Baily cartoons.

Apparently being the Really Old Fart on this thread, my experience goes back to 1964, February to be exact, when I was introduced to Ft. Polk. BCT there was no more fun than any other fort, but I lucked out and was an acting sergeant, actually the acting field first. Formed the company in the morning, turned it over to the real 1SG, who turne dit ouver to the CO' we had revielle, and then part of us ran around the block while the snd half ate breakfast. Reversed the pattern, then off to the firing range etc. As the semi-official jody-caller, I had a ball.

I remember when the answer to the question "How long you been in the Army, soldier" was 'all day, sir'. Well, I've been here about an hour, so don't expect much. Spent a couple of weeks at Polk for summer camp in the Guard after completing active duty. Later, as a civilian, got a grant to help Leesville cope with the downsizinbg of Polk. Nursed it for three years. Worked out of Alexandria, tho. Funny, I don't remember ever hearing a good thing about Polk until it was time to deal with possible closure.

Tigerland
 

Another Ft. Polk survivor here. I was at Tigerland begining in Aug. 1968. I think I was in D-4-5 also. "Dalton's Raiders". I spent a lot of time over at the beer garden. Lone Star Beer. Boy that stuff was rotten. Signed up for "shake and bake" school. Big mistake.

Was there from Dec 1982 - Dec 1985 then retired glad it was at the end of my time in service and not the beginning.

Never really had a problem with being there myself except setting off the blast in the tunnel complex and not hearing for a few hours being in a hurry to get out of the complex. It's where I first heard "if it ain't rainin, you ain't trainin", don't think I dried out until I left for Ft. Gordon.