Basic Training at Ft. Lewis, Washington in 1970: Part Two

 Bloggers, when you watch or read the World and Local news today, do you get anxious and worry about our Country's future or your children's, and or your own? Is it hard to see how evil things all around us seem to be today? Everywhere I go now many people seem on edge about so many things and it seems that hate just fills the whole atmosphere that surrounds us. As I talk to some people today they don't even want to come out after dark for fear of the dangerous people lurking there. Well, it was like that also in 1970. The whole world was on edge politically and socially speaking. And as far as I was concerned I had had no experience with the outside World or the rest of this Country outside of a small town of San Marcos, Texas with its oversized population of ten thousand people then. The only place that I ever knew well. Then this experience within The Army came and exposed me to more violent places than San Marcos ever has been. It was just like Bob Marley would say, "Everywhere War!" If it's not Civil War here in America there are Race and Skin Color Wars all over the world. And it seemed like hate coffee shops were brewing everywhere one went. And then there was The Drug Wars and Counter Culture Wars, and Anti-Vietnam War Movement, The Black Panther Movement, La Raza Unida Movement, and so much more. But, although I was a known criminal, believe it or not...I was a Patriotic individual. How could I not be after having grown up with John Wayne and Audie Murphy war movies as a kid. And also, some people I am sure have seen Mafioso's, Ku-Klux-Klan, et. al, who are very religious and that do have moral scruples also. Well, I've given up the criminal life since 1985, however, I am still militarily speaking Patriotic! And so when I was finally in the Army I ate up all the proud cadence songs that we sang on our road marches or runs. It was a proud moment for me to experience this precious time here because like I said before, it was like coming out of the mothers womb and seeing, smelling, and tasting, something richer than ever before for me. The training was hard and grueling and we hardly got any good sleep at Basic training. But we were young and gun-ho and full of oats. We still believe that we were indestructible individuals. And even though day after day that the drill sergeants whirled disastrous storms at us one after the other, we continued to stand. And one day however, we were caught with our pants down because we were about to be introduced to Hurricane Billy! And after Billy was over, all of us there were whooped silly. Watch, one of the worst treatments that I recall during Basic Training was one that was almost like the first day's arrival's treatment. The treatment for the first day at arrival, and for this reason that follows, were two big reasons The World News followed Ft. Lewis and curtailed that treatment from training in this time period. Watch this, if one enlisted guy screwed up very badly in our platoon, all of us were punished. And on some days it seemed it never failed, the drill sergeants would have us pack our wooden foot lockers with all our stuff in them and have us place them on top of one shoulder and we had to run to the front of the building and form our formation in those hard to forget five minutes. If we didn't make it in time we had to run back upstairs  with them and you guessed it, we didn't make it in time. This foot locker business was harder than our duffle bags because the foot lockers were bulky and harder to hold on to so everybody was struggling to keep them balanced. But some guys did drop theirs and they had to pick all the stuff in them and it was bad for those guys. And it was miserable and painful for us because the corner of the wood on the foot locker that rested on one's neck hurt every time it bounced up and down on it. Moreover, when guys accidently hit you on the back or sides, or front of one's head, it hurts like hell. Especially when one is running hard and full speed ahead to stay ahead of the killer hounds just behind. And the drill sergeants kept barking at us as we stampeded like wild buffaloes and shouted at us, "You had a good home but you left you sorry sons of women of ill repute!" But we kept running until we never made it on time. But we were dogged, tired and exhausted that we could not go any further at that speed anymore and were ready to collapse, and they knew it. Nevertheless, the punishment did encourage us to do better next time. But for the screw up afterwards, there was another harsh treatment waiting for him, poor guys who caused these punishments for all the trainees in the first place. That was an unspoken Law of that time and existed before I joined The Army. Then there was the field training in which real live war simulations were conducted. This was a shocker because live ammunition and explosives were used during some of these courses that we had to go through during this time also. A soldier trainee could easily die in any field exercise at Training Bases in The Army. I saw one young Mexican kid from San Antonio, Texas who was in our platoon and was about 18 years old who died after collapsing during a one mile run that had to be run under so many minutes in full clothing and combat boots on. After they hauled his body away we were told that his heart just blew up because he had a heart condition prior to entry and didn't know it. So one can see medical testing was overlooked by the Doctors at the Induction Center and Diagnostic Center in Base here. Life and death situations were something that were paid closer attention to at all Military bases by military personnel at all times. Our lives were about being on high alert all the time, especially the poor Combat and Combat support soldiers. However, at training here at Fort Lewis it was extremely hard the first five weeks. But then we were granted time on the weekends to shop at the nearby P. X. for personal items and even buy fast food and soft drinks. And about the 7th week we were allowed to buy and drink beer at the P. X. and socialize with our new found friends. We had been paid our first monthly check which was a few dollars more than one hundred dollars and so we splurge some money on beer. And at that time also, we were allowed to hang out at an enlisted Club nearby and there I came to another great awakening situation for my very first time. Because when I was younger I couldn't attract hardly no females, whether Mexican or whatever skin color. It wasn't until 1969 after being released from the reform school that I attracted a tall beautiful Mexican girl, and another medium height one that would later become my wife. However, I was not married but dating my wife at this time. I still have love letters that I would write to her from Fort Lewis because she saved them. I remember waxing romantically and poetically in these letters to her, that were far from compared to those of Cyrano De Bergerac type love letters; but I meant every word I said. But , she was far away and my hormones were operating at all 8 cylinders then. And I needed a female to help me with my physical and emotional excruciating pain. Then one day to my total surprise here at this Club, were Army W.A.C. trainees on their weekend pass enjoying freedom also. And these girls were in about our cycle period because they too could come out to play for a while. And all of the girls in that club that afternoon were White girls. I was sitting at a table with some friends when one of them noticed one girl staring at me and she wouldn't stop. So he calls my attention and points to the girl staring at me. When I turned in her direction she gives me a big beautiful smile. She is sitting with her friends and drinking beer too. So I smile at her and she calls me over to their tables. She introduced herself and then I introduced myself and she asked me if I wanted to talk to her for a while. And of course I said okay. And then after I sat down next to her we made short talk for a few minutes and then she asked me if I wanted to go outside? And again I am shocked because this has never happened to me before. But I was about to find out a great truth that a Black woman once said about people looking for love and being rejected by the opposite sex person(s) in your own Country or town. She said, "You are looking for love in the wrong place." Well, this was the first encounter with that truth for me. Because once outside this young beautiful blonde girl with blue eyes was feeling the same pain that I was. And she was generous because she wasted no time, because we had none to waste then. And immediately she hugged me around my neck tight and began to kiss me and wouldn't let go. Then both of us started to go slow with those crazy feelings turning hotter inside and we started to grope each other and as we did I looked all over to see if there was a well hidden place for the two of us to get it on, but there was none. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the groping because we were both burning up in sinful lust for each other. Then her friends came to see what was holding her up and it was then that they all laughed and went back inside. So both of us composed each other as best we could and I asked her if I could meet her there again the next Saturday and she said yes. I did ask her if she was a W.A.C. trainee and she said yes. Then she pointed north across a large open field separating the female trainees from the guys and said her barracks were there. And so the next Saturday afternoon I spent more time with her and we enjoyed more groping because that was all we could do. And that was the last time that I saw her because she was graduating that week. But, one day as my Company was on a road march we did come very close to the W.A.C. trainees and their female Drill Sergeants after my meetings with the young blonde female. And as we slowly marched by a Company of girls, all that we guys heard was one of their female drill sergeants yell at them and say, "Look girls!, There goes miles and miles of d... and you can't have an inch of it." And I just can't ever shake that off my head to save my life because you should have seen all those pretty girls' faces; and rows and rows of them just looking at us pass by them. It was like Joe Walsh of the Eagles sang, "Pretty maids all in a row." And all this time I was thinking, man, our drill sergeants can really talk down to us badly, like as if we were scumbags and pieces of shit everyday. But we were males not females and I can accept that. Well however, after hearing how these poor young pretty girls are talked to by their drill sergeants, I am sure their feelings had to have been hurt sorely. Especially if they came from good families where cursing and using degrading language on them 24 hours a day was not part of their family makeup or character. I told you that Words are powerful, either for good or bad. But those girls survived Basic Training and I am happy for that encounter with the first pretty White girl that I went out with. And no I never confessed those things to my Baby and she didn't confess her extra curricular activities either. And that's how life was in Peace and War in 1970. It was a wide open season for all kinds of revolutions, even a Sexual Revolution. And I met another White girl at a nearby lake on a Saturday afternoon excursion during this time also. A friend by the name Rudy C. Castilleja of San Antonio and I went to drink beer there that day. We looked around to see if we could find some friendly girls to talk to but no one wanted to talk. Then I saw a White beauty coming out of the beach in a two piece bikini and I mustered some courage to approach her and she was very warm and friendly and received me well. So I kept talking to her as I walked with her by her side like a true troubadour and then she came to a stop at a long thick beach towel and sat down with her arms and hands leaned comfortably in back of her and propped her full breast to receive the burst of sunshine on them and her body. Then she bent her legs upwards at the knees and presented a majestic portrait of her copper toned skin beauty radiantly against the green grass and the evergreen trees. She was a blonde and seemed a few years older than me. But I was now sitting side by side with this young beauty and I couldn't believe it because I had never approached a White girl like this in my hometown. But since my encounter at the club with the younger White girl, that gave me prompting and courage to do it again. Then this beauty reaches into her purse with a big smile on her face; and remember my friend Rudy is watching all this from a distance. Then she nonchalantly pulls out a Military I. D. card and places it face up on the green grass between our butts. And with her big smile still on her face she looks at me staring and reading what is written upon it. Then I smile back at her as I am standing up, then I tell her politely, goodbye and that it had been a great pleasure to have talked to her but that I had to get back to my barrack and I left. And then I walked away and motioned to Rudy that it was time for us to leave this place. Then Rudy asked me, "Ruben, what happened?" Then I said to him, "Rudy, she is a Sergeant, man!" And he laughed at me. But I told him, "But Rudy, at least she talked to me and I got to see her very close to me. And she was polite in asking me to leave her alone without being rude." And I had to walk away from her because The Military had a Rule and Policy that prohibited any kind of fraternizing between enlisted personnel and Non-Commissioned Officers and Officers. Then we decided to walk dejectedly with the blues back  to a nearby military base bus station and catch a ride back to South Ft. Lewis base, and we were disappointed with our prospects. But!, It was then as we walked late that evening now, when a car with three White young girls; W.A. C. 's in training, stopped and asked us if we needed a ride. We said yes and then the driver asked where to. I said we were going back to our barrack. Then she asked us if we wanted to go for a ride and we both said yes. So she motions for us to hop in and so we do. Then the girl in the back seat asked her driver friend if we could all go to Tacoma for a while. And the driver said yes. So we headed to Tacoma and there we stopped and got out of the car. These girls had cold beer in an ice chest and so we drank at a park and the girl who sat on the passenger side asked me to walk with her. And man, she was a beauty too. And again, this young girl was most likely feeling lonely and apparently needed comforting of a special kind that only a guy can give because she too initiated the kissing and groping with eagerness. However, she didn't want to go all the way. So we both kept it clean as far as that part was concerned. But we laughed and laughed together like we had known each other forever there in Tacoma that early night. Then the moment came when we all had to go back to base. And once there, Rudy and I were dropped off near our barracks as happy as blue birds. And how can anyone forget or erase most impressionable enchanted moments like that from their mind ever? And although memories are fleeing fast now for me, I still treasure these events forever. And I know and confess that what I did against my great love back home was wrong. But we were young and full of oats and became daring in our pursuit of pleasure and temporary happiness. These kinds of encounters with females later on in my military journey would only escalate. And I was just loving the one girl there closest to me that was willing and was daring to go out with me. It was wrong, but we did it over and over again. And just when it looked bleak for Rudy and I to find female companionship 2,400 miles away from home; out of the blue...Gomer Pyle came along our side to say to us, "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!" And those young White girls sure surprised me because I thought that girls were repelled by my ugliness. And I even thought that I was ugly. Maybe the girls in San Marcos did too, but not out here! Well, I was wrong about my assumption for thinking of myself as ugly. And about midnight that same night as we slept, our drill sergeants for the whole Company began yelling at all the drunk trainees and non drunks to haul ass for Company formation in front of the building. I remember that the drunk trainees could barely stand up much less stand at attention outside for formation. I can still see our Senior tall muscular Drill Sergeant standing at the front landing high above the front steps screaming at us in the dark and saying, "Trainees, I can still see daylight between your legs!" And as some of us staggered just to stand, everybody broke out laughing. And even the Senior Drill Sergeant and Drill Sergeants laughed with us and dismissed us back to sleep. That was their way of saying that they had had fun and enjoyed our short stay with them. Then time to graduate Basic Training arrived and I received Orders to report to Alfa Company, 2nd. Battalion 3rd. A. I. T. Brigade at North Fort Lewis and the old wooden Barracks and there start 9 more weeks of the same training but more advanced. Well, let me close now and let us sleep on that. Thanks again guys.                                                                         Respectfully,                                                                                     Ruben N. Gutierrez