Fifty years ago today was my first Day Of Training (DOT) in Air Force Basic Military Training (BMT). This was after having spent the last 4 days running around in the same clothes that I had left home in, sitting in the dorm for hours reading our Student Study Guide (SSG), being taught how to make beds and clean the dorm, anything to keep us busy until our training started.
My experience in BMT was different than most, because my flight was one of the few where the recruits didn't all arrive within 12 hours of each other. The way it works most of the time is that you get your first group of trainees around midnight or later, and for the next few hours they'd show up in dribs and drabs. But all of them would be there within 12 hours, and as soon as the last group showed up the clock would start ticking on when you could begin training. BMTS regulations required that the flight be given 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep after the last group arrived, so if your flight closed out (meaning the last group had arrived) at 4AM then you couldn't do anything with them until noon. The first thing you'd do is feed them, and then it was off to haircuts and Clothing Issue, which would take up the rest of the day.
My flight was the exception to the rule in that it took two days for all of the recruits to arrive, with the last ones not showing up until Friday night. This meant that since BMT didn't train on the weekend it was going to be two more days until our training would begin on Monday. And since our recruiters had told us not to pack anything but our shaving gear, none of us had any clean clothing for the entire weekend. Trust me when I tell you that by Monday morning the civilian clothing we were in was starting to get a little gamey. San Antonio in June, remember.
So at 0500 hours (5AM to you civilians) my flight was awakened by Reveille blaring over the loudspeakers with Sgt Bong walking up and down the center aisle of the dorm shouting for us to 'get up, get dressed, and get downstairs in flight formation!'
There are a couple of things I remember about that first day, with the first one being getting our hair cuts. I was a Proficiency Advance Candidate which meant that because I had previous military experience (Civil Air Patrol) I was eligible to bypass basic training, so I didn't get the normal buzz cut. I got a regulation 35-10 haircut along with the other 5 PA candidates while the rest of the flight got a buzz cut. (I failed the Bypass Test a week later and got my buzz cut first thing after that.)
I don't remember much about clothing issue, but I certainly remember the long march back to the squadron area carrying that heavy as hell duffle bag slung over one shoulder. By this time it was early afternoon and it was hotter than hell, so we were all sweating and struggling with those damned duffle bags. The smell of new cotton fatigues was overwhelming, and the dorm would smell like that for the next week. We stopped off at the mini BX on the way to purchase some stuff we'd need - like a padlock for our security drawer, a flashlight with a yellow cone on the end (the infamous Lackland Laser), and whatever shaving/personal hygiene items we needed. Then it was back to the dorm to learn how to display our uniforms - after we went on a 'tag and thread hunt.' We had to check every pocket of every garment for those insidious little white inspection tags, taking them out and throwing them away. Then we had to cut every loose hanging thread off of every seam of every garment, being told NOT to burn them off with a lighter because that would set the dorm on fire.
If you think this was a time-consuming process, you're right. But we only had to do it once - at least until the 15th DOT when we were issued our khaki uniforms and our dress blues.
That's right, khaki. The Air Force was just making the transition from khakis to blues when I enlisted, so I was issued two sets of khakis and one set of blues. Personally I liked the khakis better, but they didn't hold a crease worth a damn.
By the end of the first day we were all exhausted, and I slept like a rock that night. Tomorrow was a new day, the 2nd DOT, which meant Medical/Dental Processing.
I still can't believe it's been fifty years.
Deo Vindice
IHC
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