[66MP1]

Basic Training was really good for me. Of course there were days when I hated it, like those forced marches through the beautiful woods at Ft. Bragg on those wonderful summer North Carolina days in that lovely Tarheel sand. Summers are hot in that part of the state. The constant cleaning and waxing and polishing floors with a blanket and Johnson's Paste Wax.

The fun parts were of course on the firing range, pugil sticks, obstacle course and that. I really like most of the training.

I had 2 DI's, SSG Pietrolaj and SGT Dodd. They were both very good. Dodd lived in the barracks with us and had to wear sunglass all the time because a grenade blew up near his face in Nam and messed up his vision. Pietrolaj loved to run and always wanted our platoon to be first on first marches. Both of them really took time with us and were really not screamers. They had the respect of our entire platoon.

When I got to MP School at Ft. Gordon, it changed somewhat. There it was nothing but spit and polish and really breaking you down and then building you back up. We got much more harrassment than in Basic. They kept driving it in our heads that we were the best the Army had. The training there was the best I ever had in my Law Enforcement career. I used things I learned all through my civilian career.