Chapter 2: Induction Day

My father and stepmother drove me down to the Selective Service office in Smithtown Monday morning, May 5, 1968 to check in and then get on the bus for the ride to Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn for induction. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my father and stepmother were waiting for me to say goodbye, but I didn't see them and just got on the bus.

I remember mostly just quietly staring out the window for most of the ride, wondering if I would live through this adventure and make it back home again after it was all over. I suppose most of us did.

We arrived in at Fort Hamilton about an hour or so later. There was another short interview to see if anything had changed since our physicals and if nothing had, we were sent into in a different room to wait until everyone had been interviewed.

It wasn't long before a few men came into the room to talk to us. One of them explained that not everyone of us would be inducted into the Army, that a small number of us were needed in the Marine Corp. They asked for volunteers. There was no fucking way I was volunteering and just sat quietly. Believe it or not, a few guys did volunteer and were escorted out of the room.

Next we were directed into another room with lines painted on the floor and a large American flag in front. We were told to line up along the lines and then “asked” to take one step forward to "voluntarily" be sworn in.

At the final phase of the induction process, a military recruiting officer will order the Registrant, and any other Registrants present, to "line up on the line.” (a line, or several lines, is/are painted on the floor). A military recruiting officer will then order all those "joining the army,” (or whatever) to “take one step forward” … THOSE WHO LINE UP AS ORDERED AND TAKE ONE STEP FORWARD JUST "VOLUNTEERED!" BY TAKING ONE STEP FORWARD, YOU CONVERT YOUR "REGISTRANT" STATUS INTO THAT OF AN "INDUCTEE"!!!!

The oath is administered: "I, (state your name) do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America and will defend it against all enemies foreign and domestic, and will obey the orders of the President and the officers appointed over me, so help me God."

Well, that was it and I was now the property of the United States Army. We were then lead out of the room and broken down into smaller groups depending where we were assigned. I was assigned to Fort Jackson in South Carolina, wherever that was. My group boarded a bus for the ride to JFK airport in Queens. When our plane landed in Columbia, South Carolina a few hours later, we were met by someone from the Army and put on another bus for the ride to Fort Jackson where the fun really started.

Fort Jackson covered an area of 52,594 acres extending 18 miles East to West and 10 miles North to South in 1967.

As soon as the bus pulled to a stop in front of the Reception Center, the meanest man I’ve ever come in contact with up to that point in my young life, jumped on the bus and immediately starts yelling and screaming orders. “OFF THE BUS! DOUBLE TIME! LINE UP! and all kind of crap like that. We practically ran off the bus, into what seemed like hell and into the waiting arms of Uncle Sam and the United States Army. As I was standing there trying to line up for the mean man, one of my first thoughts was, “They’ve all been so nice so far, what the fuck happened?”

The reception center at Fort Jackson is the largest Reception Station in the US Army and first stop all new recruits make. Here is a description of the Reception Station the Commanding Officer gave in a briefing in 1967.

“The mission of the Reception Station is to receive and administratively process, within a prescribed time limit of four days, all United States Regular Army, Army Reserve, National Guard, or prior service personnel ordered to active duty, and present the best possible impression of the Army to each new accession. This mission is unique in that the Fort Jackson Reception Station is the only one in the United States Army required on a regular basis to process personnel for two Army Training Centers ; i.e., Fort Gordon, Georgia and Fort Jackson, South Carolina . In addition, we are also charged with orienting and processing qualified applications for Officer Candidate School from In ducted and Regular Army (RA) Personnel being processed at the Reception Station, as well as counseling qualified inducted personnel on the benefits of enlisting in the regular army for a school of their choice of sixteen weeks duration or longer. “To accomplish this mission, the Reception Station is organized with a total authorized strength of 392 personnel, of which 130 are civilians. This staffing permits maximum finished processing of 500 men per day, five days a week. Two sections remain fully operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week; they are the Consolidated Mess and the Initial Receiving Point (IRP). “The majority of receptees arrive by bus or train. Some arrive by air and are shuttled to Fort Jackson by Army bus; all accessions are received at the initial receiving point. They are welcomed into the Army and fed, if they arrive during meal time or missed their last meal. They are given a haircut which marks their initial transition as a soldier. After two hours of in-processing, they are then assigned to their company for issue of bed ding and comfort pak. “Within 24 hours after arriving, each receptee receives his initial issue of clothing. They next attend the Company Commander Orientation and this ends the processing for the first day. “On the morning of their second processing day, all receptees undergo a physical inspection. Approximately 55 out of 10,000 persons are eliminated each month as a result of this inspection. After the inspection, they receive their initial battery of Army tests, which takes six hours to complete. Four hours are given on this day, with remaining tests given the following day. “On the individual’s third day, he is interviewed. It is through this interview that the man’s aptitudes and abilities are determined. The Classification/Assignment Noncommissioned Officer utilizes this information to make a recommendation as to the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) in which he will be trained upon completion of Basic Combat Training. Qualified high school and college graduate inducted personnel are identified at this time. They are interviewed by career counselors for the Officer Candidate School Program, and Army School Program which fills special requirements and hard skill MOS schools with Regular Army personnel. Our program at Fort Jackson has resulted in more than three thousand individuals volunteering for an extra year to obtain a school of their choice and more than seven hundred for Officer Candidate School . “After classification and assignment, each receptee is interviewed by the personal affairs branch; here, his allotments are made, pay vouchers checked, insurance application and family medical care applications are completed, and his records verified for accuracy and completeness. “On the fourth and final processing day, each man is paid; sworn into the Regular Army, if he entered as a US Inductee and elected a school, given his immunization, and prepared for shipment. “Personnel assigned to Fort Gordon depart by commercial carrier at 1330 hours and those assigned to Fort Jackson are picked up by their Basic Combat Training unit. Personnel destined for other installations are normally held overnight at the Reception Station and shipped early the next morning.”

Here's an interesting fact.

In Fiscal Year 1967, Fort Jackson processed over 103,000 receptees through the Reception Station.