Photograph (c) Sarah Vaughan

When I was a young 17-year-old. I was stationed at my first duty station: Fort Stewart, Georgia. I had enlisted in the US Army and graduated Basic Training and AIT [Advanced Individual Training (that’s the school that you go to for your specific job)] While at Fort Stewart, I received my first field mission. This is where you go out into the woods and play war games.

As a brand, new Private (lowest rung on the ladder) you are privileged with all the jobs that no one else cares to do. I, along with three other soldiers, received the wonderful orders to begin digging fox holes around the perimeter of our Headquarters. We were instructed to dig a foxhole at the North, East, South, and West locations.

Well, needless to say it was hot and it took all day to dig those foxholes. By the time we finished digging them and camouflaging them and putting in all the extras such as putting in grenade sumps and a dug-in spot for our M 60 Mounts (this was a type of weapon gun for the foxhole) in them we were covered with dirt from head to toe. We were all in desperate need of a shower. Sad to say there was no shower. You had to clean off the best you could. We called it taking a “bird bath.”

After chow, we were given a guard duty list of who all had guard duty that night. Lucky me, I was on that list. My tour of guard duty would be from 2:00-4:00 AM. We were all tired so we went to our tents and crashed around 10:00 PM.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, my tent was invaded by the Sergeant and my legs were shaken abruptly. I was awakened out of a dead sleep by the Sergeant. “Private, get up you have 15 minutes before your tour of guard duty.” I hurried up and got dressed and exited my tent. It seemed like I had just laid down and I barely rested. I was rubbing my eyes from a hard day’s work digging foxholes and camouflaging them. The Sergeant had me follow him through the woods. On the way to the position I was still in a stupor and stumbled a few times.

When we arrived at the foxhole the Sergeant told me whatever I did, I was to remain inside the foxhole. He said he didn’t want to hear any complaining out of me like the last Guard. I asked, “What if it rains?” He said, “Put on your wet weather gear but even if it starts to rain you are to stay in the foxhole.” Of course, I wasn’t too comfortable with that order but I adhered by his order for the time being and jumped inside the foxhole. The Sergeant walked away and disappeared into the pitch black.

There was a wind-up telephone located at the foxhole. The phones that we used were called TA-312 telephones. They had two D batteries in their base and were connected with communication wire strung through the woods. The Sergeant told me to check in every 30 minutes with Headquarters by hand cranking the phone and report in and let them know everything was okay. Approximately 20 minutes had gone by and the TA-312 rang. I answered, “Hello” and the person on the other end said “Gate 4, you’re supposed to answer with Gate 4.” I apologized and said, “This is Gate 4, are you guys going to call me or am I supposed to call you?” They replied, “No, you continue to call every 30 minutes. We are just doing a courteous check on all guards to make sure everyone is awake.” I replied, “Okay, so next call is 3:00 AM right?” and they said “yes” and hung up.

I had calmed down a little because I was talking with someone over the phone and didn’t feel so alone in the dark while talking. I had forgotten the fact that I was out there in the dark by myself while talking to Headquarters. The split second the phone disconnected, I snapped out of it and reality hit me dead in the face. I realized that I was still out at the foxhole, away from my sleeping bag, and in the dark, all alone. I could hear rustling in the bushes. I started shining my red-lensed flashlight at every noise that I heard.

We had to practice noise and light discipline. We were required to have a red lens covering our white flashlight. The enemy could see a white light from miles away and a red light was harder to detect at a far distance. One after the other I shined my red light at them. I could barely make the animals out because the red-lensed flashlight was so dim. But I eventually made out a raccoon, a fox, and an armadillo at different times.

I got accustomed to the various noises. And what happened next? It started raining. I was like, “Man, this sucks!” The whole time, I stayed loyal to my orders and remained inside the foxhole. I put on my wet weather boots, bottoms, and top. It was a little restrictive but it was much better than getting sopping wet. The rain began to pour down hard and the foxhole began to fill with water quickly. Once the rain reached the top of my boots I stepped out of the foxhole and stood beside it. I was nervous because I didn’t want to get in trouble for being out of the foxhole. But there was no way that I was going to stand in the water filled foxhole. Some decisions are just common sense. It seemed like an eternity had went by but it had only been about 15 minutes since I spoke with Headquarters over the TA-312.

At this point the temperature had dropped. I kept telling myself be a man. Still, I was shivering and truthfully, I was still scared. Every time I heard a noise in the woods I would shine my red-lensed flashlight in that direction. It was hard to see because it was one of those nights where it was pitch black outside. It was so dark that you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. It was around 2:45 AM and it was raining.

All I could think about was the other soldiers telling me earlier that day. “You know the gators come out when it rains.” and they laughed about it. The other soldiers told me, “Don’t listen to them, they are just trying to rouse you.” They gave me advice, “If you ever come across a gator, as long as you don’t bother him, he won’t bother you.”

Hold that thought. I heard a noise behind me this time. A completely different noise from a not so familiar direction. The noise that I heard was a kind of a growl type noise. I shined my red-lensed flashlight and saw two red eyes low to the ground. I told myself, “that isn’t right.” I couldn’t make it out but I knew whatever it was that it was no armadillo or fox. At that point, I didn’t care. I was scared. I unscrewed the red lens from my flashlight and my white light turned the darkness to day! Low and behold it was a giant alligator! It was huge! It had to have been at least 10 feet long. I looked in dismay and turned away. I dropped everything in fear. I dropped my weapon and my flashlight. The alligator chased hard after me.

You must realize that I weighed approximately 120 pounds and could run like a deer. At age 17, right out of Basic Training, I was in very fit condition!
I saw my life flash before me in a millet of a second. I think my eyes about popped out of their sockets and I don’t think there was ever a time in my life that I was that alert. Fight or Flight had kicked in and I ran as fast as I could. The bulky wet weather suit and boots were not a factor at all. I scrambled for my life! I zig-zagged in the pitch black. Somehow I found my way to an old deuce and a half truck. I leaped like Batman onto the hood of the truck. I could hear the snaps of the gator on my heels and I actually felt the air upon my legs every time the gator lunged, chomping at my legs.

It missed me by millimeters. The alligator had nearly got me. I had dropped my weapon and flashlight so I was even worse off. But, thank God I was still alive! I began looking for items to throw at the alligator. I could hear the alligator moving around underneath and around the truck. I tried to get inside the truck so that I could blow the horn but it was locked. I climbed over the cab and into the back of the truck. It was still raining and the truck was very slippery. I almost fell off the truck at one point but I caught my balance and clutched the truck tightly.

I found some heavy-duty metal towing shackles in the back of the truck. I began throwing them at the ground where I thought the alligator was. I tried to pinpoint where the alligator was by listening for its movements and noises it made. Again, I couldn’t see because it was pitch black out. I thought, maybe if I hit the alligator with towing shackles it might go away. At one point, I think I hit the alligator with one of the tow hooks but all I heard was a thud and an odd type of growl.

At this point, the telephone began to ring. I hit my watch light and it glowed 3:10 AM. Great! Now what? I wasn’t about to get down from the truck. No way! The phone would just have to ring. I tried to use my watch to see about but the glow wasn’t strong enough. So, I just sat there and time went by slowly.

I don’t know how much time had passed by but I knew that I had exceeded my tour of guard duty because the phone had rung two more times. Also, my battery on my watch had died from me trying to use it to see.

Later, I saw a small red light coming through the woods. It was at a far away distance. The light looked as if it were dancing in the woods. As the light moved through the woods, I could barely make out the faint noise “Private, where are you?” I yelled from the top of the deuce and half truck, cuffing my hands to my mouth, “Don’t come back here.” The response was, “Oh, you don’t want me to com…” then abruptly I heard a rustling noise. The red light drops to the ground and I could hear the dropping of what sounded like a weapon. Explicit words were yelled out, you could hear the Sergeant say “Oh s?&^!” and I could hear his footsteps running.

“What’s that?” exclaimed the Sergeant. I yelled, “It’s an alligator!” He said “Where ya at, where ya at?” and I kept repeating over hear, over hear. The Sergeant found the truck and I pulled him up by grabbing his arm. I heard the alligator underneath the truck again, snarling and grunting.

Time went by and we both fell asleep on the hood of the truck. I felt someone moving my foot and I jolted awake and realized it was daytime. The sun was shining bright and I was sweating in my wet weather suit from the heat. I turned and looked at my side. The Sergeant was next to me. The person who shook my foot was none other than the First Sergeant. This didn’t look good at all! I immediately shook the Sergeant awake and he sat up and said to the First Sergeant “Top, I’ll explain. I know it looks bad but we were chased.” The First Sergeant said, “You two come to my tent. We’re going to have a little talk.”

The First Sergeant called us both into the tent one at a time. He called the Sergeant in first and I could hear the First Sergeant yelling at the Sergeant and getting on to him. I remained standing at the parade rest position outside the entrance of the Headquarters tent. About five minutes later. I was called inside by the First Sergeant. As the Sergeant exited the tent, I saw how red the Sergeant’s face was. This made me even more intimidated and afraid. After all, I was a brand new Private and things weren’t looking too good for me from my very first night of guard duty.

The First Sergeant asked me what had happened and I explained to him the events of the night and he said, “Okay, I believe you Private, but only because your story matched the Sergeants. He said, “That’s all Private. You are Dismissed!” I hurriedly left the tent and headed back towards my tent. I was very relieved that I didn’t get into trouble and not to mention the fact that I didn’t get eaten alive.

Later, it was determined that we dug the foxhole too close to the swamp and it was right next to a bed of covered alligator eggs. The alligator that chased me was more than likely the mother alligator. Still, mother alligator or not, I saw “savage hunger” in its eyes that night and that alligator meant for me to be its next meal. I had other plans for my future.

I look back at this life event of mine and have taken many of life’s valuable lessons from it. I laugh now about it and many others that I have told this story to have a ball laughing about it as well. It wasn’t so funny at the time. This was a very close call for me. I was nearly eaten alive by a very large and hungry gator.

Why do I tell you about this life experience of mine freely to you? I want you to stay alert and stay alive! It’s because I want you to know there are many out there who have a sharp tongue and sound very convincing. Believe it or not people don’t always tell the truth or know what they are talking about. Some have their facts confused.

Statements that are made such as “This dog wouldn’t ever harm anyone.” I have a whole other life experience that contradicts that statement but I will blog about it another day. It involves two Doberman pincers. I denounce these type statements!

Just know, sometimes the gators do come out when it rains. And if they do? Run!

As a side note: I started to insert, in this blog, life lessons learned. I decided to pull out that part and let you, the reader, decide what to ascertain from this unique story of mine. Rest assured, it’s all completely true and it’s just one of my many life stories that I can tell you about! Much more to follow…

I want to thank you for taking out your precious time to read my blog and I hope everyone has a Safe and Happy Halloween!

Best Regards,

Paul A. Sergent
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