[The film never identifies his location - Georgia.] A sign advertises:Beds --- 15 centsMeals --- 15 centsBaths --- 5 centsA fellow drifter-tramp named Pete (Preston Foster), who is playing solitaire, proposes going to a lunch-wagon/diner for a handout of hamburgers.He had developed a lucrative black market racket using cigarette packs (he called them "the coin of the realm")...They""re all pretty shaky.It""s an old place been comin"" apart for a long time." Tatum suggested that they would have to be very careful in extricating him: "Looks like we""ll have to take them out one by one.Damn, you dumb!King: (chuckling) It don""t make no difference.She know what I mean.She don""t read too good no how!Two other black recruits, stocky Big Harold (Forest Whitaker) and Junior (Reggie Johnson), whined about their C-rations, pork and turkey loaf, and joked about Big Harold""s laziness.