Reluctant Lieutenant: From Basic to OCS in the Sixties

by Jerry Morton

Book Overview

With intimidating tales of bellowing drill instructors and their seemingly incongruous tasks, Reluctant Lieutenant captures the essence of what it meant to survive the training regimen of the Old... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 158544359X
• ISBN13: 9781585443598
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Eye opener for a 30-something

Such a powerful storyteller - I was unable to put the book down. I am very appreciative that Dr. Morton wrote this book for the children/grandchildren of this era.

"Reluctant" is the Right Word

I shared a similar experience at almost the same time in the 60s as Mr. Morton, except from Basic through OCS at the Armor School at Fort Knox, KY. I did serve, briefly, in Vietnam, and found the compressed military training experience to be relevant and generally excellent. As a journalism student, I had seen the draft coming, and had written a major article called "Vietnam and the Corn Belt Campus," reporting midwestern student attitudes toward the "conflict." My last article was on the service's officer candidate schools. I wanted the romance of the Navy, but couldn't pass the vision requirement. I settled on the Army, and wanted to specialize in transportation, as I had worked at my father's truck line. I would up with Armor. I found the fraternity hazing I'd experienced at college the perfect background for the endless hazing of OCS, which caused many candidates to drop out. Enduring abuse while forging ahead was the secret to success. I then served at the Army War College and at a press camp in Vietnam, then back at the press office for 5th Army at Ft. Sheridan. To my many friends who went on from college to get their MBAs and married, or National Guard domestic service, instead of confronting the draft, I called my Army experience my "military MBA."

Unusual memoir

This is a good book for veterans of the 1960s Army, since it's one careful writer's reconstructed memoir of the major events of Basic, Infantry AIT and Infantry OCS. Remember Zero Week? I'd forgotten. Remember the fear of having to repeat Basic? Author Jerry Morton doesn't waste energy finding reasons to hate the Army, and he builds his story with details not generalities. But being a Phd psychologist, he can be pedantic at times. He also seems to run out of gas by the concluding, OCS segment. His Infantry OCS was different from mine, in several respects, but he went through a year earlier, in the first half of 1967, so it might have changed by the time I got to Fort Benning in 1968. Basic and Infantry AIT, which will appeal to the greatest number of Army veterans, get the most careful attention. Morton did them in the fall of 1966 at Fort Dix, NJ, and Ft. McClellan, AL. Even if you weren't there (I did Basic and Cavalry Scout AIT at Fort Knox, KY) his details will spark plenty of memories. He uses pseudonyms and reconstructed (at best) dialogue to keep things moving, and often finds his truths in humor: "We had no idea how far we were going or where we were going. We were just going."

Nice shift in focus

Reluctant Lieutenant is not like the usual war memior. Since Morton did not see combat, basic training was the biggest part of his short military career. Others who have seen combat will focus on combat in thier writings. I had the honor of listening to Jerry Morton speak to my class and was in awe of his military intelligence. You notice it too in the book that, eventhough he would not see combat and that he had no interest in the Army before "enlisting," Morton has an acute knowlege of warcraft that makes the reader wonder "would he have been a good combat leader?" I believe so.

True story of one man's experience in the training regiment

Reluctant Lieutenant: From Basic To OCS In The Sixties is the true story of one man's experience in the training regiment of the U.S. Army in the late 1960s. Jerry Morton's journey through basic training, advanced infantry training, and Infantry Officer Candidate School during the Vietnam era are all recounted with a natural knack for storytelling, that draws the reader in to the picture of daily life, and the hell that military instructors put their cadets through - in the hope of making them better able to survive the hell that is war. A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrate this candid military memoir.