Manuel Cruz:  

nday morning I was on a plane to Ft. Sill, OK. Basic was scary and fun at the same time. My brothers favorite memory of me after Basic, though I don't remembering it happening, was when some guy began yelling at us on the street because our car was blocking his way. According to my brother I flew out the window of the car and landed on his hood while I yelled at him through his windshield. I was pretty wired for soundback then. A couple of days later my leave was over and I reported to New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, NM. I became a Contract Cadet and trained as an infantry officer around Roswell, Ft. Stanton, and Lincoln National Forest. Let me tell you infantry sucks and mountain warfare is even worse. I started to have doubts about whether or not I could be an Army Officer. Some of those wargames got a little real for my taste. I had a couple of close calls. The first was when I got to close to a mortar simulator and was thrown a couple of feet. The next was when an Apache Helicopter snuck up behind me out of a clear blue sky. By the time I got to Ft. Riley, KS I was afraid I would do something stupid and get washed out of the program. As it turned out my hearing was what got me thrown out. I was given a medical discharge and sent home.