My transfer orders came out and I was on my way from Fort Knox, Kentucky to Korea. After several days aboard a troop ship, we docked in the harbor at Seoul. Well, really, Seoul did not have a harbor as I expected it to have. There were no piers. Our ship anchored a distance from shore. We soldiers were lined up with our baggage and when our turn came, we climbed over the ship rail and climbed down a rope ladder and onto a barge. It was a hard place to unload and we all had our duffel bags packed with all of our belongings. At last we were unloaded and taken to shore and a tent area for further processing.

After processing I was sent to an Army Infantry Division Headquarters. This division was on the front lines and we were in combat with North Korea at this time. The first night I was at my new station, I heard a small airplane as it went putt-putting over us. My new buddies told me that it was a North Korean plane and that it came over our camp every evening after dark. We started calling that plane "Bed Check Charlie" since it only came over us at bedtime. This was a combat zone, but we never did worry about that plane or anything else. Our lights were on all night. Nobody got excited about anything.

I had been assigned as an administration sergeant so I was able to sit at my desk and I lived in a tent with the other soldiers that I worked with. I was the sergeant in charge so I had to play everything straight. However, when you have so many young men together and no women around, you find that everyone is very horny! At night I often would listen as some soldier jerked off. It became a routine thing. Nobody paid any attention to it (except me).

We all were getting very horny and on edge. The troops were tense and wanted some excitement. Several fights occurred and it seemed that everyone was looking for a fight. I never did like to fight, so I tried to avoid fighting. After a few months in Korea, even I was looking for someone to fight with. Korea could get to you! It got to everyone!

One evening, another sergeant and I were walking toward the area where we lived. We heard some yelling and knew a fight was going on. As sergeants we were suppose to stop all fights. We stood in the shadows and watched the fight a little. The two guys that were fighting were really going at it. One was a big loud-mouthed bastard that nobody liked, and the other one was Ray. Ray was a small guy; he was a little feminine, cute as hell (nice little ass) and was from New York City. The loud mouth bastard was always picking on Ray. He made a lot of terrible remarks to Ray. He always called Ray a "queer" and stuff like that. I had often told him to stop the shit, but when I was not around, he would start it again.

The other sergeant said that we should stop the fight but I said for us to wait a little. From my viewpoint, Ray was beating the hell out of the loud mouth and I thought the bastard deserved a beating. Ray was like a tornado. He was hitting, scratching, biting, kicking and pulling hair. He was busy!