The Curse of those Two Green Doo Wah Diddy Ribbons V.

If our Senior Drill Instructor was indeed an excellent walking, talking, example of the adage that "the NCO is the backbone of the Corps," then you can be sure he wasn't alone.

To the contrary you could have also applied that same adage to SSgt. --latter Gunnery Sergeant E-7 -- D.L. Hatton , who by 1999 was a spokesman on the series "Vietnam: the Soldier's War," reel five, dealing with the Battle for Hue City in Tet '68, and buck sergeant E-5 Velorio, twenty years later a mustang captain in the Marine Air Wing.

And yet, for whatever reason, SSgt. José Padilla appeared at least to have fully succumbed -- most likely for the first and last time in his entire military career -- to the siren call of the "Bright Boys" the "College Intellectuals" of our Platoon Ten Twenty Five.

For Staff Sergeant Padilla listened. He seemed to carefully weigh the earnest opinions of the Bright Boys. He acted as though he was ignoring some of the more scathing comments from his two juniors, reported to the rest us by the Duty House Mice, comments more or less along the lines of "Beware the sirens' call of those --allegedly! -- mother-fixated Bright Boys, José. They're just a bunch of loud-mouthed Michael Foxtrots, you hear?" But "José" didn't seem to hear. Instead, "José" believed. And why not?

The Bright Boys were persuasive. Their fervor was genuine. After all, they too, believed.

And for good reason.

For within the ranks of Platoon 1025, we had our share and more of stalwarts who were either the same, or perhaps even better than the other platoons' Masters of Forty Aardvarks and Diehard Party People -- from the Lansing, Ann Arbor or Detroit or who knows where -- University of Michegan campuses.

Plus, we had the equal of any number of run-amok Roman Charioteers. And, too, we had our very own share of the Southwest Conference's -- or whoever's --"Big Three" -- the group nickname for two ex-varsity players from Oklahoma State and one offensive lineman from UT Austin's fall lineup for 1965.

Plus, we could count on enough formerly over-inebriated Frat Brothers from such illustrious Pan-Hellenic entities as both Phi Belta Capa and Pis Mo Sy, and even a phalanx of Wannabes and Dropouts from a number of two-year schools all across America affiliated with various combinations of the above, including California's Legendary Chico State.

So, hell yes! We were all excited as Ten Twenty Five and its sister platoons loaded up on the busses for the trip to Edson Range at Camp Pendleton, where the "Bright Boys" would be at long last "turned loose" to make Edson Rifle Range history!

"You can just bet on that!"

END PART V