You Are Nothing

Heroes Remember

You Are Nothing

Transcript

I wanted so much to be able to do those things that they wanted me to do and to do them with the dispatch and expertise that they seemed to want. And of course eventually I was able to do that but you don't do those things immediately. And I can, oh, the terrible goof-ups that, you know, you make and about. Some things that were, that made common sense to me of course to the military didn't make any sense at all, certainly to my instructors. And you must remember that back in 1951 the military was a lot different than it is today. You know, quite often there was guys that were having, that were having a difficult time doing the tasks and the things that these guys wanted you to do. If you didn't do them correctly, they had names for you. And the beauty of it all, the funny part of it was that even though they made reference to your character and to your being in the most derogatory terms they, we never took exception to it. It seemed to be, well, this is part of what these guys are and it's part of what we will become. Somehow or other we, we struggled through that first period and we were members of the awkward squad, there is no doubt about it. There were others that were in varying stages of training development and they were good. And I remember that, this, this one particular sergeant, what a mean bugger he was, but he implied, very specifically that we would never get beyond where we were. You know nothing, you will be nothing, you are nothing and... It was amazing. Now I think back to that now and I think, oh god, how did we survive that? And I, as impressionable kids, and we were, I think it had a bearing, that attitude that somehow...in many ways had a bearing throughout our lives. I'm sure that it did.

Description

Mr. Ferguson describes how non-commissioned officers psychologically prepared raw recruits for the army, and how those recruits responded to basic training.

Luther Ferguson

Luther Ferguson was born in Mayview, Saskatchewan on October 23, 1933. He describes himself as being “unworldly, poorly educated and having low self-esteem.” Mr. Ferguson felt that the Army offered him the best opportunity to both further his education and improve his life. He enlisted in 1951, and soon found himself a combatant in the Korean War, where he served in the infantry. Mr. Ferguson’s accounts lean heavily on the psychological impacts of training and warfare, and the devastation experienced by the civilian population during the Korean conflict.

Meta Data