I think it was 1983 when I went to Fort Irwin with 2d Armored Division’s 1\/41st infantry as the first rotation of a Bradley unit through the National Training Center’s grueling and realistic combat simulation two week deployment. Just the trip there was grueling enough. We flew into some air base in San Bernadino and then took buses for more than three hours to Barstow, CA, jsut outside of Fort Irwin – we were relieved when we finally drove through the main gate. Little did we know that it was still a half hour more to the main post.<\/p>\n
The Rumor Doctor,Jeff Schogol, <\/a>our newly-minted tip ninja, investigates whether the main gate was so far from the main post in an attempt by the Army to screw soldiers out of travel pay which has been a rumor that I’ve heard since that trip.<\/p>\n Those who\u2019ve been there may have heard that the base front gate was moved closer to the nearest city so that soldiers would not be eligible for a special pay to compensate them for being in the middle of nowhere.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Read the rest.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"