Peter Pan in the Military

I know of a man who has the Peter Pan Syndrome with a real twist to it. He is now getting older and will acknowledge facts to other professionals. The so average called lay person does not understand at all nor care. This person went into the military at the age of 16. Of course, he pretended to be older but as a young kid he enjoyed that. Almost from the very beginning in basic training he played solder to the hilt. The iron clad discipline did not bother him, in fact he enjoyed it.

Directly from the regular basic he went to airborne training at Ft. Benning, GA the home of the US Army Infantry. Training is most difficult and combined with enlisted men and officers. Although homesick and depressed at times he was a top student. On his first jump he was so afraid and feared vomiting. His mates had no idea of this fear as he hooked up and moved towards the door. There a burly noncom was ready to push one out the door if he hestitated.
Our subject soldier greeted and noncom and out he went.

Now wearing the wings of a jumper our Peter Pan drank beer with the best and stood tall as he played out his adult role. At times he would go alone to the obstacle course and master the difficult parts in the simi-darkness. This enabled him to be superior in the day light where he was identifed as a superior soldier among a few others who were more mature then he.

To our young Peter Pan to be this was all play acting so as not to be detected as under age. Actually, a few of the Officers and Sargents suspected that he might be. No one ever challenged him openly about it. They never knew that he cried himself to sleep quite often. He completed the training and received several awards. These awards are actually minor but will help a young soldier make it for the next year or so. Not many earned them. They were for physical abilities and markmanship.

He left Air Borne School as a Corporal. A rather low rank but quite high for a rookie just out of basic. Although our Peter Pan did not have a High School diploma he scored high on several tests and was sent to Field Intelligence School. Remember, our Peter Pan had no idea what this label meant or that it would be his to deal with. In fact we will see that he knew nothing about such things until he first heard of it when getting his first college degree. However, this is jumping ahead. He received several other training certificates such as a sniper, specialized parachuting, etc. It appear that he did not serve in one unit long enough to be promoted.

Our subject Peter Pan was assigned to a unit in Europe but the records are confusing as he transferred from unit to unit. We know little of his military performance at this time. Shortly after the Korean War started he was assigned to a Ranger Company in Korea. These units were
attached to larger organizations for logistics. In the field they operated as independent units. In our next post we will pick where our young Peter Pan was seriously wounded. This is the big turning point in his life. For the first time his maturity and devlopment came into play.

Let me just interject a professional comment. Peter Pan like all diagnosis is an internal psychological disorder that is not apparent to the carrier nor observers for a long time
and sometimes never. Our Peter Pan is still a very young male playing soldier for real.
This is why it is a very interesting story as it unfolds.

We will continue in a new post.