Basic training is to begin. The new recruit is looking forward to this adventure. No one told me that recruits were not allowed to have their own car. The first weekend I got a pass I hitchhiked home and returned with my car, a 1936 Chevrolet Coupe. They finally decided I could keep it. I was the only one with a car in the company. That made me quite popular. Once while on guard duty another guard deserted and stole my car. It turned out that he was only 14 and was wanted for armed robbery. I spent sometime with the Provost Marshall explaining the situation. A couple of weeks later while on a bivouac a jeep arrived with a Colonel to take me to Headquarters. My mother was on the phone sick with worry in that my car was parked in front of her house some 300 miles away. The thief had lived nearby and his folks had returned the car. Miraculously it had been painted, dents repaired and in better shape than before. The next weekend I hitchhiked back home to get the car and reported the stolen car recovered. Later that day the police stopped me with guns drawn and arrested me for having a stolen car. I showed my ID and registration and after a call to the station they apologized and let me go. It was not to be the last adventure with that car.