The Upside-Down Platoon: Training Pipeline
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Book 2 · “The Upside-Down Platoon” · Stateside Pipeline

The Training Pipeline

2nd Lt. (then-Cadet) Haskell “Hack” Tarman and Dallas Jenkins, bounced across the country by rail (and one borrowed Army C‑47) through ten months of Navy/Marine flight training before ever seeing the Pacific.

5transfers
~10months
~4,500miles
115°W 105°W 95°W 85°W 35°N 30°N N ARIZONA NEW MEXICO TEXAS LOUISIANA GULF OF MEXICO rail · ~320 mi troop train · ~1,150 mi troop train · 41 hrs, ~1,450 mi Army C‑47 Army C‑47 rail Santa Fe R.R. · ~780 mi Santa Fe R.R. IDALOU depart Mon Feb 23, 1942 HENSLEY FIELD Primary flight, Feb–May 1942 CHAPEL HILL Pre-Flight, Jun–Aug 1942 CORPUS CHRISTI Advanced, Aug–Dec 1942 Kelly Field LUBBOCK Christmas leave, Dec 19-28 Clovis Barstow SAN DIEGO arrive Fri Jan 1, 1943
Schematic map, not to navigational scale — positions and coastlines are approximate, legs drawn as straight lines rather than true rail alignments. State labels are context only, not surveyed borders. Tap or hover any marker for details. Drawn from tarman-chapters.md (ch.11-12, 17, 19, 24-25) and 01_Hack_Timeline.md.
Route (rail unless labeled Army C‑47)
Training stop / duty station
Transit waypoint (junction / refuel)

Full itinerary

LegRouteModeDepartArriveApprox. distance
1 Idalou → Hensley Field, Dallas Rail Mon Feb 23, 1942 Feb 1942 ~320 mi
2 Hensley Field → Chapel Hill, NC Troop train c. late May 1942 before Jun 1, 1942 ~1,150 mi
3 Chapel Hill → Corpus Christi Troop train Wed Aug 26, 1942 Mon Aug 31, 1942 ~1,450 mi (41 hrs)
4 Corpus Christi → Kelly Field → Lubbock Army C-47 Sat Dec 19, 1942 Dec 19-20, 1942 ~490 mi
5 Lubbock → Clovis → Barstow → San Diego Santa Fe Railway Mon Dec 28, 1942 Fri Jan 1, 1943 ~1,010 mi