"Fear"

 

April 24, 2021

“Fear”

By Jim Culp

In the summer of 1990, I attended a school at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. It was hotter than the lower planes of hell, and we arrived to find that not only were the barracks not air conditioned; neither were the classrooms and mess-hall. Most days were over 100˚F, and the humidity was around 70%. We were there for six weeks, and attended classes every day and various outdoor activities like the physical fitness test, land navigation, and trying not to die.

This school (in my day) was called BNCOC (Basic Non-Commissioned Officer’s Course), and you typically attend it at Grade E-5, which is Sergeant. There were guys there from my unit, and also some guys that I had been stationed with at other Army units previously. We were allowed to do as we pleased at night, and that usually included drinking and watching strippers dance.

At some point in the class, we wrote papers on any subject that we chose. They were graded by a professor instructor from Central Texas College. I wrote mine on Darth Vader. I wrote about how the Darth would handle any issue that came his way, and 98% of the time; his leaders and soldiers did what he said to do in great haste. If a leader or soldier was in that 2 percentile, woe was his fate.

"Darth" (means “Lord” or “Leader”) was feared and respected, but mostly feared…hence his 98% efficiency rate. He always dressed well, and made sure one of his imbeciles shined his boots and helmet to a mirror image. He rarely yelled, because he didn’t need to.

Once, at a leader’s conference, his boss was there. The boss said that “fear would keep the local systems in line, fear of this battle station.” The boss spoke of the Death Star, a massive rig that moved about space blowing up planets that had not behaved like the Emperor (the BIG BOSS) wanted. When one of the leaders scoffed at this, the Darth walked over to him, and summoned the force. This made the leader choke, and gain some fucking respect. See how that works?

I received a 97 on my paper. At the bottom, there was this note.

“Dear Sergeant Culp: I loved your paper, and really enjoyed reading it. I gave you a 98% because your indention on line 54 was not needed. Lastly; about your topic; bravo! I grade hundreds of these papers every week, and get sick of Army slogans and tedious military jargon. Thanks for the break.”

I headed home that summer feeling like a million bucks. Now that I look back, I think about that paper, and all the guys I went to that course with. I think about the heat and humidity, and the way it would prepare me for the coming war, which was just six months later. I would know fear all too well then.

-Jim

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