Fort Jackson Tank Hill – I remember meeting a girl during the medical exams who had spent the previous evening smoking pot. She had ingested a ton of penicillin in the hopes of absorbing the marijuana in her body and passing the physical.
We never saw her again, so that may not have worked. The travel day, we were loaded onto a bus and taken to the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, where we boarded a plane to Georgia. We deplaned, wandered over to our connecting flight to South Carolina, and waited.
Fort Jackson Tank Hill
And waited. Six hours. We slept; something told us this would be the last time we’d be able to do that for a while. I joined the Army Reserves when I was 17. I waited a year, learning about Army regulations, speaking with my recruitment sergeant and meeting other Reservists.
And then, in June of 1984, I began basic training. Remember helmets are required for all bicyclists and skate boarders anywhere on Ft. Jackson. Walkers and runners have the trail “right of way” but please be polite, slower traffic should move to the far right of the trail and walking or running shoulder to shoulder should be minimized during heavy traffic times.
Bicyclists should announce their approach and avoid surprising walkers and runners when passing from behind. Always be aware of automobile traffic and use caution especially when crossing streets. Fort Jackson, as the U.S. Army’s main production center for Basic Combat Training, trains 50 percent of the Army’s Basic Combat Training load and 60 percent of the women entering the Army each year.
Providing the Army with trained, disciplined, motivated and physically fit warriors who espouse the Army’s core values and are focused on teamwork is the post’s primary mission. Accomplishing that mission means training in excess of 48,000 basic training and 12,000 additional advanced training Soldiers every year.
As we drove along company streets, we noticed that on one side, buildings that looked a lot like apartment buildings were visible, while on the other side, buildings that looked a lot like giant stick houses appeared.
Our drill sergeant, Sergeant Lee, informed us that the large, brick buildings were Hollywood. Those barracks had air conditioning. The giant stick houses were Tank Hill. No air conditioning. Guess where Echo Company wound up? Tank Hill.
You must be an eligible ID card holder or guest to utilize any of the fitness centers or gymnasiums on Fort Jackson. Eligible ID card holders are one of the following: Active duty military, Retired military, Reserve military, DA Civilian employees, including NAF Civilian employees, Army contract employees and age appropriate family members.
I was C-5-1 at the bottom of Tank Hill right across from the sand pit depression, the next summer of 85`. Remember it well. Remembering the whole platoon screaming “GHOSTBUSTERS” when we were asked after a class on calling in artillery about who we would call in a tight combat situation.
Drill Sargeants look was priceless, maybe worth the smoking we got. Soldiers, Civilians, Retirees and Family members make up the Fort Jackson community. More than 3,500 active duty Soldiers and their 12,000 Family members are assigned to the installation and make this area their home.
About one third of those live in on-post housing. Fort Jackson employs almost 3,500 civilians and provides services for more than 46,000 retirees and their family members. An additional 10,000 students attend courses at the Soldier Support Institute, Armed Forces Chaplaincy Center, National Center for Credibility Assessment and Drill Sergeant School annually.
We had a West Point cadet following us around, and we devised a neat contest to impress him. First platoon to reach 1,000 push-ups got an extra day off. Echo Company won, thank you very much, in THREE days.
The catch was we had to find him, and he had to watch our push-ups, then record them. Echo Company also nailed the gas house. As we were puking and gasping for air after not one of us tried to leave that nightmare early, we looked up, and a couple of the boys from Alpha Company were trying to crawl out through a window.
Score another one for the girls. I was with Charlie Company C-3-1 in June 1986. My Drills were Sgt Furgason and Sgt Dubois. I was made a squad leader for the 4th squad and remember living upstairs in those wooden barracks with a giant exhaust fan at the end of the building.
We had metal bunk beds with foot lockers at the front and gray metal cabinet lockers on the wall between the bunk beds. I was 22 years old and in the best shape of my life.
We were young and did really dumb things but we always came out ok. I really miss those days….. Sports & Fitness is your point of contact for intramural programs at company, battalion, and DoD levels.
Post Level programs include basketball, volleyball, flag football, softball, weightlifting, and more. Our well-maintained venues include Hilton Field Softball Complex, and Semmes Road Tennis Courts. We received out BDU’s also known as the camouflage we would wear every day, our PT clothes, our dress uniforms, socks, boots, our steel pot (helmet), dress shoes, sneakers and the boys had their heads shorn.
Some of the girls did, too-it was hot as hell, and long hair seemed to be an added inconvenience. Then back on the bus, and we were off to the barracks of Fort Jackson. I contracted pneumonia 5 weeks into basic, and was hospitalized for 4 days.
I missed bivouac, I missed a parade I had choreographed and in the end, I was given a medical discharge and sent home. I weighed 88 pounds, which wasn’t good. But I could do 100 push-ups without much trouble and I don’t think I had any body fat anywhere.
I made some good friends in basic, including two people who were killed in Iraq. Upon arrival in South Carolina, we were loaded onto another bus and taken to the reception station. Understand, none of us had any idea what we were doing, we just went where the drill sergeants told us to go.
We were exhausted, dirty, hungry, and we were not allowed to fall asleep. Granted, the fact that in between uniform “fittings,” we were seated on concrete benches made it impossible to sleep, but some managed to pass out.
Army food, at least back then, was loaded with starch, heavy and greasy. We had 15 minutes to eat, and as we scraped our trays into the garbage, we heard something that made our stomachs drop into our boots.
“Double time back to barracks!” Oh my God. We had just consumed our weight in food, and now a 6′ something giant drill sergeant was screaming we had to RUN back to the barracks. We did it, and every few feet, you would see some poor private, puking in the bushes.
We got into a rhythm. PT at 4am, breakfast at 6, maneuvers at 6:30, movies, meetings, school, marching class. We had Sundays off, and we all went to Chapel. Not to pray, but to talk to boys.
Then there were the punishments. I was dropped by Alpha Company’s drill sergeant for smoking on a company street, in front of Alpha Company (boys) as they were getting ammo from the weapons depot. I began my push-ups, and made it to 30-something before the drill came back out of the depot.
“What are you doing?” she asked. “Push-ups, Drill Sergeant!” “How many have you done, Private?” “30-something, Drill Sergeant!” The blacktop was burning my hands, I had sweat in my eyes, but I knew if I didn’t follow orders, it would be much worse.
“Private, when you are dropped, you only have to do 25 push-ups.” Oops. So, this Memorial Day, I remember those two friends, I remember my dad’s friend who died in Vietnam, and I remember that we can support the troops without supporting the wars.
And I remember Drill Sergeant Lee laughing his ass off when I told him I was in the middle of 30+ push-ups when the Alpha Company drill told me to stop. Drill Sergeant Lee called me “tough as fucking nails.”
I’m still tough as fucking nails, Drill Sergeant, thanks in no small part to you. Day one was movie and M-16 day. They showed movies on purpose to see who could stay awake after being threatened with serious punishment for falling asleep.
None of us had slept in over 24 hours, and the sandman was beating us over our collective heads. Hygiene was the topic of the morning, then more Army regulations, we learned our schedule, were introduced to our rifles and then we ate.
It was after the first evening meal that we learned how insane this was going to be. March 19: Fort Jackson Memorial Bataan Death March, 6 a.m. Hilton Field Softball Complex. This memorial march is conducted to honor the heroic service members who defended the Philippine Islands during World War II.
There will be two routes available for participants from which to choose – the full route, 26.2 miles and the honorary route, 14.2 miles. Men will march with a 30-pound rucksack and women with a 25-pound rucksack.
Rucksacks will be weighed beginning at 5 a.m. T-shirts given to the first 25 registrants. Each finisher will be given a commemorative item. For details or registration call 803-751-3096. These swipers will capture the mandatory data for annual reports and justify the appropriate funding needed to run the facilities and/or activities.
Information submitted on the applications by MWR patrons and their families will be set up in a “household” database. All information will be processed in a timely and secured manner not to affect participation at any of the CRD Activities.
After the household is set up, the MWR patron can swipe into any facility with his Military ID, CAC or any issued MWR card. MWR will make this as easy for the customer as possible. The Palmetto Trail provides over 400 miles of biking and walking paths through towns & cities, along lakes, through forests and mountains featuring the natural beauty of South Carolina.
The Palmetto Trail is halfway complete with nearly 225 miles open to the public. A project of the Palmetto Conservation Foundation, the Palmetto Trail was conceived in 1994. South Carolina’s Palmetto Trail is the state’s largest bicycle and pedestrian project and will eventually run from the mountains
to the sea.
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Emma Nehls is a military writer and historian with a passion for exploring the intricacies of warfare and the human experience within the military. With extensive knowledge and a deep understanding of military strategy, tactics, and historical contexts, Nehls brings a unique perspective to his writings.
