Drill Sergeant

(circa 1973)
 
When Jimmy the Barber
 
from West Milford NJ
 
was drafted for Vietnam War,
 
his basic training sergeant,
 
was a skinny black man
 
with the protruding
 
chicken barrel chest.

Turning civilians into soldiers

is a serious and duanting task.
 
The recruits were a mix of
 
white and black men, 
 
many whom were out of shape.
 
Jimmy will never forget the first
 
day of basic training when
 
the Drill Sergeant screamed,
 
“I only hate only

two kinds of people,
 
fat people
 
and

white people.”
 
YES SIR!