Rising to the Challenge: My Basic Training Journey

Not basic training, but a true story from Korea in 1962. Did you ever meet a 17 year old that knew everything ...but really knew nothing? I'm sure you did and I met one in Korea in 1962 and at time's can still hear his screams. In walks into our hooch one night, this 17 year old private just off the ship from the states. he was from Tennessee and coming to work in our map depot and do some field surveying....and finds out he can have all the sex he wants just past the compound 's main gate for just $2.00 a girl...Well off he goes, but before he leaves we try to tell him where he should go and how to protect himself from getting anything he be sorry for....BUT he knows it all and goes out with these two guys who're the local whore mongers.About 3 hour's later both come back but not with the private... They say he went nuts out there and they lost contact with him. Just before bed check, which was midnight, in comes the pvt bragging about the great time he had. Hewas told to shut up or he would be thrown out of the barracks and miss bed check. which would mean loss of a stripe which he didn't have any to loose and that is Stockade material.Well he went to sleep and sure enough the next day after work and before chow around 5:15pm he was out the gate looking to get laid. this went on until he was out of money...THEN it happened. Sgt G came in one night after work and got hold of the older guy's in our hooch and told us that he had to talk to us in private out of the hooch. so off we went for a walk and Sgt G (A real nice guy He was married to a Korean women and lived off base).

He told us that the pvt got himself crabs...and he was scared and didn't want to get in trouble if he went on sick call. so he asked the Sgt. for advise and Gish went to our Company Commander, another nice guy, and he tells Sgt G to teach the kid a lesson before he went out in the field on a survey mission up north.So Sgt G said he had an idea and he needed our backup and we agreed before we knew what the Sgt had planned. So he told the private that he had to Dry shave off all the hair on his privates and testicles and boy was this guy hairy and then wash the effected area with Gasoline!!yes Gasoline!!to get rid of the crab's and that was the only way to do it without going on sick call and getting in trouble. So off he went to the Latrine to dry shave and some of the guy's saw him and laughed so much they had to leave, but not before he put on the gasoline.they say he used up all the hot water in the shower trying to kill the stinging and that's why I can still at times hear his screams