One if by land, two if by tank, right?
This never stops amusing me. I went to school with these men's grandchildren. I saw them drive. They shouldn't be in tanks. Yet, in 1952 and 1953 this wasn't uncommon. Two years of R.O.T.C. were compulsory until the 1960s. Tanks, however, remain cool.
So in your first year you learned the basic introductory material, in the second year you get specialized in a branch of service as close as possible to your school curriculum.
Those that continue their service through junior and senior years do extra camps and gets a monthly stipend and usually a books and tuition reimbursement to sweeten the pot.
This does not say when you get to drive the tanks in the armored units, but we'll assume it is later in the student's training. These days the thought of an 18-year-old driving this big hulk is a bit frightening, somehow I feel more comfortable about the young men from the early 1950s though. What with the GI Bill some of them might have been as familiar with the tanks as their instructors.
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