After graduating from high school, I enrolled at Utah State University on an ROTC scholarship, with a major in physics. At one time, I took time off from my studies and worked at Thikol Chemical Corporation as a Data Technician in the Test Department.

Our platoon sergeant asked if anyone in the group had prior service or ROTC training. I raised my hand, having been a company commander in high school ROTC. I was given temporary sergeant stripes and told I was now the platoon guide. That also meant I had a private room in the barracks, with the armorer.

Our platoon sergeant was a crusty guy with a spicy vocabulary of not more than a dozen four-letter words, though he and I got along very well. He later nominated me for outstanding soldier in our basic training company. We had a diverse platoon of very interesting individuals.

One guy hadn't showered at all during the first week. Those bunking around him gave him a "shower party." A couple of Eskimos in my platoon had difficulty keeping in step during marching. Several men had joined the reserve to avoid the draft, including a lawyer, a Los Angeles police officer, and several college graduates. A couple of guys had been given the option by local authorities to either join the Army or go to jail.

I came to believe that harassment was part of the training curriculum. One man was caught chewing gum. The first sergeant told him to double-time it to the end of the company street and place the gum on a telephone pole. When he returned, he was told that that was considered littering, and he should now go back and retrieve it. The cadre referred to this as obedience training.

I was sent to Fort Sill, Okla., for Advanced Individual Training in field artillery. After Fort Sill, I served an LDS mission in Finland, and on my return reentered my National Guard unit at USU. I also changed my major to public health and microbiology. Upon graduation, I was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Chemical Corps, the smallest branch in the army.

I married in 1968 and was sent to Fort McClellan, Alabama for my officer's basic course. The course was fascinating, as well as educational. Most of my classmates were chemical engineers, and some engineers, physicists, and biologists. We learned about biological, chemical and radiological warfare. We learned firsthand about various chemical and biological agents.

In one demonstration, a pin-size instrument was dipped into a bottle of mustard agent and a micro-droplet placed on our wrists. The following day, that little spec formed a quarter-inch blister. (Mustard agent was used by the Germans in WW-I and by the Iraqi army, under Sadam Hussein, on the Kurds.) We became instant believers in that and other agents.

On another occasion (while we were wearing protective masks), the instructor passed a cotton swab of liquid nerve agent under the nose of a goat. The goat went immediately into convulsions, foamed at the mouth, and started to stagger. The instructor then injected the goat with atropine (the antidote), and the animal quickly recovered. Every soldier carries an atropine injector in his protective mask carrier. Other agents were similarly demonstrated.

Next Week: Eliason attends airborne school and is assigned, with his wife, to Germany.

Some veterans may wish, on their own, to tape or digital record their memories of military service. These will be transcribed and archived. For instructions on how to do this, e-mail Don Norton, at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it veterans may wish, on their own, to tape or digital record their memories of military service. These will be transcribed and archived. For instructions on how to do this, e-mail Don Norton, at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it