Each of the earlier chapters of these notes has been concerned with one specific occurrence or has described a single connected series of events. &bsp;

This chapter, however, begins with some general remarks about Army divisions; following them will be several brief vignettes illustrating specific events in army life. These small episodes are amusing and perhaps worthy of being recounted; they will follow in the next chapter which should be forthcoming in a few days.

A typical infantry division consists of three regiments with all sorts of supporting and supply units, perhaps eight or ten thousand soldiers all told. In turn, each of the regiments contains three battalions, each of these formed of three rifle companies and one heavy weapons company. &bsp;

This table of organization appears complex but seems to work fairly well even under combat conditions.&bsp; As a matter of fact, the army usually knew what it was doing and how to do it even if its lowly foot troops including me didnt like to admit it. All these subsidiary and related units, including armored and artillery companies, intelligence analysts, engineering troops, etc., existed to accomplish one basic objective:&bsp; to supply, advise, assist, and protect the nine rifle companies, with probably two hundred or more men in a typical company.

The rifleman was the dirty, often smelly, probably scared young guy who searched for and tried to destroy the enemy while the enemy troops attempted to find and kill him.&bsp; It was the rifleman and his rifle company who executed the basic duty of ground troops, that is, to protect other soldiers and civilians from the enemy. &bsp;

The rifleman is likely to be the first to shoot and at the same time, the most frequently killed or wounded.&bsp; For example, in a combat engagement against an active enemy, the average life expectancy of a newly-arrived second lieutenant of infantry in a rifle company was less than five minutes during World War II. The ordinary rifleman was not quite that expendable.

As an aid man (medical corpsman, to be technically correct) providing basic medical services to riflemen and other front line gunners, radiomen, artillery observers, etc., I moved from unit to unit of our battalion although I was attached for logistical purposes to the heavy weapons company.&bsp; I observed one of the rifle companies I served lose by death, injury or mental collapse five different company commanders within a span of less than twenty-four hours. &bsp;

There was no officer or sergeant remaining to assume command of the company but its members soldiered on with assistance from the leaders of the physically adjacent units.

To have been an integral member of this group was an honor never to be forgotten, a shared experience that can be described but never truly understood except by the 17 to 35-year-old guys who were actually there. That to be the aid man serving them received even greater honor is best illustrated by the fact that during off-duty hours in camp or in nearby towns,

I received frequent salutations of Hi, there, Doc from young men I did not even recognize.&bsp; Nothing could have been more gratifying or unforgettable, I must admit, even to this day.