Possible editor’s notebook

People laughed at me when, as a college student, I got lost in Fort Riley and feared I might be shot or at least arrested by the military police.

At that time soldiers were not welcome in Manhattan and I didn’t expect a lost college student was welcome to prowl around on the post.

I had given a ride to a college coed who was living in a colonel’s home on the post. With her directions I easily found my way to the house but I missed a turn or two trying to get off the post and became hopelessly lost. I drove around on the post for what seemed like hours  before finding the highway that led back to Manhattan. I knew I was south of the highway and had to run right for the trip back to the university but I gotten my directions off 180 degrees. When I turned right, it felt like I was driving west and would soon enter Junction City.

Now after reading an issue of the Concordia Blade-Empire, I don’t think my fears were totally groundless. The Blade-Empire reported in late March that a Fort Riley guard had shot and wounded a motorist  who drove through a gate and was stopped by an automatic vehicle barrier. When the motorist got out of his vehicle, the guard opened fire. 

Fortunately, the motorist’s injuries were not said to be life-threatening.

Sure glad it wasn’t me. I was a college student during the Vietnam era when many soldiers considered college students to be draft dodgers.

One night I was with college friends at Pillsbury Crossing, a popular gathering place for college students southeast of Manhattan where a flowing creek spreads over a limestone rock ledge. We had gone there to wade in the creek and hold a hold a Bible Study. When what we thought were Army guys showed up with their girl friends, we waded back to our vehicle and left.

Another night I was with friends headed to a residence hall convention at Stillwater, Oklahoma. We had gathered the night before our departure and were staying in a dorm that was officially closed for the summer. It was a hot night and the dorm had no air conditioning. We could open the windows but housing maintenance had removed the screens and pigeons normally roosting outside on the window ledges were walking through the open windows, exploring our rooms and leaving their calling cards.

We decided to go to the a nearby park. The regular swimming pool was closed for the night but the gate to the kiddie pool was open. Several members of my group were splashing in the kiddie pool when army guys arrived with their girls and waded into the pool.

We decided we would rather share space with the pigeons and returned to the dorm.