On Those Left Behind

I've just remembered an episode from my last day of Basic, after graduating, that reminds me of the Ignore List.

Cold, windy, winter's sunset on the plains of Texas. We had finally gotten to sew on our stripes on our blues (I already had E-3, college, honor grad), and were tired and delighted to be leaving Basic behind. I somberly noted that the T.I.'s had to stay, while we got to leave.

While being packed aboard the buses for our flight out, in full dress, travel orders in hand, two jokers packed our bags in the luggage area under the bus. They were in plain fatigues, without nametags, stripes, or any other markings. They kept saluting each other, and cracking up. They weren't too careful about their packing. Weird.

At the field, I asked the driver about the jokers. It turned out that they had failed Basic so spectacularly, for one reason or another, that they were being given other than honorable discharges. (Most who wash out get General Discharges) As punishment, they were stripped of all rank while the paperwork processed, and forced to load the luggage of those who had made it through Basic. As semi-prisoners, they were not allowed to speak to anyone, and not allowed to salute (being unworthy of respect). It was meant as a double object lesson.

That's what watching the suppressed posts of the Ignore List reminds me of. It is their shared pity party, and an example of what can happen to us all.