One thing the drill instructors hate is to lose their bearing. For thirteen weeks they try very hard to stay focused, hard, and balls to the wall. Sometimes however, if the recruit is the right person and has the right sense of humor they can get them to laugh in front of the whole platoon.
I was fortunate enough to get Sergeant Yoshida to lose his bearing on one occasion. It was mail call which was one of our greatest enjoyments. At least it was for me. I did not have a girl writing me other than my mom and sisters but I enjoyed the letters none the less.
On this particular occasion we were all sitting Indian style on the floor waiting and hoping for our names to be called. I know some recruits did not really get mail and that must have been a difficult thing for them to sit through.
On this particular night we would get some laughs out of it. Sergeant Yoshida was calling names and then stopped all of a sudden and said, "Who is from Beaver, Utah."
I jumped to my feet and said, "Here sir."
"Get up here Gent." he barked. I ran to the front and stood at attention facing the other recruits. "Give us a cheer for your high school that the cheerleaders used to use" he demanded.
"Aye, aye sir" came my reply. For a second or two I hesitated because I could not think of one. I finally yelled, "Go beavers go." The whole platoon erupted in laughter including Sergeant Yoshida. It was hilarious. He demanded that I go sit down. He was was laughing but tried to cover it up.
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