Alcala 1958

at the 300 -ya rdline in the kneeling pos itio n. I remarked to him that in th is pos itio n I cou ldn 't sho ot fo r bea ns. He promp tly fire d eig ht str aig htbu lls eyesinto my targ et. I was the on ly one in the com pan y wh o pos sibl ed in the 300 -ya rdkneeling pos itio n. At the 50 0-y ard lin e, Meatbal l de cided that the 10 0-y ardtow er nee dedsom e ven ti­ lati on. He fir ed eig ht rou nd sinto that. Out of a po ssi ble250 poi nts, Mea tball got 59 . "I gu es sI jus ' can 't sho ot th is her e gu n right, Sa rg e,"he expl ain ed. One of the mo st publi cized pha ses of infa ntr yba sic is the cra wl ingof the infil tra­ tion cou rse . Th is inv olv es cra wli ng under i i n. ed i i n 't s. tly i t l eyes et. l y e rd li iti n. d , l ne ded i- . s ible ts, ll . s ' i , e," i ed. ublicized s s y ling o - s . is l es ling rd l

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We wer e to craw l it fou r times. After the first tim e, Mea tball had had enough . He told me to follow him . I did . We got on boa rd the chow truck wh ich was he ad ed bac k int o the compan yare a — fiv e mi les that the other troop s had to walk . We lie d our way into the bar rack s, had an ear ly sho wer and got our rif les cle ane d. Du rin g the sec ond wee k of bas ic, we were out in the fie ld on a ma p-r ead ing pro blem. We were told that there would be a nig ht problem. We would not get back int o thecompan y areaunt il 3 a.m. Mea tbal l said he woul d have none of this , eit he r. Wh en the chow truck came out to dis trib ute din ner , we again boa rded it and had an­ oth er goo d night' sslee p. It was on a Sund ay, an d Mea tbal l wa s wr itin g a letter to one of fou r gir ls he usu ally writ es to. He aske d me how to spe ll "think ." I asked him if he had ev er bee n gra duate dfrom high sch oo l. "Y eah, "he rep lied , "but onl y be cau se the pri nci pal was a little squ irt and he tho ught I'd bea t him up if he didn't grad­ uat e me ." Wh en bas ic tra ini ng was oyer, mos t of the com pan y spli t up to go to dif fer en t schools thro ughout the cou ntr y. Me atball wen t to Fort Sil l, Okla . I stayed at Or d. We shook hand s for the last tim e. My cru she d han d ha ng ing limp, he board ed the bu s and yelled back , "D on 'tget caug ht do in' anyth in'I woul d do." I did n't . Com e the third worl d war and the wh ole huma nrace is blast ed int o the ski es, if God sho uld wil l one man to remain ali ve an d star t a new race , that man wil l be Me atball. He' ll star t a new race , all rig ht. It'll be a rac e of bug -out s. , ll g . . . i ed y - l s . ac s, l l d. i g i , eading l . e y area il . l , r. i ute , • s . ay, ll s iti g l l es to. ll ." ated l. h," li , se i al t ' - . i i ing v y e t o t y. al l, . . s . d ing , ed , 't t ' i ' 't. l n l l i , l al . l , t. s.

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J IM LaBRIE ma chi ne- gunfir e thr oug hobs tac leslike log s and ditches and some barbed wir e thrown in for the fur the r en joyme ntof the troops. The on ly goo d the inf iltrati oncourse doe s you is to ge t you an d your rifl e ful l of san d. ine-gun h o les s r ent s. l tion

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Shrdlu "We reg ret ve ry mu ch, " a Te xa s paper on ce apo logize d,"a typ ogr aph icalerr or Tuesd ay that cause d us to say, 'John Kenne dy isa memb er of the de fec tiv ebra nch of th e pol ice for ce. ' We sho uldha ve sai d, 'John Kenne dyis a memb erof the det ect ivebra nch of the pol ice far ce ,'of cour se. " ," s l i d, aphical ay d , dy i a r tive b i .' l , y r tive se.'' i ce,'

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