Was thinking...

[bruiser]

Forty six years ago today was my first day of basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas. I left home on May 9th from Friendship International Airport. In those days family could go to the gate with you. When boarding was called, I took the walk down the jetway as mom cried and dads eyes misted over. See, they already had one son in Vietnam and one in the Army Reserves. And here was another one headed out for service. Twelve of us bound for basic boarded that Eastern Airlines 727. After a long flight with layovers, we arrived at Lackland at midnight. As the busses pulled up to the recruit inprocessing center you could hear the voices of the training instructors (TI). As the doors opened on our bus, a green clad, loud mouthed individual came on board and yelled at us to get off the bus. As we tried to get off as fast as we could, another group of instructors were directing us to a low brick building. Inside that building were more instructors directing us to a mass inprocessing room. As our names were called we went to a window, signed papers and were then sent back out to more yelling. I ended up in a group standing in a large square painted on an asphalt pad. We stood there, silently, with bags next to us for what seemed like hours. I remember one guy saying he had to pee. He caught hell for talking. Finally this hulking shadow walked up, stood in front of our group. His first comment was "I am Staff Sergeant Bird. I am your TI. Pick up your s**t and follow me". We walked miles, or so it seemed. Finally we came to a two story wood frame building among two long rows of similar buildings. We were ushered inside. We were told to find a bed, drop our s**t and stand in front of the foot locker. We could hear our TI on the first floor barking out instructions which included what to do in case of a fire. Then he came up to our floor and gave us those same instructions. Oh, those instructions in the event of a fire, we had red painted steel buckets with FIRE stenciled in white placed in front of posts in each bay. They were filled with sand. Those were our fire extinguishers. His last order was to "get to sleep now girls". That was 0300. At 0600 there was a loud racket as our TI banged on a metal trash can lid and yelled "get up, get out of your beds", in a Texas draw. Our training was beginning. Little did I realize that dark morning what my future held. Twenty years 2 weeks and 9 days later I bid farewell to active duty, but not to the USAF.

 

[Bob Denman]

:shocked:
But; Thanks for serving! :2thumbs: :clap:

 

[vided]

:thumbup::thumbup: Thanks for your service and the post :thumbup::thumbup:

 

[ARtraveler]

:2thumbs::2thumbs: Thank you for your service to our country. :firstplace:

 

[bmccaffrey]

My experience was similar.
But instead of banging on the garbage can. It came sailing down the isle.
My buddy who we went in together with jumped out of his rack and landed on my back :yikes:

 

[JerryB]

Hi bruiser,

Ah, those memories of Lackland.

Re: Then he came up to our floor

I enlisted on 26 Dec 59. Arrived at Lackland about 0300, the TI asked the three of us if we wanted to sleep or eat. We all said, 'Sleep,' and he told the driver to take us to the chow hall. We had started Basic Training. :shocked:

In those days, it was 4 weeks of 1st phase Basic Training, and then another 4 weeks of 2nd phase, unless you were headed out to a tech school, were it could be much longer. At the beginning of 1st phase, I ended up on the ground floor; we received more s**t than the guys upstairs. So during tech school/2nd phase I stood or squatted just a little so I could get onto the 2nd floor. Worked great => less s**t.

3 yrs 10 mos 24 days later I became a civilian once again. It truly was an experience; and I'm still friends with some of them.

Jerry Baumchen

 

[kngfsh27]

June 6th 1972. A seventeen year old who didn't know any better.

 

[vided]

in 65' got on the 6 month waiting list for the USCG. watched the mail everyday for that letter with
the dreaded "GREETING".
in January 66' enlisted in the CG :yes::yes:

 

[kep-up]

Thank all a y'all for your service to our country.

 

[coz]

Thank you for your service Bruiser

Please continue the story.:thumbup:

 

[Bob Denman]

:agree: There has to be more that you can tell...

 

[bruiser]

Hey Coz, like the avatar. He's one of my favorites.

 

[bruiser]

More??? You want more???

 

[coz]

Tell us the whole story

I think it would be a great read. opcorn:Hell, it would probably be a great movie.

 

[ekfraz]

Army

I feel bad, I was on inactive duty a year before I was officially insisted in the US Army at fort Dix NY. Half way thr rough basic my right knee went out so they sent me home with a politico knee syndrome.
4 years later I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis? Bum rap for me, I was already a fixed wing pilot and I was going to be a Blackhawks pilot. I am 52and have been retired for 12 years. I use to be very active, raced motocross,flew commercially . Congratulations to the vets that served complete toured, you are all heros in my book.

 

[bruiser]

Not sure about the movie. It'd be very boring.

Basic training then was nothing like now. Most of it was classroom. Air Force history, rank recognition, military courtesy, uniforms and their proper wear. I was always getting in trouble for having my cover to far back on my head. We had PE, obstacle course, endless marching, KP, other "jobs". One I remember was being assigned to help permanent party move furniture and clean a building that was being repurposed. The permanent party guys were really friendly and treated us well. Dorm guard, two hour shifts standing at parade rest inside the doors of our barracks. I was accused by an area guard of sleeping on duty. The NCOD came to the door, flashed his ID so I let him in. He began to chew my a** for "sleeping on duty". I know I wasn't but trying to convince him was a different story. He had me against the wall, literally, chewing me out. He pulled a 349 on me. A discrepancy slip which went to my TI. That morning waiting outside for our turn at the chow hall, the TI called me out. He took me off to the side and showed me the 349. Asked me "what the hell did you do". Of course I told him I wasn't sleeping. He chewed me out, then told me to fall in. That was the end of that. Oh, and area guard. Four hour shifts of marching in a 100x100 foot square area outside the "thousand man" dorms. These were new dormitories that held a large amount of people. We had a helmet liner with AG on it and a black arm band with AG and carried a baton. We had to challenge anyone who entered our square. For training purposes back in our area we walked past cardboard cutouts of airmen in different uniforms and ranks to learn when to salute. Small arms was a joke. We spent hours on end dry firing M16s. Ammo was in short supply. We did our final live fire with .22 ammo in M16s fitted for .22 ammo. Finally, end of course testing. Written exams, marching, facing movements, saluting et al. I was house mouse for the last three weeks of basic. That means I carried the schedule for the entire flight. Each morning I had to report to the TI and brief him on the schedule which included individual appointments as well as the flight schedule. That also meant I had to march up front carrying the clip board. I dropped it one time and the sheaf of papers came loose. It was a breezy day. I need not say more. All but two of our flight completed basic. One guy was released from active duty. One guy was set back for a broken leg. Our TI was a big guy from Texas. He was tough. He had a way of expressing himself. They couldn't touch us other than to show us how to salute or how to position ourselves for facing movements etc. We had to maintain two paces spacing between ourselves and the TI. That meant that if he stepped toward you, you had to step back to keep that spacing. which meant that he could maneuver you against the wall, or make you back up over a trash can etc. His favorite saying if you screwed up was "boy, do you want me to slap your d**k in the dirt?" Well, he said that one day to a particularly obnoxious recruit. The recruit replied back "hit me and make it that long". We marched the "quad" until dark that day for laughing. We missed smoke break too. So that is as much as I can remember about basic. I'm sure there's more. Next chapter, Tech school.

 

[vided]

good read, thanks:2thumbs::2thumbs:
boot camp was fun, make that interesting :thumbup::thumbup:

 

[JerryB]

Hi bruiser,

Re: They couldn't touch us other than to show us how to salute or how to position ourselves for facing movements etc.

Things must have changed. Once, while in 1st phase in formation, TSgt Merrigan said, 'Right face,' and I turned left. :shocked:

I immediately knew I had f***** up as I was looking right into the face of someone. I then did a 180.

Merrigan came over, hit me as hard as he could in the gut and said, 'Don't f*** up again.' And I did not.

C'est la vie,

Jerry Baumchen

 

[Dan McNally]

Thanks for the memories. It was 25 Jan 67 for me, and I did twenty five years, six months, and five days of active duty. Your experiences sound very similar. My TI is still around and kicking. He is in his 80's and active on Facebook!

 

[coz]

The End ?

Bruiser, is that the end of the story, or will it continue?