Something About a Soldier
by Ernest Kinoy

A fine, innocent young boy ends up in the wrong army.

Any army is wrong for him.

Placed in charge of 39 men, he picked up his bag, said follow me, and marched off to camp—all by himself.

He's an eager beaver who's always volunteering and always on KP.

He meets and falls in love with a canteen girl, but is too innocent to see that she does more than hold hands with others.

He has no fighting heart, and is a complete failure at bayonet drill.

The captain sends him home on emergency leave, then sends the sergeant to arrest him.

The returning scene, in the men's room on a train is extremely funny, with the drunken sergeant handcuffing the recruit to an innocent air cadet, who is literally railroaded to the wrong camp.

The Captain courtmartials the recruit as the unit is pulling out for the war zone.

It was his way of saving such innocence for a better world.