Saltpeter Shots


Johnny woke to the sound of metal banging together and very loud yelling. He was startled and confused for a minute, when he realized that his drill sergeants were waking everyone up for their first full day of training. It was 4:30 in the morning, or as they say in the military, 0430 hours. Johnny had arrived to Fort Benning, Georgia around eleven the night before. His drill sergeant, Sergeant First Class Jones, was going to be the man who trained Johnny and the other forty-one members of the platoon.

“Rise, and shine girls,” SFC Jones yelled. “This is the first day of a long nine weeks! I’m going to mold you pansies into killers, but first we have to make sure you're fit to train.”

Fit to train meant that they would have to get a whole battery of tests done. Johnny was a little confused, because he had done an entire day of physical testing the day before, at the Military Entrance Processing Station. That was the place where all new soldiers leave from to enter training. He wasn’t going to say anything about his confusion though. He knew better than to draw attention to himself. After thirty minutes, which is all the time they had to get dressed, make their beds, shave and do anything else that needed to be done, they were off to get their tests started.

The testing consisted of hearing tests, blood work, physicals and a battery of shots. No one really knew what the shots were but they were not going to ask. Johnny looked at one of his buddies, Private Simpson, and asked, “Hey man, have you heard of the saltpeter shot?”
Simpson looked at him with a funny look and replied, “I have heard about it, but I thought that was some kind of urban legend. Surely that can’t be legal. They would have to tell us if they did…right?”



“I don’t know, man. Look at all of these shots we are getting. Can you name two of the medications they have shot in your arms today? I know I can’t. I am just saying, my dad and uncle went through this back in Vietnam and they said something about us getting this shot.”

“I guess we will find out in the morning…” Simpson said jokingly.

After the physicals, blood work and everything else they went through, the new soldiers had a mini Physical Fitness test. The test was only half of what they would do once they had been there a couple of weeks. This was to see if they were fit enough to start training. The test consisted of one minute of push-ups, one minute of sit-ups and a one-mile run. After that, the testing was over.

Johnny thought to himself, “Man, this wasn’t too bad. It is only 1030 hours and we are done. I wonder if they are going to let us sleep now.”

He realized they wouldn’t be so lucky, when SFC Jones came in and said in a loud, but strangely calm voice, “OK girls, it's time to get this classroom shit out of the way. Personally I think it's a big waste of time, but some smart guy who sits behind a desk all day said it was beneficial, so get your asses lined up and in the classroom! File it in, front to back. Move it! You better not let me catch you sleeping, or even blinking too long. You understand me?”

The room exploded with a loud and thunderous, “YES DRILL SERGEANT!”

The men sat through sat though seven hours of briefings. They heard legal briefs, sexual harassment briefs, safety briefs and just about every other kind of brief you could think of. They got thirty minutes for lunch and thirty minutes for dinner. It was 1800 hours, that’s 6:00 pm, and they were finally headed back to barracks.

“You pansies better get some sleep, because tomorrow at 0430 we start the fun stuff. I’m gonna wear you guys out. Before I hit these lights, do any of you have any questions?”
Simpson nudged Johnny and whispered, “Ask him about the saltpeter.”
Johnny wouldn’t have done it, in fear of getting laughed at or yelled at, but his curiosity got the better of him. He raised his hand in the air.

“What do you want to know, private?” asked SFC Jones.

“Is it true that the Army gives saltpeter shots to soldiers, drill sergeant?”

“That’s a good question, private. Do push-ups while I answer it.” Johnny got down, gave Simpson a dirty look and started doing push-ups.

“All right pansies, listen up,” SFC Jones, started. “The truth is, you are tired, stressed out, in a new environment full of alpha males. You will wake up in the morning and look down at your little soldiers, and they won’t be standing at attention. Does the Army give saltpeter shots to make sure this happens? I’ll let you decide. Johnny, get up. You guys better be in bed when I hit the lights. Tomorrow night, if you're not too tired I’ll tell you a story.”
The men got in their bunks quick, fast and in a hurry. SFC Jones walked out, turned off the lights and sarcastically said, “Good night, ladies.”

“GOOD NIGHT DRILL SERGEANT!”


Author's Notes: This was a really fun story to tell. When I went to Fort Benning, back in 1996, my first day went pretty much like this. I didn’t know what shots I was getting, everyone was too afraid to ask and we were all sore and tired. It was a stressful, exhausting environment and I wasn’t sure how much I really liked it. Looking back, I would say that those eight weeks were some of the best and worst times of my life. I don’t remember who asked the drill sergeant about the saltpeter, but I know it wasn’t me. Ours wasn’t a shot though; we thought it was being put in our drinks at the dining facility. Someone asked SFC Whitehead, our Senior Drill Sergeant, and our response was pretty much the same as the one in the story. I actually was not completely convinced it wasn’t true until I did the research for this storybook project. Saltpeter is not given to soldiers. It is dangerous and unhealthy. The reasons I listed in the story are the actual reasons the men have trouble “saluting." The drill sergeants know it’s not true, but they wouldn’t be able to have any fun and mess with the new soldiers a little if they told the truth about everything. I hope you enjoyed the story.

CoverPage
Introduction
I.     Stress Card Story
III. Last Man


Image Information:Vaccine (2009) Web Source: No World System

Story Title: The Saltpeter Principle
Author: Barbara Mikkelson
Website Name: Snopes.com
Web Source:  saltpeter story