Make Or Break In Company A Poem by Michael Pruchnicki

Basic training in the Army can make
or break the raw recruit
fresh out of high school
or the Iowa state reform school
for delinquent boys

Company A had its share
of the kids from Iowa
and they were the least
inclined to break
they were used to discipline
in all its forms
some of the big city
dropouts broke
before our first pass
to Louisville

Some of those Iowa kids
stood up to the enemy later
and never broke
on pain of death!