AIT at Fort Devens, MA.

AIT At Fort Devens, Massachusetts

On my last Blog I had finished up Basic Training at Fort Lost-In-The-Woods, Missouri, and was taking a delay in route to my AIT training. I really enjoyed by time off with my family in southern Indiana.  So, after my delay in route was up, mom and dad took me to the bus station in Columbus, Indiana, where I bought a ticket to Ft. Devens, Ma.  So I will pick up my story from there. . . .

So here it was, the first of the new year, 1965, I find my self thinking back over my basic training, my family and friends back home, and I am wondering what the world holds in store for someone who has basically no been off the farm.  The bus had a basic route of Highway 50.  This took me through Ohio, West Virginia, Washington, DC, Maryland, Philadelphia, New York City, Connecticut, Rhode Island and then into Boston.  From Boston I changed to a local bus and went to Ayer, and then finally into Fort Devens. The bus ride was not that bad, I met a guy from Effingham, Illinois, was was also going to Fort Devens, and we played a lot of cards.  This guys name was Harvey Wright and we became good friends throughout school, even though he was in a different company.

Let me tell you a little about Fort Devens.  Fort Devens was located close to Boston and it was known as the 'ditty bop' school for the military.  "Ditty-Bop", meaning Morse Code.  

We  taken to Company C.The "C" stood for Casual, as we were to find out! Company C was Headquartered in a three-story cinder-block building that was, by the way, still there as of late 1991. Its paint-scheme went from buff in 1966 to maroon sometime before 1991. The rest of Company C was in wooden barracks nearby, to the North.

The building was in the shape of a "U". The northeast leg was the "casual-company," the other leg was for some kind of permanent-party company. The middle of the "U" housed the various administration offices and the mess-hall. Just inside the mess-hall door, as you waited in line to be served, the line went by this massive tray rack which was very convenient to lean on. It was not sturdy! First thing off I can remember one the cooks yelling at the line of NUGS (new-guys): "Quack, quack, get off the tray rack!" The mess-hall as decorated in a New England fishing motif, and had a ship's-bow carving of a woman, or a mermaid, or whatever. In each corner hung fishing nets with glass-ball floats and fake Star fish, etc., in them.

At our very first formation early the next morning, we found out straight-up that our stay at Charlie Company could last a few days or even weeks, depending on when our class "start date" was scheduled for our various AIT (Advanced Individual Training). That really sucked, especially when I witnessed a roster being called off for "permanent KP!" Before dismissal, the formation NCOIC yelled out: "all the sick, lame, lazy, and crazy, fall-out to the right of the formation for Sick-Call!" I realized this was a potential scam to consider.

I lucked out and got in a group that was assigned paint-detail with some supply sergeant. Off we went to another part of the post in a topless 2 1/2-Ton truck called a "Deuce." I was surprised to see this relic had an automatic transmission! The supply NCO was pretty cool, but he had us paint a shed in the cold temperature. I knew that paint would never dry correctly. Oh well, the mentality of the Army!

A great place to hide was in the Main PX, just east across the parking lot from Charlie Company. I liked the snack bar I also used to play the juke-box, listening to Mack The Knife by Bobby Darin. Sidelight: I remember the guys had to have a belt, shirt tucked in, and no sandals. Seems like the guys all wore blue jeans, white socks, and penny-loafers! The PX was a great place in 1965. 

I would go to the Post Library at night For entertainment and listen to recordings of If I Had a Hammer, Lemon Tree, and I Want To Be In America by Trini Lopez. Diana Ross and The Supremes hit was You Keep Me Hanging On. Bob Dylan and Donavon had some early hits on the radio as well. I also discovered a well-run USO in Ayer. The women who ran it did a great job and made us feel as much at home as possible! 

On one of the evenings, a bunch of us decided to go and see Dr. Zhivago, with Omar Sharif and Julie Christie. I think this movie had been out for a while, but the Army just caught up with it. The Fort Devens Main Theater was located in a nice, depression-era brick building, located on a corner of the Revere Hall complex and next to the PMO (Post Provost Marshall Office). The movie was great and cost 50-cents. Usually movies were only 35-cents, but the biggies were higher.

I went into Boston quite a number of times - seems always by myself. Nobody else wanted to spend any money. You could get on a bus or take the train in. This was my "escape" from the reality of the Army. I used to envy the Navy Officers - in their nice blue and gold uniforms.  Boston is full of history and I really loved walking the Freedom Trail many times. The Boston Commons was gorgeous and at night was truly breath-taking!

I only stayed at Charlie Company around a month when I got word that my basic Morse-code class would start. We received a description paper, consisting of three parts - page one, and page two, and a third page. " We also got a Student Guide that was ten-pages long. It was late January and those of us slated to become "ditty-boppers" moved from on top of "The HILL" to the bottom - to "Ditty City" - a group of, you guessed it, left-over WWII barracks! My barrack was just like the one I had left in basic, only this one had a coal-burning furnace that some guy on casual-status was detailed to keep stoked all night. It was building T-1518. The "T" stood for temporary.

In the mornings it was not unusual to wake up with coal soot in our noses and listening to Snoopy and the Red Baron by a group I can't remember now, and Young Girl by Gary Pucket and The Union Gap. Yeah, the radio would say: "The Boss Sound in Boz-town, WBZ." Back to soot. That soot was all over and posed a real a problem to clean - for the Commanders daily inspections! By the way, I was on the second floor again.

Our company area was around a third of a mile from another set of WWII buildings, called "Ditty-City". These were numerous barracks that where converted into classrooms, if that are what you called them. Monday through Friday, we marched as a company to and from our barracks to this school - on an asphalt roadway that dog-legged to the right. First we passed an old wooden consolidated mess-hall on the left, called "Con-4." Then we went on passed a little PX-Annex that served 3/2 beer and Pizza, then straight on into the "Ditty-City" complex. Oh, in the middle and to the right of this roadway and across from Con-4, was a fenced-off compound called "P-BRANCH," where the Army held the 98J (Radar-Jammers) AIT.

We had to march to class to the beat of a Base and Snare Drum, which two classmates volunteered to play. Each time the left foot hit the ground, the base drum went Boom, boom, boom-boom-boom and then the accompanying rata-tat-tat of the snare drum. When the weather really got cold, we had to wear those ugly O.D.-green all-weather greatcoats and buckle-up rubber boots. We also had to wear the cold-weather flap-cap as well, called the "pile-cap," with our ASA unit crest pinned such as to hold the visor-part up. You know, the hat that looked like it had hound-dog ears!

Snow it did in this part of the country! Pulling snow-removal detail was not uncommon, getting up at 0330 to clear the sidewalks and passageways. Since we lived in the old wooden barracks, called by some"Splinter Village," we had to pull firewatch as well. When our name came up on the duty-roster (DA form 6), this detail was pulled in four-hour increments. I heard the barracks could burn-down within five-minutes! I never saw that happen thank GOD.

Like I said above, "Ditty City" was comprised of converted wooden barracks that served as classrooms. They were filled with four-rows of side-by-side positions, each comprising of "mills" and headsets - per floor. One row of them on the left wall, one row on the right wall, and two rows in the middle - facing each other. "Mills" were old manual typewriters that only printed in CAPS (capital letters.) Each had two-ply continuous paper that fed through a slot in the back of the gray aluminum table and up into the back of the typewriter. Some guys never typed before until they learned Morse-code!

About learning Morse-code. The course was divided up into eight-weeks. The first week you learned the 26-letter code and had to pass the first speed of 4.5 WGPM (Word Groups Per Minute). Then you had to pass another speed (6, 8, 10,12,15) in each of the remaining seven weeks - to reach 15 GPM, the magic speed to get diverted into the technical phases of the MOS's (Military Occupational Specialty) 05K, 05D, or 05H. These MOS names just received their new names, vs. their old ones of 059, 056, and 058 respectively. 

05K was officially called"Non-Morse Teletype Intercept Operator," 05H was "Morse code Intercept Operator," (called "Hogs") and 05Ds were the "duffies," or "Emitter Locator - Direction Finding (DF) Operators." The last two were biggies for the " 'Nam." Once diverted into our MOSs, we could leave "Splinter Village" and go to Revere Hall (also known as the "Bird Cage," "School House," or whatever). The 05Ds went to a complex called "SITBRANCH," just south and about 3/4 mile from the "School-House" complex.

To learn the code, the instructor stood at the front of the room and had you yell out each letter and its ditty-equivalent at the top of your lungs! You couldn't yell loud enough! This went on for three days, learning eight letters per day. By the end of the last two days, Thursday and Friday, you had to pass the first code speed of 4.5 GPM (Word Groups per Minute). If you didn't, you went to the "Pit," at nights and on Saturdays, a special barracks set up for "code-deficient" troopers!

While in the "Pit," you did "remedial code" starting nightly after the regular day of copying code with your class. You had a ten-minute break every hour. During that break you stood silently at the "Parade-Rest" position until told to sit down again and resume copying code. If you had to go to the latrine, no talking, return quickly, and return to "Parade-Rest." Expect harsh treatment from the instructor at all times. Believe me, a few nights of this and you pulled your head out real quick and made sure you were not "code deficient" again! To stay that way, some of us practiced by ourselves on weekends listening to Morse-tapes bought from the local Radio Shack in Ayer. The Army didn't have MOS libraries in those days. The Fort Devens Main Library had the tape-players in a special room. 

However, I had to go to the "Pit" twice. Once at the end of the first week, at 4.5 WGPM, as I said before. Then again getting past 12'rs (12 GPM) three weeks later. During this whole ordeal, we heard the standard rumors that occasionally a guy would go berserk and throw his "mill" out the window, or try to commit suicide. I never witnessed either!

By week eight, which was now late February, 1967, I finally passed 15 GPM. Last thing was to learn Q & Z signals which was pretty easy. Anyway, I lucked out and got diverted to 05K school for my tech-phase. I was hoping that I would. I heard it was the easier MOS of the other two, code-wise. Plus, almost always - no Vietnam and the extension-course that came prior to it. This extension-course was better known as "TTC," or "Tactical Training Course." Here, the Army had a fake Vietnamese village set up and the Special Forces troops (10th Group) that ran it didn't like prisoners!

Once I got into the technical-phase of 05K, my life got a whole lot easier and enjoyable. We got to move from the wooden barracks and "F" Company, and back up "The HILL" to the same building that formerly housed Charlie Company. Only it was now called Company H. "Hotel" Company was night-school, marching to class just as the flag came down - and stayed until around 2330 hours or so. We were marched by a Special Forces E-6 who was pretty cool! Our classroom was in the old private girls school - The "School House," or the - Yeah right - "Bird Cage," or even some called it by its official name -Revere Hall. Didn't we discuss this earlier? Anyway, we learned all about the receivers, demods, teletypes, and the patch-cording that went with them. The instructors talked about a new "pos" that I would see later.

 Revere Hall was a grand old building that was real long and about four stories high. The huge parade-ground in front of it was the site of many events, including, of course, parades. Revere Hall had many entrances - once inside the guarded compound. Our class entrance was on the far northeast corner, next to the post-stockade. Occasionally an inmate would yell down to us calling us "lifers" or "pukes." We yelled back up: "it was better than pulling 'bad time!'" This stockade-time didn't come off your enlistment ETS (Estimated Termination of Service) either. It only extended it!

On one occasion, I remember taking a break outside the mess-hall side door. The music on the stereo system played "Up, Up, and Away, in My Beautiful Balloon," and "Stone Soul Picnic " by the popular group at the time, Fifth Dimension. I basked my face in the bright, warm sun. There was a wonderful, light, spring breeze blowing as well. More songs played. Spanky And Our Gang's "Lazy Day" and "Sunday will Never Be The Same." I loved to hear the hit by the Australian group - The Seekers - with the powerful voice of Judith Durham singing "Georgy Girl." I can't remember if the Movie - "Georgy Girl" - was made from the idea of this song or if they just sang it as the title song. Sidelight: I saw Judith Durham recently on a PBS Special with her group. She had just celebrated her 60th birthday and boy does she look nice, and sings fantastically!

About two or three weeks before we were scheduled to graduate, we had to fill out our  'Dream Sheet.'  We were told we could put down three choices of where we wanted to go after we graduated.  So, I put down as first choice, Vietnam, second choice, Vietnam and third choice, Vietnam.  I figured I would get 'Vietnam'.  A few days before graduation, we had a muster formation in Revere Hall.  They were going to give out our assignments.  The DI said if we had any questions about our assignments, wait until all had received their assignments.  Of course, it as by alphabet.  As you know, West, begins at the back of everything.  They call out my name.  Surprise,  surprise, surprise!  I was being sent to 9th United States Army Security Field Station.  Where in the world was that?  It could have been in Vietnam for all I knew.  So I waited my turn.  Where is 9th USASAFS?  I was told that it was on Clark Air Base.  So, I waited around again for the questions.  Where is Clark Air Base?  Somebody had made a big mistake.  I was in the U.S. Army, not the U.S. Air Force.  They told me that Clark Air Base was in the Philippine Islands and they were in current support to Vietnam.  The Philippine Islands . . . sandy beaches...palm trees...a tropical paradise!

Well, its a new dawn, its a new day and its a new life.  Til we meet again, my friends.

God speed.