The Undying Hate of Captain Gooch

There was not an officer born who liked me when I was in the Army. And not very far behind were the non coms. I was a street kid from the Bronx with a firm belief that unless you were from New York, you were a hick who didn't know shit. I had the big, loud mouth to go with it. That attitude kept me a private for a very long time.

After I returned to my outfit from radio operator's school, I taught myself how to type and became a high speed radio operator and the second fastest dot/dit guy in the radio group. Lieutenant Hamlin then called me in his office to proudly tell me that he was going to put me in for PFC which came with a $4.00 a month pay raise (the base pay was $50 a month). I told the Lieutenant that I would pass the promotion. I was the ranking private in my barracks, a private longer than anybody else in the barracks and liked that distinction. So I told him to "give the $4 a month to someone who needed it".

That brilliant move really accelerated my application to get transferred to an outfit that was going overseas. Ah, the folly of youth. Hamlin couldn't wait to get rid of me, so I was sent as a high speed radio operator (with a high speed confrontational big mouth) to Ft. Lewis to join the 241st Signal Corps Group which was attached to the Sixth Army. The 241st was out of Boston consisting mostly of Boston Irish from Scollay Square. They were tough mothers who always wanted to beat the shit out of any Jew. But embarkation on the troop ship saw the end of that attitude. We also had a few homos, as gays were called in those days, and no one gave a fiddler's fuck. People who never served with gays don't know shit, only ignorant prejudice.

Captain Gooch, the Commanding Officer, who had owned a filling station in civilian life, was our fearless National Guard leader who thought that enlisted men were dirt. About a week after my arrival, some guy was packing his duffle bag and I asked him where he was going. "Home for a 10 day furlough". Officers got "leave", grunts got "furloughs". Like I was shot out of a cannon, I was in the Headquarters Office asking the Master Sergeant to see Capt. Gooch. The Sgt. asked me why, and I told him I wanted a furlough as I hadn't been home for 18 months. He said no chance because we were getting ready to ship out. I told him that was bull shit because of the guy I spoke with. The Sgt.'s comment was "No wonder, with soldiers like you we might lose this fucking war". But he did allow me to see the Captain who turned me down with that same lame alibi. And my big mouth went into high gear culminating in a threat to turn the son of a bitch into the IG (Inspector General) if he didn't treat me like everyone else. That really pissed off Captain Gooch, and he never forgot the confrontation.

When I made Sergeant because some poor bastard was killed, Captain Gooch could barely contain himself. But my fuck you and the horse that brung you attitude got me the furlough and the undying hate of Captain Gooch.