"Now why didn't I think of that ?"
Posted on 08/03/2005 7:05:55 PM PDT by Rodney King
AUGUST 3--Days before Private James Marshall Hendrix (Jimi to his friends) was officially drummed out of the military, Army brass delivered withering assessments of the 19-year-old soldier. Hendrix, Captain Gilbert Batchman reported, slept on the job, had little regard for regulations, and was once "apprehended masturbating" in the latrine.
Sergeant Louis Hoekstra noted that Hendrix was a "habitual offender" when it came to missing midnight bed checks and that the Seattle teenager was unable to "carry on an intelligent conversation." Hoekstra added that Hendrix, who was once suspected of "taking dope," played a musical instrument while off-duty, "or so he says. This is one of his faults, because his mind apparently cannot function while performing duties and thinking about his guitar."
Those are just two of the gems contained in the late rock star's nearly 100-page Army file, which TSG obtained from the Military Personnel Records center in St. Louis. You'll find highlights from the file on the following 18 pages. The documents track Hendrix's messy 13 months in the Army, beginning with his May 1961 three-year enlistment, which came with his assurance that he wasn't a Commie and a handwritten explanation about a juvenile burglary arrest.
Hendrix, records show, was a terrible marksman and a recidivist truant. Weeks after ordering a physical and psychiatric examination of Hendrix (who was attached to the 101st Airborne Support Group in Fort Campbell, Kentucky), Capt. Batchman sought to discharge a soldier who was an "extreme intravert" and whose many problems were not treatable by "hospitalization and or counseling." Included in the Army's discharge request were various statements from fellow soldiers, all of whom thought Hendrix deserved to be bounced. James Mattox, for example, recalled an April 1961 incident in which he, Hendrix, and four other soldiers were assigned to wash a ceiling. When Hendrix, who occasionally napped during the cleaning assignment, disappeared at one point, Mattox went looking for him. He quickly found Hendrix in the latrine, where he was "sitting in the last commode. I thought he was sitting there sleeping so I stood on the stool in the commode next to his and...there sat Hendrix masturbating himself." For his part, Hendrix--who apparently hated life as an enlisted man--did not challenge the discharge request, according to a signed statement.
At the time of his expulsion, Hendrix was allowed to leave the military with some parting gifts, including some Army-issued clothing. He also benefited from frequent dental care at Fort Campbell and California's Fort Ord, which probably made it easier for him to subsequently play that black Stratocaster with his teeth. (18 pages)
Okay, you joined in 1999.
I still don't get it how this is news.
"Now why didn't I think of that ?"
Gee...why couldn't Hendrix have done the honorable thing and got three self-inflicted band-aid owies, got a Purple Heart for each, and then made a big deal about it decades later?
There's an earth-shattering revelation...
Nah. He was an "Army-puke"......not quite worthy of this MARINE'S time.......
And here I always thought Jimi was a Screamin' Eagle paratrooper.
You shouldn't have dropped your tagline Rodney - the "Can't we all just get along" one.
Jimi was not master of his domain.
Not that there is anything wrong with that.
So, whatever became of this fellow Hendrix?
his mind apparently cannot function while performing duties and thinking about his guitar."
At least his priorities were in order.
And all this time I was so sure that his military record was probably spotless! I am so shocked.
When you post a thread, your tagline won't show up on comment #1.
I think it's only dropped when I originate the post.. it should be here now...
Me neither.
..."and was once "apprehended masturbating" in the latrine"...
Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory.
Still dead Imagine that !
He could even play the star spangled banner Man presidential material if ever I saw it
Even without reading the excerpt from TSG, I could have guessed Hendrix and the Military wouldn't have been any type of a match.
I did like some of his music but some of it sounded just like a bunch of noise to me even though I was in my late teens.
This is my rifle
This is my gun
This is for fighting
This is for fun.
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