[April 6, 2025] Growing up on a bayou or a swamp gives a kid a sense of danger and self-awareness. That’s because those waterways are full of snakes, wild pigs, alligators, and other vermin that can make your life an adventure; few things can. “Don’t drink around the water,” good advice from my Dad, who told me that many “irresponsible” young men drowned while drinking too much. Or were eaten alive! But, hey, I was a kid and had no desire to drink beer or anything like it. I’d seen too many bumbling beer drinkers coming out of the local bar on Main Street that they were the best commercials for discouraging getting drunk.
Drowning wasn’t my concern; it was the critters that stalked the waterways that had a nasty habit of attacking you, usually by ambush. My biggest fear was the Water Moccasin. This was a snake that could slither through the water faster than I could swim. At the time, I wasn’t smart enough to know that all I had to do was swim faster than my buddies, and I was a fast swimmer. Fear has a whopping good way of providing that extra motivation to out-swim everyone around you.
Snakes were everywhere, and not the garden variety nonpoisonous Grass Snake. Assume all snakes are poisonous and avoiding them was my thinking. My Dad trained me how to treat a poisonous snake bite, and in Boy Scouts, we learned more about it. In contrast, Cowboy shows on television showed us how to mark a cross-cut on the bite site and suck out the venom, then spit it out. The problem with that technique was it didn’t work, and it also assumed you had a sharp knife and a very brave friend who would do the sucking; and presumably not ingest the poison. The best technique was to keep calm – an impossibility for any kid – and to get to a hospital as fast as possible.
As a kid, I was told that all of Louisiana was technically gator country. I never got tangled up with an alligator until I went to the swamps south of Lafayette and New Orleans. These were beasts of the water, and no animal could survive a devastating attack on land or in the water. Only the folks who grew up there call them a “bayou” or “swamp,” and there is a difference. The newest term is “ecosystem” or “marshland.” That makes it seem like a peaceful place to relax or rest alongside the watery banks. Please don’t do it unless you have a death wish.
I remember visiting one of my aunts down in New Orleans when I was 10 or 11 years old. My aunt told me about how the Cajuns and Indians lived in fear of alligators. Reading the “adventure outdoors” magazines of the state of Louisiana, you might think they lived in harmony together. That’s a bunch of crock. Anyway, there was a pair of big ole gators that plied the Jean Lafitte Swamp, and her best advice was never to go near there. Today, there are some awesome swamp tours for about a hundred bucks per person. In my day, we went there and got scared for free.
Where I grew up, beer was the king of alcohol. In fact, other than PBR beer and Budweiser, I didn’t know there was anything else. But I did see how it impacted a person’s behavior, and I didn’t like it one bit. In Mer Rouge’s Southern Baptist church, Pastor John had scared us straight and warned us about the “evils of drink,” and he scared me a whole lot.
I wouldn’t even touch one of those brown-colored bottles because it might bring something evil to my family. I joined the Army when I was 21 years old, and that was the same year the legal age for drinking was lowered to 18 (in Texas). When I was a pre-legal teenager, we spoke about the old pre-1909 Texas Law that said you could drink at any age with the permission of a parent. Cool. But I still would not drink anything with alcohol in it. That changed later, much to my disadvantage.
I knew nothing about drugs, meaning illegal drugs. If there were any in the small town where I grew up, their use was hidden. The danger to your life was too much for me, despite great peer pressure to use them. At the same time, in High School and later in college, I never took illegal drugs, smoked, ingested, or injected any foreign substance in my body that didn’t come from a medical hospital.
My mama didn’t raise no dummy. Later, in the 1980s, would come the “This is your brain on drugs” and “Just say no to drugs” campaigns. I already knew better than doing drugs because my Mom and Dad raised me right. Plus, I had a rather disagreeable personality and I was quick with a “No!” to just about everything. Indeed, I was scared of snakes, beer, drugs, and alligators.
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This is what I really like reading in this website. Fear! Man, the boy Satterfield surely put himself out there. I wonder why. Kids today would be unable to handle it.
This is WILD. I never knew that Gen. S. as a boy had so many adventures that borderline on crazy. Who in their right mind would go down to a swamp (a bayou or swamp or whatever you call it) and there be real live alligators, snakes of the poisonous variety, wild pigs (boars), and of course, the incessant mosquitos that are constantly buzzing your ear.
v/r
American Navy Vet
Yeah, Navy Vet (a real American 🇺🇸), I was thinking the same. I’ll live in the north will fewer cockroaches, ants, and other crawly things.
The big deal is fewer things that will eat you. 🐊
Ha Ha Ha. Like Sally Mae who says you always make her smile with your adversary a kid, I too enjoy them. We are similar and so this is a throwback to my growing up in the Midwest. But I believe all of us were similar in our values if we drew up in a rural setting back on the 50s and 60s. Thanks for bringing back those memories.
General,Satterfield, you always know how to make me smile with your effort to explain your “adventures “ as a little kid along with your fears. But you always tell us that you did those things you did despite those fears. I don’t know where that personality comes from but clearly it worked out for you.
SIR, WE LOVE YOU TOO.
I do occasionally write comments in this forum but I want to say something also important. In this case, I think that Gen. Satterfield as a little boy grew up with much of what most of us would consider a pretty basic lifestyle for those decades of the 50s and 60s. He was pretty normal in my opinion. He was also very fortunate not to see “illegal drug” use that pervades our neighborhoods today and we see nothing being done about it except for politicains wringing their hands over it. The only person who has tried to actually stem the flow of illegal drugs is Pres Trump. He is putting large tariffs on Mexico and Canada, and regardless what we call it, this is an incentive to stop the flow. A penalty? Yep. He is telling them to stop the flow or its going to cost you. Good plan. This will work, despite the hysteria from the legacy, worthless, untrustworthy media.
Good point about our lazy, good for nothing politicians who are too PC and Woke to do anything worthwhile.
Warning to many, don’t let our leaders off the hook. We directly elect them to do what is needed to fix the problem and all I see from Democrats is them singing “Woow is Me.” Kick their asses out if they don’t perform.
Alcohol and Alligators don’t mix well together.
Got a big laugh at how scared Gen. Satterfield was as a little boy.
Love it!!!!!!!!!!
Gen. S., please write more of these “monologue” about your youth. The reason I’m asking is because I like to read about what the building-blocks of successful people looks like. We can learn from that personal history and despite the world being different from a technology standpoint, the desires and needs of all people largely remains unchanged. I especially like reading about your fears and how you draw a link between those fears and how you developed into a great leader. Keep these k8nd of articles coming and posting them for our pleasure. I really smiled at this one.
Gen. Satterfield does it again with another peek inside a man who rose up from the prejudices of his generation to become a man for all people.
… exactly what I like to read. And, also why I’m a huge huge fan. 👍
Sir, this article reminds me of your “Letters to My Granddaughter” series that you recently completed.
https://www.theleadermaker.com/granddaughter-letters/
I highly recommend that all new readers to this website go to this link and read some of those letters that tell us alot about what it’s like growing up in the 1950s and 1960s. Great times. Scary times.
LOL. Nicely written. Showing us the fears of kids who grew up prior to the Internet age. 😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜
I will also suggest taking a closer look at Gen. Doug Satterfield’s book “55 Rules for a Good Life” to get a glimpse at the early life of a man who came from the Segregated Deep South to become a senior officer in the Army and who stands for “good.” The link is at the end of all his articles but here is the main one.
https://www.amazon.com/55-Rules-Good-Life-Responsibility/dp/1737915529/
The book is inexpensive and more than worth it. Get your copy today.
Right!! Don’t be squirmy, get your book today.
https://www.amazon.com/55-Rules-Good-Life-Responsibility/dp/1737915529/
You will love it. Easy read. 🕷🕷🕷🕷
I recommend the book too. Actually, both his books are excellent. Please also leave a review on Amazon or wherever you get a copy.
Yeah, plenty of fear in kids. Maybe that’s a good thing. Fear is a great motivator.