Boot Camp memories.

Tour in Argentia, Newfoundland. Several schools for jet engine mechanics, Tour in Newfoundland considered sea duty. Lucked out from jet school got sea duty Puerto Rico. Land was Lakehurst Navel air station N.J. Lucked out again with sea duty orders to the Philippines. I qualified for wife and child to accompany me to base housing in the Philippines . The Philippines orders were changed some female personnel officer from the Philippines to a fighter squadron based in Miramar Ca.

That change of orders to the fighter squadron meant 9 months deployed at sea on the Kitty Hawk, 2 months continued training at white sands New Mexico & with luck 30 days leave to be with my wife & child.

The personnel officer thought I was going to re enlist but 90 days in 3 years or more away from my wife & child & the opportunity to get out was a no brainer. Best decision we ever made.
 

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Back then the Kitty Hawk was considered a super carrier and the carrier was considered state of art. The Enterprise was probably the top carrier back then. I saw it and that's about it. I would have liked to have toured the Enterprise.
 
My training was uneventful. Went through basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky with 11th Airborne Division, ran everywhere. Trained with the
27th Airborne Engineers, then sent to Korea as a grunt in a rifle company.
 

What was I thinking? In the two years prior to basic, I overindulged big time, stopped sports activities, and continued a cigarette habit that began at age 14. Unsure of the reasons for this behavior but I developed the cardio status of an old man. Fortunately, the part-time job in a meat dept. of a retail grocery helped maintain upper body physical strength. Big, strong, out-of-shape guy.

Tank Hill, Ft. Jackson SC, Sept. '66. Body weight 260# which was 50# above ideal wgt. I fell out of the morning runs, scored near the bottom on PT tests, and the DIs were on me like white on rice. They called me "hog." On the bright side, I put out 100% effort, aced all written exams, shot expert with the M-14, and capably performed any duty that involved primarily physical strength. Fighting with pugil sticks, I would damn near knock off the opponents' heads, but after 30 seconds the shortness of breath would kick in and get beaten down, a couple times to the point of concussion.

On the final PT test, I ranked somewhere in the middle of the pack. Not great but not poor either. DIs said with another 8 weeks, they could make me "strack" which was a complimentary term for a troop who has it all together. But it was time to move on: AIT at Ft. Campbell, home of the 101st Airborne Div.
 
I was 24 years old when I went to basic. On my FIRST payday something was messed up and they couldn't pay me. I asked to use to use the commander's office to make an AUTOVON call with a few minutes of privacy. Half hour later the exec drives me over to finance and they pay me. Exec ask "do you ah suppose you could tell me how you did that" and I of course responded with "I could tell you Sir but then I'd have to kill you. That and a few other tidbits lead them to believe I was a spook. When I went back to Knox as an MP I "raided" a card game when they were in the field. We all became friends and they had to know how I got paid. They REMEMBERED. My girl friend was the secretary to the commander of the Army Finance School at Fort Ben Harrison. I had called her. Her boss called Fort Knox and told them to pay me. We all enjoyed a laugh about it. They joked that they did NOT know what to make of things when I had been in basic with them months earlier.
 
I spent 4 years in the US Navy, and never stepped foot on a ship. I was a Corpsman (Medic). I was stationed in Great Lakes IL, NYC, D.C. & GTMO, Cuba. I saw some ships, but never got one one. I guess it's like Air Force guys, who never flew.
 
My B-I-L was a Marine stationed in Gitmo. His job was to arm everything from a hand grenade to a missile with a detonator and vice versa. Then, he spent two tours in Vietnam. After he came home, it took him almost three years to stop shaking. Even so, up and until his death just a few years ago, he was still fighting the war in his sleep. His wife divorced him after only five years of marriage because he kept punching her while she slept at night. He was a really great guy. Do anything for anybody, but he turned into a whack-o.

Normally, I wouldn't do this and I know this post is off topic, but this man was a hero . On his second tour in Vietnam, he saved his Patrol by crawling 75 yards on his belly and threw two plastic explosives into the middle of Charlie's camp one night, which allowed his guys to escape to the other side and return to their base camp.
 
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My younger brother's friend's older brother .. whom I dated briefly, went to Vietnam and came back completely broken. He shot himself in the mouth. Couldn't have been more than 20/21 yrs. old. He got hooked on drugs that didn't exorcise his demons. He was a beautiful golden boy, and a beautiful soul. I think of him whenever I see these threads about war.
 
Pinky said:
My younger brother's friend's older brother .. whom I dated briefly, went to Vietnam and came back completely broken. He shot himself in the mouth. Couldn't have been more than 20/21 yrs. old. He got hooked on drugs that didn't exorcise his demons. He was a beautiful golden boy, and a beautiful soul. I think of him whenever I see these threads about war.
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I have heard several stories similar to this. War can be and is hell.
 
My B-I-L has both legs missing. He was so messed up from the war that he took up drinking. He came down with Diabetes and at first lost one leg and then the other. He either had 5 or 6 strokes and then death.

I don’t say this about too many men, but he was quite a man.
 
On the day in basic training that my company went to the gas chamber I was on KP. Shortly after returning to Knox I caught the Mess Sergeant with whom I had spent that day speeding. I recognized him and asked if he was still at C-16-4. "I spent a day with you a few months ago. You didn't jerk me around or give me any "trainee" crap. It's paid off as I'm giving you a verbal warning: Slow your ass down".
A short time later I had a phone call at the MP Station (very unusual). It was him asking me if I could eat with them tonight. They had steak and baked potatoes. Very good steak and one of THE best baked potatoes I've ever had. Plus, had a lot of laughs with my former Drill Sergeants.
 
DGM said:
On the day in basic training that my company went to the gas chamber I was on KP. Shortly after returning to Knox I caught the Mess Sergeant with whom I had spent that day speeding. I recognized him and asked if he was still at C-16-4. "I spent a day with you a few months ago. You didn't jerk me around or give me any "trainee" crap. It's paid off as I'm giving you a verbal warning: Slow your ass down".
A short time later I had a phone call at the MP Station (very unusual). It was him asking me if I could eat with them tonight. They had steak and baked potatoes. Very good steak and one of THE best baked potatoes I've ever had. Plus, had a lot of laughs with my former Drill Sergeants.
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You were in C-16-4? I was in E-16-4 at Ft. Knox 1964! small world ...What were your years?
 
DGM said:
Late 72. Were you in the new concrete buildings? I was grateful not to be in the old WWII structures.
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Actually both! Started out in the old barracks, and was changed to the brick ones a few weeks later! That was where I was when they were filming for the movie "Goldfinger"! Did you see my post about that?
 
One of my memories of boot camp was that we were holed up in the barracks for weeks. I believe we only got leave for a few hours only after a straight two months of being isolated. Being all males, there wasn't a female in site. UNTIL, someone noticed a secretary leaving an office at 5 PM. So she was close to retiring age And we could barely see her. She was so far away.. It didn't stop everybody waiting for 5 PM to watch her. The whole company lined up at the window. She never knew how much she filled mens' souls.
 
oldman said:
Something that I often wondered about, did everyone in the Navy end up on a boat, ship, Sub or any type of vehicle on the water? My nephew retired from the Navy as an LCAC Commander. After being home a few months, he became bored, so he got a job with USF. (University of Southern Florida) His job is to pilot a boat out into the Gulf with USF students onboard that are studying to become a Marine Biologist. Pretty cool, I thought.
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We had a corpsman on my ship that had 15 years in and that was the first ship he was assigned to. Before that he was assigned to the marines.
 
I believe the Navy has a policy of 2years on land, and two years at sea. But not everybody can fit on a ship. So, it's sometimes 2 years in the US, and two years at a non US base. I was in the US Navy and never set foot on a ship, but I was stationed in Cuba for about 1+ years
I felt bad for the guys , who had families. That being away for that long, even with leaves, really kills marriages. The wives, and husbands of servicemen, also are in the Navy by way of marriage. their lives are governed by the service, too.
BTW, I won't lie to you. After the Tet Offenses, my draft board wanted me. I figured a nice thick battleship, 50 miles off shore was a good place to be. So I joined the US Navy as a Corpsman, that's when I found out the Marines don't have a medical section, they use Navy Corpsman. There were 80 guys in my Corps school company. 77 went to FMS-Fleet Marine School ( battle field medicine), so in 60 days you were in a rice paddy. At that time, almost every corpsman was going to FMS.
 
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Since I was granted a direct commission we did not go through basic training in the Air Force. However, all new medical officers did have to do 6 weeks of what was called Officer's Indoctrination. That consisted of lectures on how to become ladies and gentlemen of the Officer ranks. This all took place in Montgomery, AL and since it was Sept., it was extremely hot and humid. But, we had to learn to march since we did honor returning heroes from the Korean War. I already knew how to do all this since I was in the high school band and our band master had been in charge of his army unit's band. Thus, we were drilled like new recruits. We also had lectures and saw documentaries on what was not acceptable behavior during war time, according to the Geneva Convention. We had a great time though as across the city was another AFB and the pilots would come over from there and take us out and party with us. Actually, the Air Force is considered the ladies' and gentleman's service and is considered one big country club. It is in reality a very serious and vital part of our military.
 
Keesha said:
While I never went to boot camp my husband did. He was 17.

One of the training tests was to jump off a 10 foot diving board with full combat uniform and he didn’t know how to swim. Someone threw in a life ring that landed about 25 feet away. When they realized he was literally drowning they jumped in and saved him. The moment he got out he had to do 50 push-ups.

At his graduation his platoon gave him a present which he had to open up in front of everyone.

It was a set water wings . 😂😅
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hahahaaaaaa!!!! When I was in boot camp, one of the last things we had to do was something called "slide for life". Basically what we call Zip Lining today. I'm deathly afraid of heights and refused to do it. They threatened to kick me out (was less than a week from graduation), and I said Do it! They didn't, and neither did they kick out the other 10 men and women who refused to do it either. This was back in 1981 and our female platoon was the last to do bootcamp WITH the guys, as in side by side. Sure they could kick our butt in the strength field, but we kicked theirs in stamina forced marches and drill and ceremony, and many times in marksmanship! So it all worked out!
 

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