By Howard Steiner, October 10, 2019 — Now I’m going to tell you about my first day in the army. The first day I had to go down to the induction center. Subways at the time took “tokens” that cost 50 cents. Then I was taken to White Hall street and they made me take an oath. They had to swear me in and I swore to defend the constitution of the United States. After I took the oath, I went on a bus in the middle of a winter day to New Jersey.
When they let us off to the reception center they were awful to us. So what they did was they made you very uncomfortable. They scared the sh*t out of you. We went to the station to prep us for boot camp. The first station was to get clothes, the next was to go get your head shaved. Next, we then took intelligence tests which they then determined what you would be and where you would go and then we went to boot camp. Every morning we got up at 4:30 in the morning, we got dressed, and went to the bathroom. The bathroom was very uncomfortable, the most uncomfortable thing ever. two-hundred people had to take care of “business,” meaning going to the bathroom, with everyone facing you. We would go on long marches, this whole process made you strong with all the physical stuff they made you do. It was the hardest eight weeks. I was 160 pounds then. When I came home I was 130 pounds, I lost 30 pounds. My mother fainted because she didn’t even recognize me. This wasn’t voluntary it was mandatory, this was called a draft. You had to report or else they put you in jail. Plus, I was a patriot so I didn’t mind going there. I served for two years. This has made me the person I am today, strong, willing, courageous and passionate for America.