I don't know why I just thought of him now, its been over 40 years ago that I knew him for 8 weeks of boot camp. But then maybe the people who influence and mold us are never far from our sub-concious.
I've always had this habit of whittling on a stick to pass time, especially waiting for the lady of the house outside a store. Sometimes Karen wants to run into the mall or store and I preffer to wait outside with Pearl the wonder corgi, smoking my pipe and whittling on a small stick. Around most mall entrances are these big planter boxes, and they have a ready supply of material to whittle on. I've had this habit of making little barber poles or checkerboard patterns in a small stick, and when Karen comes out I'll just leave it on the edge of the planter box, or stick it in the mulch standing strait up like a calling card, sort of.
It was'nt untill just recently when I was doing this, someone asked me where I picked up that hobby of making checkerboard patterns in sticks, and I had to think for a minute. I'd been doing it for so many years I could'nt recall when I started. Then it came to me.
When I got out of high school I was at loose ends in a way. Not real sure of what I wanted to do with my life. After a year or two of some odd jobs, I decided to enlist in the army as a possable carreer. Off I went to Ft. Dix, New Jersey and a whole new world. It was there I met Sargent first Class Oscar Draper. He was one of two drill sargents assigned to my training company.
I'm sure you all have seen the cop shows where they have a suspect, and they play good cop/bad cop. Well, it was my experiance they army did the same thing with our DI's. We had one DI named Larkin, and he was really a bad one. Clint Eastwoods Sargent Tom Highway was a marshmellow compard to Sargent Larkin. Look up the term hard a$$ in the dictionary and Sgt. Larkins picture will be there. Then we had Sargent First Class Draper.
Now SFC Oscar Draper could be a tough SOB, but if you did what you were told to the best of your ability, he was almost like a coach. At times he could be almost fatherly. I guess he was the good cop/DI. A tall lean 6' 4" black man, he had a deep booming voice that echoed off the buildings, and when he yelled "company, aten-shun!" I wondered if the clerks up at the post headquarters had an impulse to jump up from their desks. But he had another side of him. Sometimes when there was just him marching us back from the range, or some other training, he'd never yell at someone out of step, he'd coach them and us. He'd march along side of us and tell us "Now just listen to your footsteps, get the rythum. Listen to it.". And we would, we'd listen to the steady crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, of our boots in the gravel road or on the concrete, and get into the rythum of the thing. We always marched better with SFC. Draper. He had a way of getting us to want to do better, to earn his praise. With Larkin it was our goal to not get our butts chewed. And we liked his sence of humor. He'd joke with us and tell us he always knew he was born to be in the army because his initials were O.D. This was long before the days of camoflage, and our fatigues were olive drab green. Hence the O.D./ Oscar Draper joke.
But now I remember he had a habit of whittling. The army was hurry up and wait, and many times we got to a training area and the group in front of us was not done, so we waited, and it was "smoke em if ya got em.". It was then I noticed that he had a small two blade brown handle pocket knife in his top right pocket of his fatigue shirt. While waiting, he'd often take out his little knife and whittle a checkerboard pattern on a stick, and stick it in the ground standing up when it was time to move out. One day a recruit asked him what he was doing, and Draper replied "Leaving my totem, so if my enemys come this way they'll see that and piss themselves knowing they're on my turf now!" He had a grin on his face and winked to us as he said it.
But he had a serious side to him. He was in charge of our hand to hand, and he took it very serious. There was this area called the sandpits, and it was used for unarmed hand to hand, as well as knife and pugil stick and bayonet training. SFC Draper proved to be lightning with a MK 2. They had these rubber training knives the same size and profile of a Camillus MK2, but with a wide blunt edge that would be chalked up. He'd pair us up and drill us in what he said could save our lives some day. You don't expect to see a man that big move quicker than a wild back alley tom cat, but it was then we saw that SFC Draper could be scarey. To my memory, it was a rare thing for someone to mark Draper if he was'nt going to let them. It was bad enough that he had a reach like an orangatang, but he was a big fast opponent. But he did let us get him now and then in the spirit of teaching, but mostly he had us against other trainees. With Larkin, if you marked him or knocked him down with a pugil stick, he'd have you try it again and somehow "accidently" give you an elbow in the chops, or something. But with Draper, you'd get him with the chalked rubber knife, or pugil stick, ( I really think he let us now and then) and he'd thump you on the back a couple times saying"Good boy, see how you did that? Remember it! Ya'll are gonna be my personally trained killers!" and he would make you proud of yourself.
I don't remember how long after boot camp I started to imitate Sgt. Drapers stick whittling making a checkerboard, or sometimes a barber pole pattern, but somehow it became a habit of mine. Maybe it was my own way of paying homage to him, or maybe it was imitation out of hero worship. But when just last week when there was this person standing outside of the mall door smoking and watching me whittle this checkerboard stick, and he asked me what I was doing I could'nt help it.
I told him I was leaving my totem, so if my enemys passed this way they would see it and piss themselves knowing they were on my turf.
(God bless you Sargent Draper, may you be having a cold one at the N.C.O. club "up there" with Mr. Van. The two of you were alot alike!)
I've always had this habit of whittling on a stick to pass time, especially waiting for the lady of the house outside a store. Sometimes Karen wants to run into the mall or store and I preffer to wait outside with Pearl the wonder corgi, smoking my pipe and whittling on a small stick. Around most mall entrances are these big planter boxes, and they have a ready supply of material to whittle on. I've had this habit of making little barber poles or checkerboard patterns in a small stick, and when Karen comes out I'll just leave it on the edge of the planter box, or stick it in the mulch standing strait up like a calling card, sort of.
It was'nt untill just recently when I was doing this, someone asked me where I picked up that hobby of making checkerboard patterns in sticks, and I had to think for a minute. I'd been doing it for so many years I could'nt recall when I started. Then it came to me.
When I got out of high school I was at loose ends in a way. Not real sure of what I wanted to do with my life. After a year or two of some odd jobs, I decided to enlist in the army as a possable carreer. Off I went to Ft. Dix, New Jersey and a whole new world. It was there I met Sargent first Class Oscar Draper. He was one of two drill sargents assigned to my training company.
I'm sure you all have seen the cop shows where they have a suspect, and they play good cop/bad cop. Well, it was my experiance they army did the same thing with our DI's. We had one DI named Larkin, and he was really a bad one. Clint Eastwoods Sargent Tom Highway was a marshmellow compard to Sargent Larkin. Look up the term hard a$$ in the dictionary and Sgt. Larkins picture will be there. Then we had Sargent First Class Draper.
Now SFC Oscar Draper could be a tough SOB, but if you did what you were told to the best of your ability, he was almost like a coach. At times he could be almost fatherly. I guess he was the good cop/DI. A tall lean 6' 4" black man, he had a deep booming voice that echoed off the buildings, and when he yelled "company, aten-shun!" I wondered if the clerks up at the post headquarters had an impulse to jump up from their desks. But he had another side of him. Sometimes when there was just him marching us back from the range, or some other training, he'd never yell at someone out of step, he'd coach them and us. He'd march along side of us and tell us "Now just listen to your footsteps, get the rythum. Listen to it.". And we would, we'd listen to the steady crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, of our boots in the gravel road or on the concrete, and get into the rythum of the thing. We always marched better with SFC. Draper. He had a way of getting us to want to do better, to earn his praise. With Larkin it was our goal to not get our butts chewed. And we liked his sence of humor. He'd joke with us and tell us he always knew he was born to be in the army because his initials were O.D. This was long before the days of camoflage, and our fatigues were olive drab green. Hence the O.D./ Oscar Draper joke.
But now I remember he had a habit of whittling. The army was hurry up and wait, and many times we got to a training area and the group in front of us was not done, so we waited, and it was "smoke em if ya got em.". It was then I noticed that he had a small two blade brown handle pocket knife in his top right pocket of his fatigue shirt. While waiting, he'd often take out his little knife and whittle a checkerboard pattern on a stick, and stick it in the ground standing up when it was time to move out. One day a recruit asked him what he was doing, and Draper replied "Leaving my totem, so if my enemys come this way they'll see that and piss themselves knowing they're on my turf now!" He had a grin on his face and winked to us as he said it.
But he had a serious side to him. He was in charge of our hand to hand, and he took it very serious. There was this area called the sandpits, and it was used for unarmed hand to hand, as well as knife and pugil stick and bayonet training. SFC Draper proved to be lightning with a MK 2. They had these rubber training knives the same size and profile of a Camillus MK2, but with a wide blunt edge that would be chalked up. He'd pair us up and drill us in what he said could save our lives some day. You don't expect to see a man that big move quicker than a wild back alley tom cat, but it was then we saw that SFC Draper could be scarey. To my memory, it was a rare thing for someone to mark Draper if he was'nt going to let them. It was bad enough that he had a reach like an orangatang, but he was a big fast opponent. But he did let us get him now and then in the spirit of teaching, but mostly he had us against other trainees. With Larkin, if you marked him or knocked him down with a pugil stick, he'd have you try it again and somehow "accidently" give you an elbow in the chops, or something. But with Draper, you'd get him with the chalked rubber knife, or pugil stick, ( I really think he let us now and then) and he'd thump you on the back a couple times saying"Good boy, see how you did that? Remember it! Ya'll are gonna be my personally trained killers!" and he would make you proud of yourself.
I don't remember how long after boot camp I started to imitate Sgt. Drapers stick whittling making a checkerboard, or sometimes a barber pole pattern, but somehow it became a habit of mine. Maybe it was my own way of paying homage to him, or maybe it was imitation out of hero worship. But when just last week when there was this person standing outside of the mall door smoking and watching me whittle this checkerboard stick, and he asked me what I was doing I could'nt help it.
I told him I was leaving my totem, so if my enemys passed this way they would see it and piss themselves knowing they were on my turf.
(God bless you Sargent Draper, may you be having a cold one at the N.C.O. club "up there" with Mr. Van. The two of you were alot alike!)
