Silvio Petricciani - University of Nevada, Reno
Silvio Petricciani - University of Nevada, Reno
Silvio Petricciani - University of Nevada, Reno
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66 <strong>Silvio</strong> E. <strong>Petricciani</strong><br />
I said, “Yeah, what is it, Sarge?” You know,<br />
I’m resigned; I know that if there’s a problem,<br />
I’m it.<br />
So he said, “Strangely enough, all the guys<br />
dumped everything in one garbage can today.”<br />
I said, “Yeah, I know it.”<br />
He said, “Well, you know it has to be<br />
separated.”<br />
And I said, “Yeah, I know that.”<br />
He said, “Well, you’re the guy.” I said I<br />
knew that, too. My wife was there, so I got<br />
myself an orange crate and got one for her, and<br />
sat on the orange crate, got two other garbage<br />
cans, and I’m up to my elbows in those<br />
garbage cans, all this slop and everything<br />
that’s in there, separating all this garbage. So<br />
finally the mess sergeant looked out, and he<br />
says, “You meant it, didn’t you, when you said<br />
we couldn’t break you?”<br />
I said, “That’s right, Sarge. This is what I<br />
have to do, and you tell me to do it;” I said,<br />
“I’ll do it,” I said, “but you can do this to me<br />
every day, and I’ll still be the same old Pete.”<br />
So, he said, “Okay.”<br />
From that day forward, I was never troubled<br />
again. Wasn’t too long after that I got my PFC<br />
stripes, private first class. And after that I went<br />
to corporal and from there to sergeant, and<br />
never once was I ever bothered again. And then<br />
I became one <strong>of</strong> the guys. But if I had rebelled,<br />
why then it would have been a different story,<br />
no doubt. But in those days the military was<br />
very, very strict, very tough. And you know<br />
the old story—you’ve heard the stories about<br />
people having to break bricks with a little<br />
hammer; I saw this. They had one fellow in<br />
there that just—I mean he just wasn’t adapted<br />
to military service whatsoever. Every night for<br />
four hours after everybody else was through,<br />
he was in the shower room breaking the brick<br />
with a hammer. And he finally became a mental<br />
case; they shipped him out. But I saw this. And<br />
these are the little vignettes <strong>of</strong> life, as it were.<br />
One time, there was a guy—they had us<br />
again on KP, and that day we had to scrub the<br />
mess hall floors on our hands and knees with a<br />
brush and a bucket with GI soap that had a lot<br />
<strong>of</strong> lye in it, you know. So we started scrubbing<br />
floors, and this other fellow’s scrubbing next<br />
to me. I start scrubbing and singing. Well, the<br />
guy looked at me, and he says, “How can you<br />
be here on your hands and knees scrubbing<br />
a floor,” he says, “and singing?”<br />
“Very simple, it helps you pass the time,<br />
number one; and number two, we’re going to<br />
be here ’til it’s done any way, so you might as<br />
well relax and enjoy it.” I said, “It’s a job; we<br />
have to do it.” I said, “You can stay there and<br />
grumble all you want,” I said, “it’s not going<br />
to change it.”<br />
He said, “I never thought <strong>of</strong> it that way.”<br />
So he starts singing too. Before we knew it the<br />
job was done, and we were both very happy.<br />
It’s just the way you look at things. You<br />
know, you can make yourself miserable or<br />
you can make yourself happy on a deserted<br />
island or in the midst <strong>of</strong> the biggest city in the<br />
world. I mean it’s all in your mental attitude<br />
and outlook on life. So, that was it.<br />
So, but going through basic training was<br />
really a dull thing, but I found out how the<br />
Army regulations worked and so on and so<br />
forth and I didn’t have a bad life at all, really. It<br />
was very rewarding because, you know, once<br />
you get into the know <strong>of</strong> things and you get<br />
to knowing people, it was very rewarding. I<br />
learned a lot. I’ll say one thing, that when we<br />
went in there the cadre that was in there at the<br />
time had come from Fort Blanding, Florida;<br />
and the average IQ—not the average—the<br />
lowest was around thirty-nine, and the<br />
highest was around—well, as a matter <strong>of</strong><br />
fact Sebben had the highest IQ which was a<br />
hundred and ten. He had the highest IQ <strong>of</strong><br />
all the noncommissioned <strong>of</strong>ficers that were<br />
in the outfit when we went in there.