Fifty years ago today I took the first of several significant steps in my life. At 0600 hours (that's 6AM to you civilians) my parents drove me to the Military Examination and Processing Station in Raleigh, NC where I raised my hand and took the Oath of Enlistment in the United States Air Force. A few hours later I was on an airplane headed to San Antonio, Texas for Basic Training. For reasons unknown to me to this very day it took all damned day and most of the night to get there, arriving at San Antonio International Airport at around 2200 hours (10PM). The group of around 50 guys I was with were herded onto a bus and driven onto the base where we were dropped off at the Reception Center for inprocessing and assignment to a Basic Military Training Squadron (BMTS).
There are two things I remember very vividly about the Reception Center. The first is that the inside of the building was cold as hell, the coldest room I'd ever felt outside of a meat locker. I was wearing a pair of polyester pants (shut up, this was the '70s after all) and a t-shirt, so I was freezing my ass off.
The second thing I remember is that the staff sergeant behind the counter who was processing us in was a total asshole. My guess is that he wanted to be a Military Training Instruct but couldn't meet the requirements, so he just decided he'd take it out on the new recruits. When it was my turn to be called up to the counter to be assigned a squadron and flight, he asked me what my social security number was. When I told him I didn't know, he just about lost his shit. He told me that I should have it memorized, berating me for not having done it already. I didn't help things any when I told him that my social security number was on my orders that he was holding in his hand. You can guess where things went from there.
So I was assigned to Flight 0665 of the 3704BMTS along with about six others in my group. Then we were all herded back onto the bus and taken to the 3707BMTS which is where the 24 hour Dining Hall was located. We were fed and then taken to our respective squadrons. The 3707 was located on "Hotel Row," which was called that because there were 4 BMTS dorms lined up in a row, with the squadrons being the 3704, 3707, 3711, and 3703BMTS. The 3704BMTS was at the head of Hotel Row with the 3703 being at the end closest to the back gate of the base. Me and 54 other "rainbows" (the term used to refer to new recruits still in their civilian clothes) were taken to the 3704BMTS where we were put in a classroom to await the arrival of our Military Training Instructor.
This room was almost as cold as the Reception Center, but in spite of the cold the fact that it was close to 0100 hours and I was tired as hell, I fell asleep in the desk I was sitting in. I don't know how long I was asleep but when the MTI came in he made damn sure to wake everyone up and get our attention.
From my later experiences as an MTI myself, I've come to realize that somewhere along the line somebody fucked up our reception at the squadron. I say this for two reasons: first, the MTI who picked us up from the classroom was NOT the MTI who was assigned to my flight, and second, they put us in a classroom to begin with. The way it was supposed to go was the rainbows were supposed to be put in a flight formation outside of the building and then the roll was called by the instructors assigned to that flight. This didn't happen with my flight, and we didn't meet our instructor (Sgt Stephen Bong) until the next day. Sgt Bong was the Team Member; our Team Chief was SSgt James R. Schraeder, who was on leave and didn't return until a week later.
I think it was around 0200 or 0300 hours before we finally got to bed, and I slept like a rock. They woke us up around 1000 hours and fed us again, then it was off to haircuts and clothing issue.
My training had officially begun.
My initial plan was to go in the Air Force, do my 4 years, then get out and get a job with the North Carolina Highway Patrol. 22 years, 9 months, and 17 days later I retired from the Air Force as a Master Sergeant of Security Police. Along the way I was a Military Training Instructor assigned to the 3711BMTS from October 1982 to November 1986. This was easily the best 4 years of my career, hands down.
Now, 50 years later, I look back on all this and smile. Joining the Air Force was one of the two best decisions I ever made with my life, and I don't regret it a bit. I'd do it all again if I could, without hesitation.
I just can't believe it's been FIFTY YEARS. Damn, where did the time go?
AIM HIGH.
Deo Vinice
IHC
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