The Infantry Adventures of Sgt William G. Altenhofen

When I was assigned an infantry MOS, in spite of having a profile, I first thought about what the Psychiatryst had told me. He said I lost my temper very fast and it was uncontrolable. My first reaction was to get very angry, my mind seemed to blow up, I wanted to scream at him that he was wrong. Than I realized that was just what he had just told me. So I always worried that I would get into a situation where I would need all my facilities about me, and I would loose it and cause one or more people to get injured because I was not thinking properly. I found it easy to operate in the infantry. The operating manuals were written so they were easy to understand. I passed all the schools I had to attend, and I was considered very efficient. However, I was not the loud, screaming bully that was typical of the Infantry Sergeant. I was often critized because I did not scream at the troops. I found that if you talked to them using good english I got more done. So I did not use curse words, or degrade people in any manner. I learned when I went to my first Infantry unit, that if I told them I had a profile, and that I could type, I would be put in a dead end job that earned no rewards, so I would just be marking time. I could not operate that way. As soon as I could I got rid of the profile. I got a few breaks, and considered myself very lucky to accomplish as much as I did in the Army. I wrote mostly about myself, but I did include bits about people who I considered outstanding, good or bad. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed living it. SFC (Ret) William G. Altenhofen