Here's another.
At age 14 you really hadn't, at least at that time, done a lot in your young life. If you were in sports or FFA or FHA or Boy Scouts or 4-H maybe. Up until that time my biggest claim to fame was winning the 8th grade science fair with my exhibit on the Bermuda Triangle. So going to Kemper was a big step to begin with.
Back in those days, after 6 weeks of Phase I, the best of the best got promoted to Phase II. That meant they didn't have to brace in the halls or sit Phase I. That meant sitting in the first third of your chair and 'sitting-up.' You also could have like a rug on your floor and a picture or something. No big stereos, just small clock radios were aloud. So any kind of promotion got a you a few more privileges. After that every 4 weeks the best got promoted so by the time Christmas Corporal Dinner came around, the best New Boys were promoted to Corporal.
After the first 6 weeks I was still Phase I. The next promotions came; I was still Phase I. The next promotions came and went; still no black patches. Then came Christmas Corporal. There were hall decorating contests (Band won that one that year with aluminum foil hanging from the ceiling and the walls.) Individual door decorations (our 1Sgt in Delta won that one; Selfridge). We were going to eat steak, each company would have some kind of skit or songs and then promotions. The next day we would all leave for a MONTH break. I could sleep in, no sitting up, watch TV and relax.
Anyway, at that time the way you sat at tables were by platoon. Usually you had one or two tables with nothing but New Boys, with the Platoon Leader at one end and a squad leader at the other end. Another table would have the Platoon Sergeant and another squad leader. The overflow of Old Boys and NCOs would sit at the NCO table.
My squad leader hated me. I couldn't march right, didn't know my right foot from the left and I didn't know a flank from a column,. No one ever explained it to until much later what exactly a column and a flank was. I did plenty of push ups and sit ups and braced. So there I sat in my class A's with my arms folded, after having ate a nice meal without having to sit Phase I. They were reading the promotions off, starting with the lowest and working their way up to the officers and getting their swords presented. As they were reading the names off I locked eyes with my squad leader; Williams. He sat there looking at me and suddenly my name was called off. I was no longer a Phase I but a Phase II. There is no amount of money you could have given and no award since that has felt as good as hearing my name being promoted and looking at the person who had made my life Hell. (The next year when he came back for a visit, not returning as a cadet, I went up to him and told him how I hated his guts the previous year, but shook his hand and thanked him for everything)
What the price I paid to receive two little pieces of black felt to wear on my shoulders was tantamount to having been broken and been rebuilt. Seriously. I was no longer the same person that had come there. I never realized it until much later that I had started to take steps toward manhood. I was still a boy, but I was growing.
The cadets who were there at my years at Kemper were some of the most insightful people I have ever met and I have met few like them since. They were boys and girls ranging from 7th grade to junior college. From all over the world with a multitude of background and reasons for being there. And yet, with all of that, there was someone who could relate to any problem a cadet might have. I will always say I was lucky to have gone when I did.
Back to the mess hall and the promotions; I was stunned. Literally. I couldn't stop staring and then I could feel a smile come on my face and I finally broke eye contact with him and shook my head. I honestly can't remember what changed after that, but I know things did.
Those first steps I took with the help and the pain of the Old Boys around me; from my squad leader and my assistant squad leader Holmes (who died the next year and who was one of my best first friends there). To unassigned Old Boys like Shehorn and Eehl. I can remember Eehl sitting on a shoe box upon my squad's introduction to our squad leadership.
Two black patches. I would eventually trade those in for corporal stripes when I transferred to the Band as a tuba player. But that's another story. I have always wondered what would have happened had I not transferred. I look back at that time now with hopefully more wisdom and wonder what if. I also wish I could shake William's hand one more time. So where ever you are, thank you.
Two black patches on a light blue shirt with brass insignia on the collar points; the first real things I ever earned.
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