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Praetorium Honoris

Friday, November 10, 2023

Once Upon a Time ...

3708 BMT Squadron, Flight 0512
(Source)
A long, long time ago, Ma and Pa OAFS loaded their oldest son into the family motor vehicle for the long-ish (~80 miles) drive to Manchester, NH. There to drop said son off at a hotel where he would be spending the night on his very last day as a civilian.

I remember the hotel, vaguely. It reminded me of one of those old West hotels where basically you have a bed, a chair, a window - no curtain on the window, mind you - and a washstand. Oh wait, this didn't have a washstand, it might have had an actual bathroom, I don't quite remember, might have been one of those "have to go down the hallway" to use the toilet kind of places. After all, it was (shudder) forty-eight years ago.

I don't remember much of the processing through the Manchester AFEES¹ that morning. There was a bus from the hotel, as I recall, and there were six of us headed to San Antonio to be in the Air Force. For some reason, unknown to me, I was entrusted with everyone's paperwork. Six big envelopes, all sealed. Perhaps it was my year of Army ROTC, which was in my records, which should have given me a single stripe upon entry but hey, the USAF sucked at paperwork back then. They probably still do. (Of course, not telling me that did save them a few bucks, not that I really cared.)

Whoa, Sarge, wait! Army ROTC, WTF? Have you mentioned that before? (Yes, here, here, and here.) So let's just say that I felt no trepidation upon entry into Air Force Basic Military Training, I mean six weeks? Come on. Boy Scouts have it rougher. Anyhoo.

I don't remember much about the plane ride to San Antonio, other than we had to land in Houston as storms were making air travel in and out of San Antonio a bit dicey that night. Two of the knuckleheads traveling with our group thought that it would be a good idea to go exploring, I offered my opinion that that was a bad idea. They didn't listen. Needless to say, they missed the flight to San Antonio.

Upon arrival at Lackland Air Force Base (nowadays known as Joint Base Who-Gives-A-F**k, and I don't, I'm old school) there wasn't a lot of yelling, or if there was, it wasn't very impressive, at least not to me.

Some junior airman wanted to get "all up in my grill" over having six packages of paperwork and only four bodies, I pointed out that I was tasked with delivering paperwork, not bodies. I won that stare down. (You have to learn early who can yell at you and who cannot, the Smokey Bear hat is a dead giveaway that they can yell at you.)

We got to stand at attention behind our racks (beds to you of the civilian persuasion) for most of the night while we waited for the rest of our flight to arrive. I discovered that while there was a microphone in the barracks, there was no camera. So I sat down. Which freaked out my fellow soon-to-be-airmen.

The rest of the flight showed up, we got about two hours of sleep and then ...

Drum roll please ...

Twenty-four years later I retired.

Yes, I plan on filling in that 24 years at some point here on this blog-o-mine. But not today.

😉





¹ Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Stations, nowadays they're called Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS). That change occurred in 1982, Manchester doesn't have an entry point anymore.
Editors Note: Yes, I am in that picture at the start. A much younger me.

48 comments:

  1. The Airman on the 1st row far right looks no taller than a Munchkin. He gets to work in the tight spots on the aircraft!
    ;-)
    -Barry

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    Replies
    1. Dude was not a big man, nice guy though.

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    2. In some universal world of recruit training, "Short Rounds" that made the cut were assigned "House Mouse" tasks. In step with the '60's, tall guys became - what else - "Lurch". And they best respond with "You Rang" when called.

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    3. Ya know, he might indeed have been the House Mouse.

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  2. Third row, sixth from the left. I went to Nashville, Tn in 1974, USAF. First time away from home, first time flying. Wouldn't change a thing. Just a knuckle-dragging crew chief.
    TomOldGuy

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    Replies
    1. Nope, just a bit outside, as Bob Uecker might have put it.

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    2. July, '69, Lackland AFB. We had to get up an hour early to get PT done before the red flag went up. Good times...
      Another Crew Chief knuckle dragger. 105's and 102's. Four years later...OUT. It was good duty, Iceland was best.

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  3. What time of year did you arrive in Texas, Sarge? I can imagine it might have been quite a change if one had never been there in the heat of Summer before.

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    Replies
    1. Mid-May, left in early August. It was, as you say, hot. But it wasn't Biloxi, MS hot.

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  4. I went to the CG recruiting office in Santa Rosa, they had some problem so they gave me the bus fare to San Francisco ($1.80?$2?) and directions to the recruiting office there. I took the oath and they put me in a van for the ride across the Bay Bridge to Coast Guard Island in Alameda. No one I saw that day looked happy to be there... the painted footprints and people screaming in your face came a little later.. That was March of 1975.

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  5. I did AF Basic in January and February . We wore the pickle uniform and they had just changed from the 6 week basic to the 8 week basic training. I had 2 cotton and 2 polyester OD Green uniforms. I preferred the cotton and had one of the blouses cut down for short sleeves upon graduation. We were though training after 6 weeks and did the last 2 weeks of basic over again. After my pipeline training at Sheppard and back at Lackland I got assigned to an Element in Tampa that had switched over to BDU's.

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    Replies
    1. Eight weeks, that's what they do now. Can't see that it made any difference.

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    2. Latter that year they were back to 6 weeks. I had a follow on school back at Lackland and it changed while I was there. I was no longer a pipeline student and that side of Lackland was a different world.

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    3. Yes, the two sides of Lackland. I worked there for a couple of months augmenting the people processing the new recruits' records. Very interesting and a totally different world.

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  6. Second row, far right. I cheated, I think.

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    Replies
    1. Nope, the caption on the picture from Basic is wrong. Nice try though.

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  7. I was 3/4 of the way through UPT when you joined up. It was already getting warm in Arizona. Those were the days.

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    Replies
    1. Good times.

      No, really, I miss it some days.

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    2. Octobre of 1972, went through SMSO (School of Military Science, Officer) at Lackland Annex. Then Moody for UPT. Then water survival at Homestead, then land survival at Fairchild. Then Blytheville in Buffs until October 1977. Amazing what chewing a garlic prove will do to anyone who wants to "get into your face" during prisoner training...

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  8. Nice cliffhanger! It's almost as if you're rebooting the blog! Haha

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  9. Crusty Old TV Tech here. Veteran's Day post eh? Man, what a motley crew of pingers there. I miss those fatigues, BDU's were nice, but you could do actual work in fatigues and have the grease come out later! AFROTC Field Training, 1979, Lackland AFB FTU 2 , July-August, 4 weeks. Same sort of air travel, just shorter first leg, but same IAH layover problem. Yep, hot. 0500 PT runs. Aggies with broken wrists from running backwards. 1 mile round trip march to the Transient Chow Hall, 3 times a day. Open bay barracks with the sand blowing in one side and out the other all day. CADET! WHAT IS THIS (insert colorful FTO language here) BOULDER I FOUND ATOP YOUR LOCKER? It was a grain of said sand, of course, just like a thread hanging from ones 1550's was A CABLE, (insert colorful FTO language here) BIG ENOUGH TO HAUL THE QUEEN MARY!

    I do miss the USAF, and I thank those stout hearted Field Training Officers, like Capt Macintyre, who perservered in the San Antonio heat and got us ready for our margarine bars. Salute!

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  10. First night at Lackland was New Years Eve, Dec 31, 1972. I was the only one in the TI side bay.

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  11. (pointing). That's you, right there!

    Heck, I have trouble picking myself out in grade school or junior high group photos, much less pick out someone I've never met.

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  12. August 1963, Denver. We got on a train, changed trains in Kansas City, and arrived at Waynesville, MO. Short bus ride to Fort Lost In The Woods. Grim place, dilapidated WWII buildings, dirt, crushed gravel, and lots of standing in line. Not a lot of "shark attacks", the system was to keep you tired with 18 hour days, to break you down so whatever you were told would sink in. Draft era, many were not motivated, and not much effort was made to change those attitudes. Do what you were told, keep your moth shut, and all was well. Otherwise, the kindly NCOs had their ways to get compliance. That was a time when serving in the military was just something you did.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And with the draft it wasn't like some folks had any choice in the matter.

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  13. I remember the intake motel in Shreveport, LA. 1990. I shared a room with a kid going to Ft. Knox. I found it interesting that there was twenty foot tall fencing / gates around the place. Keeping goblins out or in? I dunno.... Gates closed and locked at 10pm or so IIRC. I learned about BET on cable that night, roomy was there first, so he had dibs. Finally fell asleep... Next AM, I drove over to the AFB to take my OCS qual tests. There are times I wonder where I'd be if I'd gone that route...

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  14. Flew on a Connie from Philly to Great Lakes in 1965. As a USNR guy I only had to stay there two weeks, just long enough to get sleep deprived, kinda march around a little (which sailors never really get any good at), and some really basic military and naval instruction. Having been a Sea Scout, and two years AFROTC it was but an annoyance and refresher. Recruit Company Commander was BR1 Waggle who did a good job quickly raising baby squids. (BR was boilemaker, about to be absorbed by the BT rating). Followed by two weeks at Philly Navy Yard with pretty much the same classroom stuff repeated, in a more relaxed setting, plus several days chipping paint on an LST in the mothball fleet. OCS at Newport the following year was a bit more work, living in "splinter barracks" from August to December.
    JB

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    Replies
    1. Chipping paint? The fleet could use some of that right now!

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  15. Well, Sarge, clearly NOT a 1966 MCRD San Diego arrival as your deposit & first reveille would be forever imprinted / memorable.....lol

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    1. On the other hand, first reveille at Army ROTC was, shall we say, "memorable." Lots of trash cans flying through the air, people yelling, calisthenics then a mile+ run. Yeah, welcome to college.

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  16. Reported as ordered, toean office in East Lansing. Taken to a Greyhound depot, told to take bus to Detroit. Stayed overnight with two others, never saw them again. My orders were to downtown, theirs to airport. Report ed, waited, taken to airport, flew to Midway. Bus to hotel, in the morning to Ohara. Wait. Flew to San Diego, cab to office, stuffed in station wagon, taken to MCRD, checked in, issued gear, sent to a tent. Slept, woke to a DI banging on a garbage can. Only recruit there. Dressed, marched myself to breakfast and back to tent. I was three days early. Next day, two more showed up. I showed the| how to make a bed, much complainig by DI because I'd done so. (The complaint was that I'd taught correctly. DIs are crazy.) Lots of yelling, standing, haircuts, ... and we were off to join Platoon 2014, iirc.)

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  17. July 1964. Drove down to Lackland in my new VW Bug, reported in to Officer Training School and moved into a two-man room. We would do PT in t-shirts, shorts and sneakers. The Captain would point out the swine running laps in BDUs and brogans and say "get with the program or you will wind up over there". That was the only pressure, Good days.

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  18. Raised my right hand in 1968, then flew to Amarillo AFB because of a Hepititus outbreak at Lackland. Seem to recall my Basic being 11 weeks long but my mind gets fuzzy about those days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a solid memory from boot camp, I was in the head by myself and had to look behind me to see who that was in the mirror... :-).
      Well two memories... when I screwed up the spiel at the JOOD shack the Chief reached thru that little window, grabbed my shirt and pulled half of me thru the little window up to his face and asked me what I was doing... It was sudden & unexpected & do have that memory from boot camp. I don't recall how I answered :-)

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    2. I remember a couple of things, we might get there.

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