Just for being plain stupid I think. He was the one who got caught behind the wall locker not me. I think Billings knew I was a little attracted to him. I would never have acted on any of those impulses however. It started out with me pulling K.P. duty. I was picked for the worst Job on K.P. duty as well. I always got picked to scrub dirty garbage cans and take care of the slop cans for the pigs. I was pulling guard duty and K.P. duty over and over.

I would confide in Billings, not knowing he was relentlessly setting me up for things. Once I snuck some food, from the kitchen? Like some donuts or Twinkies. The next day we would have a surprise locker inspection and I would get nailed for it. Billings would have that drill instructor ride me for anything. Not having my shoes shinny enough, or marching out of step. That was the light stuff. Things got worse. I was so tired from all the guard duty and kitchen patrol I didn't know what was happening.

Billings started to give me some warnings. I was bragging how in my pre qualifying attempt with my M-16. I just missed firing expert by one target.
"Tomorrow I will fire expert in my qualifying try." I said.
"You won't qualify at all." Billings said.

I couldn't even imagine what he meant by that till right before I went to qualify the Drill instructor grabbed my M-16 and started randomly adjusting my sights.

"My weapon is zeroed perfectly. Why are you adjusting it?", I asked.
"Oh. You got it all messed up." He said.

What could I do? The drill instructor was God. When I went to qualify, I had to aim two inches to the left just to hit my target. I qualified but just barely. I don't know what I did to Billings, but he was taking all his anger and frustration out on me. I'm good at looking back and seeing what happened, but at the moment it was happening, I was still clueless. As we got closer to graduation we needed to accomplish more and more tasks. Billings gave me more and more warnings. You won't pass he said. I didn't either. My drill instructor would talk to testers before I took my tests and my answers would be changed.
Once Billings came to me after lights out,

"Hey meet me behind the wall locker." Billings said.
I didn't go at first. Finally I got up and peered behind the lockers and Billings was getting a blow job from his bunk mate. I was a little freaked out. I jump back into my bunk. Just than the drill instructor shinned his light behind the locker. It had been a set up. Billings was trying to get me caught behind the locker and it almost worked. The drill sergeant was more than a little disappointed he didn't catch me.

Looking back now I don't know how I could have been so trusting of Billings, and so stupid. I never really fully comprehended what was going on. Luckily I had a bunk mate who was a bit older and wiser. He saved my ass, literally. See I was a nice guy and I did a favor for someone. We were going on a camp out. This is when the entire company heads out to the woods and sets up camp. Everyone had to partner up because we had so much gear to hump around we all carried a half of a tent, so we could share a tent together. By this time the drill sergeant knew who the soldiers were that liked to be alone together. The drill sergeant gave me a partner named Joey. He was one of the soldiers that joined the military on the buddy system. He asked me if I would let him, and his buddy be alone in our tent. I would have to switch tents with his buddy, so he could have some alone time with his buddy.

I agreed, but I was within ear shot of Billings. Billings found out I would be sleeping in another tent. Of course he laid a trap for me. There would be a lot of tent switching that night. They devised a plan that after everyone finished their business at a certain time in the wee morning hours everyone would run to where they were supposed to be.

So I got the call to go back to my tent and when I got outside the tent there where soldiers running in every direction. What a concentrated and coordinated event. When I got outside and started to run. Who caught me? You guessed it. It was my drill instructor. He had this really disappointed look on his face.
He said, "You too."

I didn't know what to say. He obviously had made his own conclusion. Even though I had done nothing he thought I had. Well the next Sunday after my shower he called me to his office.

I was still in my underwear. I started to go to his office, but my bunkmate stopped me.

He said, "Don't go in there like that you're not even dressed."
"If I don't I'll be disobeying a direct order." I said.

"Just get dressed quickly. When he comes out here, just say in a real loud surprised voice; you didn't want me to go in there naked did you drill sergeant."

That's just what I did. It worked perfectly. Drill sergeant came out of his office.

"Didn't I tell you to come to my office?" He asked.

I said just what my bunk mate told me to say. Drill sergeant turned around and walked back in his office and then yelled in a loud voice," Billings."
Billings ran off to the sergeant's office. Whatever billings had done to me, at least that wasn't happening to me. After I had gotten fully dressed,

My bunk mate said," You should go to the sergeant's office."

I said," Billings was still in there."

He said," I know, I want you to look around and tell me if you see him."
I knocked on the door. I was told to come in. I poked my head in.
"You needed to see me drill sergeant", I said.

The drill sergeant was sitting behind his desk sweating quite profusely and Billings was nowhere in sight.

Drill sergeant said," No I don't need you, that's okay."

I think that pissed billings off even more. Billings warned me that I might break my leg on the obstacle course.

He said," You will break your leg and have to recycle your training and start all over again."

I couldn't imagine what was in store for me next. Till at the end of the obstacle course you have to go down the slide for life. It's a zip line that you ride from about 60 feet in the air to the ground. At about five feet from the ground the drill instructor orders you to let go so you don't slam into the post the zip line is attached to. In this case you have to rely heavily on the drill instructor. If you release to early the height plus the speed you are traveling can cause you to, you guessed it, break your leg. So I was sliding down the zip line and the drill sergeant was screaming at me to release. I felt I was still too high and didn't release. He screamed again and I released. I hit the ground pretty hard and I felt something in my right foot snap.