When I was first assigned to the 3711th BMTS as an MTI, the squadron was co-ed. This was a big change for me because when I went through BMTS a short 7 years earlier in 1975 the squadrons were segregated by sex. The squadrons were either all male or all female, and never the twain shall meet. (Except on Base Liberty and Town Pass, that is!) So it took me a little getting used to, especially when the second flight I was assigned to was a female flight. But I had a good teacher with that flight (not as good as Pat Barrett, but still good) and caught on pretty quickly.
Fast forward a year. It's the 15th DOT (Day of Training) out of a 30 day training schedule, which means the flight is half finished. The MTI has become pretty familiar with the flight and vice-versa, and the yelling on the part of the MTI has diminished to commands on the drill field as this was the only time it was necessary now. The 15th DOT also meant a formal Open Ranks Inspection, and since I had the duty that afternoon and the inspection was schedule for 1300 hours (1PM for you civilians), I was the one doing it.
I was working the afternoon shift because the night before I had Charge of Quarters duty and spent the morning sleeping. The CQ is an MTI who stays in the squadron overnight since regulations required there to be at least one permanent party member in the squadron area at all times. The CQ has two runners assigned to him from one of the senior flights, and these two runners would change out every 2 hours. The CQ had to wait for at least an hour after Lights Out before he could go to bed himself, and during that time period he was required to make at least one walking tour of the outside of the building. I would also use that time to listen in on the intercom system to see if any of the flights were staying up after Lights Out to work on the dorm, shine shoes, iron uniforms, etc.
I was working in Dorm A-4 at the time, and in that dorm the intercom box was right over the Dorm Guard stand, which was right next to the entrance door to the dorm. The Dorm Guard is the airman who controls access to the dorm as the door doesn't open from the outside. If your name isn't on the Entry Authority List or if you don't have an Access Authority badge, you're not getting in the dorm. Period. This was done for the safety of the flights, and it worked VERY well. The Dorm Guard also served as a fire watch, making a tour of the inside of the building once an hour for their 2 hour shift.
When I turned on the intercom for my dorm the first thing I heard was the two Dorm Guards talking in hushed voices. I had a female flight at the time, and when the flight members were the opposite sex from the MTI they were required to post two Dorm Guards as to prevent the trainees from being alone in the dorm with an MTI of the opposite sex (for obvious reasons). I wasn't all that surprised to hear them talking about me, but I was kind of surprised at the conversation. It went something like this:
First trainee: "So I wonder what kind of lingerie SSgt Craig likes?"
Second trainee: "I don't know. Do you think he likes lacy things?"
First trainee: "What man doesn't?" followed by some light giggling.
Second trainee: "I wonder if he likes red?"
First trainee: "I don't know, but I've got a set of red lingerie that would knock his socks off!" More giggling.
That was about the time that I turned the intercom off to keep the trainees from hearing me laughing. I recognized the voices so I knew who the trainees were; my big challenge was going to resist the temptation to let them know I had overheard them - at least until after the evening meal on the last day of training before they shipped out, that is.
I held out until the next afternoon during the Open Ranks Inspection.
When you conduct an Open Ranks Inspection, the MTI's procedures are to march over to the first airman, do a left face to face them, look them over slowly from head to toe and make corrections along the way, then cut an abrupt right face, step over to the next airman, and cut a left face to face them. That process is repeated down the squad until you get to the end, then you march to the head of the next squad and repeat it.
So when I found myself standing in front of the First Trainee, I gave in to temptation. The Second Trainee was standing behind her and one person to the right, so I could see both of them. I looked the First Trainee over very slowly from head to toe, dragging it out on purpose. Then I lifted my head, looked her square in the eyes, and in a voice just loud enough to where the Second Trainee could hear, I simply said "I love red." I immediately cut a right face to move on to the next airman, but not so fast as I didn't see the First Trainee's eyes go wide and almost pop out of her head. The Second Trainee had just about the same reaction, and she was visibly shaking when I got to her. I said nothing, which only confused her more.
Fast forward to the evening of the 30th DOT. The flight has been fed and is in the Dayroom for the final mail call, and I'm doing what I always did on that evening - I'm taking questions about BMTS from the trainees, the questions that they wanted to ask but didn't dare while training was going on.
As soon as I sat down (which I NEVER did in the Dayroom except on the last night of training) and opened the floor up to questions, the First Trainee raised her hand and stood up when I recognized her.
"Sir, I only have one question for you - how did you know?" she asked. The rest of the flight knew by this time what had happened, and they were just as curious as she was.
"Well, you may not remember this, but I was the CQ the night that conversation took place."
"Yes, sir, I remember that, sir."
"Well, you know that the CQ always listens in on the flights after lights out, right?"
"Yes, sir, we suspected as much, sir."
"Well, we do. And where did this conversation take place?"
"At the Dorm Guard stand, sir."
"So just where is the intercom box located?" The dawn of realization came over the trainee's face.
"Over the dorm guard stand. Oh, shit!" The flight couldn't help but laugh at her, and one of the trainees called out, "See, I told you so!"
In the 18 months that my squadron was co-ed and out of the many times I had CQ duty, this was the only time something like this happened. But I think once is enough!
Maybe one day I'll tell you about the 'presents' that female flights would leave behind for the male MTIs when they shipped out after training.
Use your imagination.
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