After completing boot camp at Fort Knox, Kentucky, Roy C. Raisor was sent to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for eight weeks of Army Intelligence Training, or AIT, to become a lineman. Roy had specifically asked for this assignment after hearing that a lineman’s course was available.
His choice was influenced by a telephone installer he had encountered earlier in life. Roy remembered how nice the man had been and thought that working outside as a lineman could be a good job. He also believed that he could make pretty good money doing that kind of work.
Classroom Training
At Fort Leonard Wood, Roy and the other soldiers were assigned to barracks that could hold about fifty men. Their days included eight hours of classes, five days a week, much like regular school.
The training covered several subjects that would be important to their work. One of the first areas was map reading. Roy learned how to use a compass and how to read paper maps.
The soldiers also went into the field for practical work. They learned how to strip wires and how to run ground lines from phone to phone, following methods that had been used during World War II and the Korean conflict.
This combination of classroom lessons and field work made the training very different from simply learning a job from a book. Roy had to understand the lessons and then demonstrate what he had learned.
Learning to Work on Poles
A major responsibility of a lineman was learning how to work safely on telephone poles. The soldiers practiced climbing eight- and nine-foot poles with gaffs strapped to their boots.
They also learned how to safety off their harnesses while working at height. These skills were tested, meaning that understanding the lesson was not enough. Roy had to demonstrate that he could actually perform the work.
The physical demands were part of the training. Roy had already experienced the marching and PT required during boot camp, and those lessons in discipline continued during AIT.
Convoys and Field Maneuvers
The lineman training also included daytime and nighttime convoys. The vehicles were driven through mud puddles that could be about three feet deep. Soldiers had to maintain their position in relation to the vehicles in front of and behind them.
Night convoys presented another challenge. The soldiers were not allowed to use headlights and had to remain in close contact by relying on what they could see in the dark. These exercises required attention and discipline from everyone involved.
Roy’s training also included plenty of marching and PT. He learned that Army life required soldiers to follow instructions and understand exactly when to say, “Yes, Sir,” and “No, Sir.”
Studying for the Tests
The classroom portion of the training worried Roy because he had left school early. Some of the men around him had completed high school, while others had even attended college for a year or two.
Roy knew that he had to pass the written tests and the pole climbing test. He did not want to end up in cooking school, so he began studying hard.
Every night, he went through what they had learned during the day at least twice. His effort paid off. Roy finished among the top twenty-five students in a class of 100, something that surprised him because some men with considerably more education had difficulty passing the written tests.
The Pole Orchard Test
The final and biggest test took place in an area called the pole orchard. Sixty-foot poles were arranged roughly five feet apart in a large plot.
Each soldier had to climb to the top of a pole and safety off his harness. Once there, the men on the ground tossed volleyballs upward, and the soldier had to catch and throw them while attached to the top of the pole.
Some men could not reach the top because their earlier practice had only involved 35-foot poles. Roy completed the test and received the code 36K20 for passing his lineman training.
Ready for His Next Assignment
The training gave Roy more than a military assignment. It taught him how to work with wires, maps, poles, vehicles, and field equipment while following Army discipline.
When the training ended, Roy and his friends Reed and Yackovich received orders for Bamberg, Germany. They had met during boot camp and remained friends throughout AIT, so they were pleased to learn that they would be going there together.
For Roy, the training at Fort Leonard Wood was another step away from his earlier life and toward the experiences that awaited him as a soldier.
For more about Roy’s story and latest updates, visit his official website: Roy C. Raisor.
Get your copy of his memoir here on Amazon: Boy to Man in 365 Days.
