For anyone in the Army who has every been assigned to Ft. Polk, Lousyana, I feel for you. It is by far the worst stateside installation in the entire Army. I had the displeasure of being stationed there for 1 year 8 months in Sleezeville, LA. I tell most people who complain about being stationed at places like Ft. Riley, or Ft. Irwin, that they should be thankful, they never had to be "deployed" to Polk.
shareI went through basic there in 1972, one year after the events of this film took place. Yeah, I agree, it is one of the armpits of Army. Only one place I can think of that's worse is Lenard Wood, MO. But, I have to give it this - for deployment to any tropic area (Southeast Asia, South America, Africa, etc.) it is the best place to go to get conditioned. I found the training there, at that time, more realistic than even Florida Phase of Ranger School.
shareFort Drum ain't too fun either.
shareYeah I wanted Germany, but I was sent to Hawaii. 25th Infantry Div. Hawaii is great, but that division is ate up so bad it's unreal. I'm thinking of rejoining the Army, after Bush is out of office. I miss the Army and this time I hope to get to go where I want.
shareFort Polk graduates were the hardest trained troops in the US Army. It had the feel of a US cavalry camp from 100 years earlier, it felt frozen in time. North Fort was the most notorious, home of the first brigade and post basic training Infantry training school. Second brigade basic training was Main Fort along with 5th Infantry Division.
The entire fort has been completely rebuilt since then, North Fort is gone, all the old WW II era barracks have been torn down and replaced with permanent structures.