Holdover

Another character stole my dust cover which was a wool blanket used to cover the pillow and could be used as a second cover. If you lost a blanket you had to buy a new one. I knew my dust cover because it had a small sewn patch in it. So it wasn't hard to find it, and I confronted the guy. It was like trying to take a cub from a lioness. That guy was ready to kill, very emotional and I let it go. Someone informed me that he had been raised in East Germany and was very possessive. Ah - thus the German accent. So I stole one myself. Noticed one missing around the barracks everyday after that for awhile, like musical chairs.

As a holdover it was very loose and no one was particularly in charge. The deal here was either hide or do duty. Out of sight out of mind. Every morning they would require the holdovers, once they found out who you were, to take a truck somewhere for duty, mostly out to the officers stables, to do mostly what anybody can guess. Didn't much care for it myself, although some of the guys liked the officers wives and daughters who came out there to ride. We were driven in the back of a 'deuce and a half', which was a two and a half ton troop carrier, or just a big canvas backed six wheeler with wood seats on the sides. So for a time maybe a week on the ride to the stables at a convenient stop sign, I would jump out the back of the truck and go hide in the library. Nobody bothered you there or asked what you were doing there all day, even though I was only an obviously-in-the-army-only-a-couple-of-months-private.

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