Also, word had apparently got out that I am a Jonah or somethin, cause ain't nobody wants to speak to me except the sergeants, an all they do is holler at me. The days are cold an wet, an the nights are miserable, an I ain't never felt so lonely. I wrote some letters to little Forrest, but his answers are kind of short an I get the impression maybe he is sort of forgettin me. Sometimes at night, I tried to dream about Jenny but it ain't no use. Looks like she done forgot about me, too.
One day somebody tole me I am getting a helper to clean the tank treads an I gotta show him the ropes. I gone on out to the motor pool an they is a feller standin there starin down at a tread got about a hundrit pounds of mud on it.
"Say, you the new guy?" I ast.
When he turn around, I almost fainted dead away! It is ole Sergeant Kranz from Vietnam an the army base where me an Mister McGivver collected the garbage for our pigs! Cept I noticed right away, Sergeant Kranz, he ain't a sergeant major no more—he is only a buck private.
"Oh, no" is the first thing out of his mouth when he sees me.
It seems that Sergeant Kranz blames me for the misfortune of being busted from sergeant-major to private, though even a moron like me can see he is stretchin things a bit.
What had happened was this: After me an Mister McGivver got out of the pig bidness, Sergeant Kranz decided that the army could actually sell their garbage to pig farmers all over the area, an after a while they had so much money they didn't know what to do with it. So he suggested they use it to build a new officers' club, an the general was so pleased with this he put Sergeant Kranz in charge of buildin the new club.
On the day of the grand openin, they had a big celebration, with bands an free drinks an all, an to cap it off at the end of the evenin, they had hired a striptease dancer all the way from Australia to do her thing on the stage. Said she was not only the best stripper in Australia, she was the best stripper in the world.
Anyhow, the officers' club was mobbed so's you could barely see the stripper, an at some point the general hissef got up on a table in the back of the room to get a better look. However, it seems Sergeant Kranz has installed the ceilin fans about a foot lower than normal, an when the general stands up on the table, it got him in the head. Scalped him, just like a Indian might do.
The general was furious, hollerin an yellin about "How am I gonna explain this to my wife?" An, of course, he blames Sergeant Kranz an has him busted on the spot an sent here, to the dirtiest job in the army.
"I was one of the first black soldiers to make it to the top of the enlisted ranks in this man's army," he says, "but it seems like ever time I get around you, Gump, there is some kind of shit fixin to go on."
I tell him I'm sorry, but that it don't exactly seem fair to blame me for what happened.
"Yeah, probly you're right, Gump. It's just that I put in twenty-eight years of a thirty-year hitch, only to find mysef spendin my final time as a buck private," he says. "Somebody got to be responsible—that's the way it is in the army. Couldn't of been me, else how do you explain that I worked my way up to the highest enlisted rank in the army?"
"Maybe you was just lucky," I says. "I mean, at least you got to be a sergeant for a long time. Me, I have always been at the bottom of the shit heap."
"Yeah," he says, "maybe so. Anyway, it don't matter anymore, I guess. An besides, it was almost worth it."
"What was?" I ast.
"Seein the fan give that old bastid a flattop," he says.
Anyhow, me an Sergeant Kranz have got our work cut out for us. Seems like the division is always on maneuvers, an the mud is two feet deep. We are scrapin an hoein an shovelin an hosin mud from daylight to dark. When we get back to the barracks, we is too dirty to let inside, an they make us hose off in the cold.
Sergeant Kranz, when he talks at all, mostly talks about Vietnam, which, for some reason, he remembers fondly.
"Yeah, Gump, them was the good old days," he says. "A real war—not this police-action crap they got goin for us now. Man, we had tanks and howitzers and bombers could sure bring down a load of pee on the enemy."
"Seems like they brought down a load of pee on us, too, sometimes," I say.
"Yeah, well, that the way it is. In war, people are gonna get killed. That's why it's called a war."
"I never kilt nobody," I says.
"What! How you know that?"
"Well, I don't think I did. I never done fired my weapon but once or twice, an then it was just at bushes or somethin."
"That ain't nothin to be proud of, Gump. In fact, you oughta be ashamed of yoursef."
"Well, what about Bubba?" I ast.
"What about him? Who was that?"
"My friend. He got kilt."
"Oh, yeah, I remember now—the one you went out after. Well, he probably done somethin stupid."
"Yeah," I says, "like joinin the army."
It went on like that day after day. Sergeant Kranz was not the most interestin person to talk to, but at least he was somebody. Anyway, I was beginnin to believe I would never get off the mud detail, when one day somebody come up an say the post commander wants to see me. They hosed me down an I went up to headquarters.
"Gump, I understand you played a little football at one time. That so?" the commander asts.
"Yeah, a little," I says.
"Tell me about it."
An so I did. An when I get finished, the commander says, "Greatgodamighty!"
At least, I ain't got to clean tanks all day no more. Unfortunately, I have now got to clean them all night. But durin the day, I play football for the post team, Swagmien Sour Krauts, we is called.
The Sour Krauts is not a very good football team, to say the least. We was 0 for 11 last year, an 0 for 3 so far this season. Kinda remind me of the old Ain'ts, back in New Orleans. Anyhow, the quarterback is a little wiry guy called Pete, played a little ball in high school. He is fast an slippery an thows the ball okay, but he ain't no Snake, that is for sure. The post commander is of course unhappy about our record, an makes sure we get in a lot of practice. Like about twelve hours a day. An after that, I gotta go back an clean tanks till about three A.M., but it's all right by me—at least it keeps my mind off other things. Also, they has made Sergeant Kranz—oops, Private Kranz—the team manager.
Our first football game is against the steam heat company of the post in Hamburg. They are a dirty, filthy lot, an bite an scratch an cuss the whole game, but I runned over most of them, an at the end it is 45 to 0, our way. It was like that the next three games, too, an so we are now ahead of ourselfs for the first time in memory. The commander is beside hissef an to everbody's amazement, he give us a Sunday off, so's we can go into town.
It is a nice little ole town, with ole buildins an little cobblestone streets an gargoyles on the winder sills. Everbody in town be speakin German, about which none of us understands nothin. The extent of my German is "ja."
Immediately, of course, the guys found a beer hall, an before long is swillin down huge glasses of beer, served by waitresses wearin German smocks. It is so good to be off post an around civilians that I even had a beer mysef—even if I couldn't understand a word anybody around us had to say.
We was in the beer hall a number of hours, an I think we are startin to get rowdy, account of there is a bunch of German guys sort of glarin at us from the other end of the room. They is mutterin stuff at us, such as affenarschs an scheissbolles, but we do not understand them, an so go on about our bidness. After a while, one of our fellers puts his hand on the ass of one of the waitresses. It is not that she minded it so much, but it seems the German guys did. Couple of em come over to our table an begun to say a bunch of stuff real loud.