Basic Training And The Accidental Pink Underwear

This is the true story of an experien ce I endured as a left handed person in basic training at Fort Dix New Jersey in March of 1966.

On our second weekend of liberty - spent at McGuire AFB next door to Dix we had the opportunity to drink alcohol and have a good time.

I was dressed in civilian clothes and of all things a red bandanna. Why the bandanna I do not know.

Upon returning to the barracks it was my turn to wash the Uncle Sam issued white underwear and t-shirts. Into the wash I included the bandanna and when the wash cycle had completed the whites had turned pink.

With the exception of wearing another white T shirt, we had no concerns about wearing the pink underwear - as there would be no occasion to be seen in public in our underwear.

Being left handed, I had some degree of difficulty in perfecting the Army way of "right handed manouvers". The drill sergeant from atop his podium could easily see and call out any left handed individuals of which there were about two dozen of us.

I made the mistake of shouldering my rifle on the wrong shoulder and was called up to his perch. A favorite saying was "mamma's boy , sissy" and some other names not suitable to mention here.

In what appears to have been a one in a million chance, the drill sergeant ordered me to drop my pants and as I was looking at the floor of the poduim and my butt in his face and for all to see - there I was in my pink underwear. This is a true story.