As we graduate from high school and move on with our lives, we will all go our separate ways. Some of us will go off to college, some to the military, and a few move to some tropical island to study the area and well…we never hear from them again. A few weeks ago, former MASH student, Greg Hawkins graduated and returned home after months in Fort Benning, Georgia.

In great detail, he described to me what life was like at Fort Benning. When I stopped him in brief description of the morning P T to ask him about the food he replied, “Well, it really depends on how hungry you are. There were some days I was just exhausted and starving and on those days, believe me, that food tasted pretty good. But when you’re out in the field the chow always is horrible. You get what is called an MRE (meal ready to eat). They all smell like dog food and taste worse.”

Although the food was rough when asked what was the hardest part of the training, Hawkins replied, “Really, the separation from my family was the hardest part. I left on bad terms with my mom and she was in bad health so I really worried about her a lot and really just wanted to apologize.”

To Greg, the separation from family was the hardest part of training, but the worst part, “without a doubt was the riot gas. In about week five of the training, the drill sergeants loaded all of us up, four platoons, into cattle cars (cramped doesn’t even start to explain it). We arrived at this old building in the middle of nowhere. As soon as the last man stepped out of the car, the drills threw smoke grenades we had about nine seconds to get our masks on. Then the drills lined us up outside of this building. They were taking four soldiers at a time. Waiting just made our throats swell. Finally it was my turn to go in. The other guys were complaining that it was burning their skin, but I didn’t seem to be affected by it, so I thought I was going to be fine. When the drills told us to take our masks off, I ripped mine off and instantly my lungs were on fire, my eyes swelled almost shut, and snot hung from my nose about to my knees. Talk about cleaning out your sinuses! It was horrible.”

But it wasn’t all horrible. After graduating from infantry school, Hawkins felt a sense of pride as a soldier ready to fight for his country, which made all the hell of basic training well worth it.