This is John Robertson standing beside the tree overlooking the Potomac River beyond. Every morning when we bolted from the barracks in the other direction from where I am standing and taking this picture, we could see this tree and the swift river.
One morning, we were all stunned to see the morning sky a beautiful and incongruous pink. Most of us just stood for a moment in awe before we had to line up and march to morning chow.
At various times during my eight weeks with the platoon, we were each given various platoon and company assignments: company commander, platoon commander, platoon sergeant. I occasionally got my left and right foot confused while marching the platoon. One time, the guys had had enough of my confusion and decided that when next I said, "Column Left" when I meant "Column Right," they were going to do just what I told them to do.
We were between two buildings when I got it wrong once again and they headed off onto the grass between the buildings. Well, actually, half the platoon went right while half of them kept marching straight ahead since they were not going to obey an improper command. It was a mess. I managed to get the two halves back together while maneuvering the one half within the tight spaces. But it must have looked like a total cluster*** to the staff. (I later heard that Gunny Williams looked skyward when he saw the confusion that I had caused.)
Several times during OCS, dignitaries would visit from Washington and review the troops. Gunny Williams always referred to these unwanted events as "Dog and Pony" shows. It was all timed perfectly to have guys running the obstacle course when the dignitary reached that location. Or guys were marching on the parade field just so, or running by when the dignitary walked past. We often got more time off if the dignitary was especially impressed with us.
When we were able to leave base in the first few weeks, we often stayed at the Crystal City Marriott where they had military rates that were much cheaper; and with three or four candidates to a room, it was cheaper still. As the weeks went by, though, a few of us who did not have family in the area decided to simply stay in the barracks. Without the staff or the whole platoon hanging around, we had a great time just relaxing or eating at the Slop Shoot, a fast food place near the barracks. Some of us would visit the little berg of Quantico itself. Often someone had a radio tuned to Casey Kasem's American Top 40. This was the spring of 1972, so we heard America's A HORSE WITH NO NAME or STARRY, STARRY NIGHT by Don McLean, or A WALK IN THE NIGHT by Junior Walker, or OH GIRL by the Chi-Lites or (LAST NIGHT) I DIDN'T GET TO SLEEP by The 5th Dimension. I stocked up on cheaper record albums from the BX and bought an inexpensive suitcase to carry them in when I left.
I did see some of Washington DC in the first weeks when John Ormbreck left us his four-door VW as he flew to NYC for one weekend. I remember one rainy night that we drove around the Capitol buildings.
Dennis had hung out with another group in the very beginning, but when they got hotel rooms and hired local laddies of the evening, he did not feel comfortable, so he just hung out in the lobby until the women left. He was engaged to a girl back home, Beth, whom I would later meet and become friends with.
John Robertson's wife was back in Tennessee with their newborn son. That was probably why he decided to leave OCS. He still owed the Corps enlisted time, but it would not last as long as he would have to stay in if he'd accepted a commission. He did leave when I did and was stationed at Quantico, hence my deciding to come back and visit early the next year. Dennis and Beth Zito invited me to spend a few days of my stay with them, and I should have taken them up on it before my presence grated on John and his wife.
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