 Basic training at Fort Ord
(Note: click on images to see larger view of the picture)
Before the filming of Season One began, the network suggested that the cast of Combat!
go to Ft. Ord army base for a crash course to familiarize themselves with the military.
Since all the stars attending this basic training had already served in the armed forces,
the ten-day trip served more for a photo opportunity than a learning experience.
 The
training was bally-hooed in the pre-press for the series.
The actors went through the same training as new recruits, with the only exception
being that they could leave the post at night. They would arrive at 7:30 in the morning
and work until evening.
Pierre Jalbert remembers Fort Ord fondly. “It was your usual quick indoctrination
into the military and the feeling of it all. It was pleasant and the military was very
nice. We got the uniform. We went to a few training sessions and learned to handle the
guns.”
 Rick Jason was not as enchanted with the trip, thinking that basic
training is something one should go through only once in a lifetime. While walking to the
PX, Rick Jason had a run-in with an officer, who chewed him out for not saluting.
Instead of proper military remorse, Jason just responded, “Yeah?” Unlike
run-ins Jason had had with officers in his real military career, this time he knew he
couldn’t wind up behind bars.
 The actors met many Army officers while at Fort Ord. They were looking
over the new actors and new series with great interest, to see if this was a show they
wanted to support.
They decided to support it wholeheartedly.
 Georg
Fenady recalls that, “We got incredible cooperation from the army. We always had a
cavalry officer with us — no less than a major, and maybe a colonel — for the
years that we worked, as a technical advisor and liaison. Whatever we needed, I’d
just call whoever was the colonel at the time and say we’d need ten tanks on this
day, two half-tracks, and so on and so on. Everything we could get from the army was
delivered and they were incredible.”
 The advisors made sure the actors and actions
remained true to military life. “It wasn’t objections, as much as keeping us
honest, in a sense. They didn’t say ‘Can’t do that.’ It was just,
‘We wouldn’t do that,’ and ‘It didn’t happen that
way.’” [. . .] One of his pet peeves, which I still hear every day, is on a
radio transmission. Over and out. Over and out. He would cringe. You never say ‘Over
and out.’ ‘Over’ means you’re going to continue the transmission.
‘Out’ means it’s out.”
At Left: Shecky Greene, Vic Morrow, Rick Jason, Pierre Jalbert, and Steven Rogers
coming out of the Close Combat Course. The motto above the gate reads: If you
fail here - you fail in combat. If you fail in combat, you die.
All photos on this page scanned from the private collection of Rick
Jason.
 Related Reading:
Fort Ord (Images of America)
From its establishment during World War I to its closure at the end of the Cold War, the Army installation best known as Fort Ord made a significant contribution to our national defense. Founded as a training area for Presidio of Monterey troops in 1917, Fort Ord covered more than 28,000 acres near the city of Monterey in its heyday. The local topography made it ideal as an infantry training center, and this was its primary mission throughout much of the 20th century. Most recently, Fort Ord was home to the 7th Infantry Division (Light), which was inactivated in 1993. In September 1994, Fort Ord closed its gates and became a part of military history.
 
|
|
