This took place when I was in Army Basic Training at Fort Knox Kentucky in 1956.(Yeah, I'm an old Alligator)
We were well along in training and was out in the boondocks playing war. We set up a bivouac late one night and pitched our 2 man pup tents. Guards were posted around the perimeter (no ammo in their rifles) and all the kids(most 18 or 19 year olds) went to sleep or just lay there trying to sleep which was what I was doing.
About 0100 or 0200 hours I heard someone or something running through the leaves and brush and a loud from the very depths of the soul sound I would call a cry of GREAT FRIGHT or FEAR. This was real primeval fear and a sound a primitive man may have made when being attacked by a sabre toothed tiger. I cannot adequately describe the sound but I will never forget it. About then I heard this really loud thud with a silence for a few long seconds and then someone call out "SARGENT of THE GUARD, SARGENT of The Guard POST 3" or whatever post it was.
Well since I was awake I jumped out of my pup tent and ran to the source of the noise which was about 20 feet from my tent. Other people were also converging on the area. The scene was easy to see since everyone had a flashlight and was shining it on the area of the noise.
In the lighted area was one Private ..... (really can't remember his name) which was the basic trainee walking guard duty. He was standing tall with his M1 rifle at Port Arms and laying on the ground was one PFC ......(can't remember his name either. GEE Folks its been almost 52 years) knocked out cold. The PFC on the ground was part of the training cadre. What he had done was try to sneak up on the guard and take his rifle away from him. Now it turned out later that he had just done this on his own and this was not part of the training criteria.
The guard was on alert to what he thought was something in the brush and had unshouldered his rifle and was at port arms(holding it across the chest) and was about to holler (HALT, WHO GOES THERE) when the PFC charged him. The guard told us later that it was him who let out a yelp and he said it about scared the s... out of him. He did admit to p...ing in his pants. When the PFC charged the guard simply came around with the rifle butt as we had been taught in bayonet training and really whacked the PFC up along side the head and layed him out real nice. (Beautiful work Private.)
Well in about 1 or 2 minutes the PFC came to and when he finally got on his feet he was madder than hell and told the guard he was in big trouble and to come to the company commanders tent with him. part 2 to be continued next week
We were well along in training and was out in the boondocks playing war. We set up a bivouac late one night and pitched our 2 man pup tents. Guards were posted around the perimeter (no ammo in their rifles) and all the kids(most 18 or 19 year olds) went to sleep or just lay there trying to sleep which was what I was doing.
About 0100 or 0200 hours I heard someone or something running through the leaves and brush and a loud from the very depths of the soul sound I would call a cry of GREAT FRIGHT or FEAR. This was real primeval fear and a sound a primitive man may have made when being attacked by a sabre toothed tiger. I cannot adequately describe the sound but I will never forget it. About then I heard this really loud thud with a silence for a few long seconds and then someone call out "SARGENT of THE GUARD, SARGENT of The Guard POST 3" or whatever post it was.
Well since I was awake I jumped out of my pup tent and ran to the source of the noise which was about 20 feet from my tent. Other people were also converging on the area. The scene was easy to see since everyone had a flashlight and was shining it on the area of the noise.
In the lighted area was one Private ..... (really can't remember his name) which was the basic trainee walking guard duty. He was standing tall with his M1 rifle at Port Arms and laying on the ground was one PFC ......(can't remember his name either. GEE Folks its been almost 52 years) knocked out cold. The PFC on the ground was part of the training cadre. What he had done was try to sneak up on the guard and take his rifle away from him. Now it turned out later that he had just done this on his own and this was not part of the training criteria.
The guard was on alert to what he thought was something in the brush and had unshouldered his rifle and was at port arms(holding it across the chest) and was about to holler (HALT, WHO GOES THERE) when the PFC charged him. The guard told us later that it was him who let out a yelp and he said it about scared the s... out of him. He did admit to p...ing in his pants. When the PFC charged the guard simply came around with the rifle butt as we had been taught in bayonet training and really whacked the PFC up along side the head and layed him out real nice. (Beautiful work Private.)
Well in about 1 or 2 minutes the PFC came to and when he finally got on his feet he was madder than hell and told the guard he was in big trouble and to come to the company commanders tent with him. part 2 to be continued next week
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