Army Life

It was 1963, before Vietnam.. All officers of all medical specialties took Basic Training at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX. (They still do). There were doctors, dentists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, dietitians, etc. and of course lots of nurses. I came into the Army as a 1st Lt. instead of the traditional entry of 2nd Lt because I had a BS in nursing and had several years of employment as a nurse. Before I entered the Army I pretty much did as I pleased in life. In the Army there were rules I had to follow and I was not prepared for this. At Sam Houston almost immediately I got called into the Major’s office because my hair was too long. She looked at the picture they had taken of me when I arrived and said she knew she would be called by her superiors about how I looked because my of my hair. She was pretty nasty and aggressive and it was disturbing to say the least.

We had to do a lot of things I didn’t like—-getting up really early, marching around a big parking lot in formation, learning how to handle a rifle, saluting all officers whose rank was above mine, and lots of things I have forgotten.
There’s one experience during the basic training that I really must relate here. As part of our basic training we had to spend a whole week at “Bivouac.” We were transported in the back of a truck to the dusty Texas desert somewhere outside of SanAntonio. We all had to sleep in sleeping bags on cots in gigantic tents. It really looked like what we later saw on TV—-just like MASH. It was spring and in Texas in spring, there are multitudes of caterpillars which turn into (mostly) moths. The caterpillars were all over the ground, in the few trees, and consequently all over our tents and sleeping bags! They formed big mounds of themselves on our beds when we were out in the fields learning how to shoot big guns, how to treat casualties and how to eat out of our tin dishes. The black caterpillars—-i called them Texas worms—-crawled up our legs, fell from trees down into the backs of our fatigues onto our necks, and generally kept us awake in our cots at night, as we were trying to keep them off our sleeping bags. This was real nightmare material and I remember that week as if it were yesterday.

After spending 3 months in San Antonio, TX for Basic Training I was assigned to Ft. Knox, KY for my MOS which was Army Health Nurse. I enjoyed my work with the Army dependents—wives and children— my superior officer was an older LT Colonel who had been a civilian public health nurse and was very capable and a good teacher. She was, however, “regulaar Army” and wanted everything to be by the book. My professional experience was outstanding and I learned to diagnose every childhood disease that children had which at that time we didn’t have immunizations for—-rubella, roseola, rubiola, etc. But Lt Colonel got reports about my life outside the office…..she took me aside more than once to tell me to salute all the higher grade officers when I met them on the sidewalk, not to date enlisted men, and not to stay overnight with the Captain who eventually became my steady beau.

My boyfriend was sent to Korea, he broke up with me, and when my 2 yrs and 3 months was up I left the Army, gave up my commission, and drove back to California.