Boomers Blog

It was the summer of my 17th year, I was fresh out of high school, and headed for boot camp in the Air Force.  I flew down to the bowels of Texas, yes, I said bowels.  That August the heat was so unbearable, most days we couldn't run, and if we were lucky..march.  My first memory of this adventure was on a slab of concrete.  As we stood there, still in our civilian clothes...'civies' they called them, suitcases by our side, I remember thinking "how can it be so hot, and the sun not be out?."  The sun had been gone for hours.  It was then that we were enlightened by the screaming of our drill sargent....up-in-your-face-screaming ....the first of many.  While he commanded us to stand at attention, and not move...I can still remember the feeling of that bug, crawling up the pantleg of my worn, faded, beige cords.  It then bit me, much to my displeasure....and I did not move an inch....for fear of attracting attention....recieving more screaming.  Yup....Welcome to the Air Force!!

     The weeks ahead were basically uneventful, short of the fact that eight days after my arrival, my father, who had been sick, passed away.  I returned home on emergency leave for eight days. When I returned, I was forced to start over again with another set of recruits, for my flight was too far ahead for me to catch up.   Days were spent in the classroom, learning military procedures, outside with the obstacle course and such,  and on that concrete slab.  If you are familar with the saying 'hurry up and wait', well, the military invented that.  I think we spent more time at attention on that concrete slab, then anywhere else.  On this slab there was one area off to the side that was a large square, maybe 12X12 or so.  If you were a smoker, you were permitted to go into this square, freely wander around, and smoke.  If you didn't smoke, you remained at attention, in formation, and did not move.  Hmmm....well, I had made it through school, with all the peer pressure and such, and never smoked.....but this was just a little much for me....thanks to Uncle Sam I now smoked, and continued to do so for 15 years.   That's about it for boot camp....next we move on to Technical Training.......  

I have decided to write about my adventure, my military adventure.  Could prove to be interesting....more later.