The land there was black sand and the trees mostly pine. It was somewhat scorchingand muggy as we were there in June, July and August. We wore one piececoveralls and every time we got back to the barracks we would step inthe shower with our clothes on and would dry off in about 10 minutes.We had to got up at 5:30 am and pick up all the cigarette butts andpapers on the grounds before breakfast. This was loads of fun when itwas raining... We spent most of our time in marching drills, riflerange, obstacle course and 1earning., about the huge gun. The drillsergeants were mean, miserable and yelled at us all the time. Theyyelled at me continually for being out of step while marching. Icouldn't figure out why because I was always in step. After 13 fortnights,I could have easily killed both of them.

The obstacle course was about a mile long through woods, gullies andacross water. I had such a competitive spirit that I would run thewhole route and try to finish first. Some guys would walk, take shortcuts and really goof off. It didn't seem to make any difference howyou did it, but I still ran all the way.