Killin' Time

     Us pretend MPs moved into a temporary squad bay and did what soldiers do best. We waited to be told what to do. In the group sat future grunts, cops and a whole passle of National Guard. The Guardsmen were waiting to be deactivated. My best friends were mostly in that group and not at all unhappy about their futures. Wouldn't be long till they were waking up in their own beds.
     Not sure what part of the Army all the rest of us were in. Seemed like we'd become part of the Hawaii National Guard, part of what was called USARHAW. That's Army lingo for Pineapple Army, which was GI lingo for being at Schofield back in the '30s.
     Now, what I like to recall as the truth, though it probably wasn't, but the thought gives me the tinglies, is that for a month or two we were all part of one of the most famous groups in WWII, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The name was plastered up on one of the post's gates so it got me dreaming. The 442nd was made up of Japanese American volunteers from Hawaii, Nisei to be exact. They were the most decorated group in the big war or any war for that matter. Rescued a battalion of Texans who were surrounded during the Battle of the Bulge. That was the battle where the American commander, a Colonel Lundquist, was asked to surrender by the German commanding officer. The American simply said, "Nuts." Of course the kraut didn't know what the hell that was all about.
     Throughout the war the 442nd had a casualty rate of seventy percent. That's serious and the story has it a whole lot of them were pissed off 'cause of being treated like cannon fodder. Most any grunt can relate to that but seventy percent? Their bitch was on the money.
     The Hawaii National Guard continued to carry the name of 442nd RCT and was activated in 1968 for Vietnam. When us dog soldiers from Vietnam showed up, Schofield was already partially occupied by the Guard who hadn't bent sent to the Nam. The colors of the 9th Infantry Division were still in Vietnam. So were those of the 25th Infantry until they came back to Hawaii in December of '69. There's a blank in between that I can't fill in for sure. That's why I figure us Old Reliables were for a couple of months part of the activated 442nd.
     Kind of confusing and probably a lot of smoke being blown but that's about as good as I can figure it out.
     Took a while for the Army to sort us all out. In some ways it was just like Oakland Army Base and waiting on orders for Vietnam. Only now it was in reverse. So we waited. And started punching each other in the arm. Don't know how that got started and don't know how the rules came about. Nobody said nothing about it. We just did it. Somebody would walk up and whack you as hard as he could and you just took it. And said nothing. Then you wandered off and did the same to someone else. Weird shit.
     Most fun was when I got hit high on the shoulder and the blow kept coming. Hit me square in the jaw. 'Tweren't nothin'. Woulda made me feel just like one of the Greiner brothers in Deliverance. That is if the book had already been written. C'mon Jim Dickey.
     When my eyes stopped spinning and the stars set, I went up and gave Weasel what for. Yeah, we was some real tough guys doing what real tough guys do. Woulda made more sense had we been real smart guys doing what real smart guys do. But we didn't. And we waited.
     I still had a few dollars in my pocket so me and Weasel went out and played golf a couple of times. Didn't cost more than a two and a half bucks and included rental clubs. I kept pushing shots to the right. So frustrating it almost made want to go back to the Nam. One of the times we even played with Sgt. Heath. That man was one seriously good golfer. Figured.
     After a week and a half orders came down and I was off to a grunt unit. Damnation. A whole week's MP training down the tubes.
     Most every evening I'd call Lois collect. Word still said we'd get leave once we were assigned to a regular outfit. The two of us were planning a wedding and working on a date even though we didn't have a clue when I'd be coming home. Why not? There were still four months left in the groovy sixties when people built bridges without supports at either end. Nothing made much sense back then, so why not a wedding planned long distance and on short notice?