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...
