Basic stuff

Memories are odd ducks.  We minimize, repress, ignore, or simply forget the bad stuff and let the good stuff come bubbling back up to the surface.  Otherwise, I don't think humanity could survive.  So yes, Ft. Polk was a lovely place as I recollect.  Plenty of southern pines, sandy soil so it didn't get muddy when it rained, very clean air, and the weather wasn't that bad although it did get hot and very humid at times...a dry towel left out at night would be damp in the morning.

The reputation Polk had was fearsome, and I'm not sure why.  It was supposed to be the absolute worst place to take basic training.  Maybe it was the snakes.  The mess hall had big illustrations on the exterior walls of the four venomous snakes that were supposed to be plentiful in the area: copperhead, water moccasin, pygmy rattler, and coral snake.  Never saw a single one; they probably found the presence of lumbering trainees disturbing and avoided human contact.  I was never inclined to search for them.  There were armadillos, too, but I never saw a live one, only a few dead ones.

A greater part of the reputation is probably it's nickname "Tigerland."  That was where the advanced infantry training took place, far from the basic trainees, complete with replica Vietnamese villages.  It was sad on graduation day when we finished basic and saw our draftee pals climb into the backs of the deuce-and-a-halfs for a quick trip to Tigerland, where things would probably get worse for them.  The guys with the Reserves, National Guard, and regular enlistees (with their guaranteed schools) headed out to much better places.  I went to Ft. Belvoir, not far from Washington D.C. near the Chesapeake Bay.  That was another lovely place, although the weather got much colder.

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Uncle Ken must have been thinking of North Park Academy with the Nordic horned helmets...they were the "Vikings."  Luther North was the "Wildcats," with the mascot logo suspiciously like Northwestern University's.

The initial poor performance in college (not IIT; that was later for the six weeks of grad school) wasn't due to poor high school preparation; it was all on me.  A lot of stuff was easy for me in high school, so I never really developed any good study habits; that came much later.  Being away from home for the first extended time was exhilarating and a lot of time was spent goofing off, with the attendant bullshit sessions.  I was also too young, immature, and unfocused, a callow youth of sixteen (due to a different turning point).

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Another clown joins the circus, huh?  Not surprised if there will be more; everything seems wide open, still.  Maybe it's my imagination, but it looks like the Great Lumpy Cheeto is losing some of his orange pallor.