Boot camp memories (Army, Navy, credit, training)

[Monello]

I come from a long line of Army. Dad, uncles, brothers, etc. I go to the recruiting station to see the Army guy. Dude is out of the office. The Navy guy says he'll be back soon. States that he is very busy and it's best to get an appointment. He asks if I want to set up an appointment. I agree. He gives me a form and says to sign it at the bottom. Asks me if 1400 is convenient for me. I tell him I'm not falling for that 1400 stuff as there is no 1400 on the clock. He says how about 2pm? I say that will work.

I sign the form them start to walk away. He asks me where I'm going. I shrug and say Iddonno. Then he says that I can't go anywhere since I have just enlisted in the Navy. I'm like what the ... Anyway he says the bus will be here in 30 minutes and my ass better be on it. On the bus we go.

Next thing I remember was a gate closing then some yelling. The bus stops, the door opens then more yelling. People go running to line up. The yelling increases. We are given clothes. The yellers catch their breath. Make a bed and get in it. Mild yelling with ample threats for misbehaving.

Short nap followed by trash can alarm clock. More yelling. Oh look, SOS for breakfast. I put a few cracker packets in my pocket for later. I moistened the crackers slightly then molded them into little dough balls. I put a ball in each ear. The yelling now became tolerable. I even dreamed that I was being yelled at.

At medical they gave me a hearing test. I failed. I said it was because of all the yelling. The ear tech yelled back "What yelling"? I said you're yelling. He claimed he wasn't. We went back and forth for a while disagreeing as to what constituted yelling. He told me to wait 1. So I did. He returned with some cracker packets. Told me to wet them then put them in my ears like plugs. I still failed the hearing test.

When I retook the hearing test I was instructed to watch the test proctor. When he gave me the thumbs up, I was to push the button. Then when he stopped I was to release the button. I passed with 20/20 hearing.

I became good friends with that corpsman. When I graduated, he fixed me up with his girlfriend's best friend, Velveeta. I had a good time. I asked Velveeta to marry me. Then I heard the words that no man ever wants to hear.

"I really like you, and we've had ourselves some really great times, but I thought you understood. I want to marry a pilot. I want to live my life overseas... the wife of an aviator!"

When I went home on leave, I visited my recruiter. I washed out his coffee cup when he wasn't looking. That will teach him

[johngolf]

My strongest Boot Camp memory (1961) is arriving somewhere about 3AM at Great Lakes Naval Training and being dumped in a massive drill hall with hundreds of bunks. I was told find one and get some sleep. The next morning they woke us at about 5:30am and there were hundreds of us all looking to pee. It was a horror show and I said to myself, I think I made a bad decision.

We were lead off to a dining hall for breakfast. They had everything one could want to eat. Things started looking better. The rest of Boot Camp went by fairly easy.

[DanBev]

Bainbridge Maryland March 1954,a cold muddy mess,doing guard duty of a rubbish barrel,boot camp and doing laundry with a scrub brush.

[Kermorvan]

I reported to MEPS and was put up in a hotel overnight in Minneapolis before flying out to South Carolina (via Atlanta) the next day. I have to give the Army credit -- they went above and beyond in contracting with the worst hotel imaginable. I have often skimped by staying in really cheap lodgings, but I have never encountered a hotel as bad as that place. That government contract must've saved some serious taxpayer money.

And that night in that hotel room before shipping out, I also developed an intense lifelong aversion to lime vodka.

Then -- more Army brilliance -- an hours-long layover at Hartsfield such that despite an early morning departure, we still arrived after dark (in June!) at Fort Jackson. Off to the cafeteria! Worst meal I've ever had, and they finally let use get to bed around 2 am... and a 4 am wake-up!

Then, a full day of being maniacally harried from point A to point B so we could stand in line for 45 minutes before whatever had to happen, happened. Rinse and repeat for about 15 hours.

Major WTF moment...

[Southern man]

Jan, 1957, Fort Chaffee, Ark. I had been there about a week, had not started training yet, just received our issue. Thru the grapevine, we knew that the day before you went up on the hill to begin training, you pulled KP.

When my time arrived, we were woke up at 3:00 am and marched to the BN Mess hall. Between dish washing, garbage detail, moving every table and chair to one side of the dining room, washing and mopping the floor and repeating this for each meal, peeling a mountain of potatoes and cracking a barrel of eggs, I concluded it was the absolute worst day of my life I had made a horrible mistake joining the Army.

I got back to the barracks around 2 am and got volunteered to buff the floors of the orderly room. I finally got back in the bunk at about 3am and got woke again at 5 am to begin training. After that day basic training was fairly easy.

[Taiko]

1982. We were on a night range firing M16s full auto for the only time when the mosquitoes found us. Like they were waiting for it the Drill Sergeants fell on those not on the firing line and ordered us to stand at attention. I stood there fuming and thinking that I saw the sand fleas where Jack Webb in the D.I. pulled that stunt too

[Listener2307]

1963. Navy.
It was a perfect fit for me. I was a little better than most at all the military stuff. My childhood had been one of poverty and lack. It was the first time I ever played on a level playing field and I excelled. I was recommended for Washington DC honor guard.

Stayed in 9 years.

[msgsing]

60’s Vietnam time. Arriving at MCRD San Diego in the middle of the night and standing on the iconic yellow foot prints. Old Corps boot camp was hands on and physical. We even had a DI who would go on to be a celebrity. R. Lee Ermey who was in Full Metal Jacket and other films. Our training time was shortened to only 8 weeks because of the war.

[WRM20]

Enlisted in the USAF and went to Lackland in January of 1986. I was older than all but one other trainee, I was 26. We arrived in San Antonio, got taken to Lackland and rode around on a bus for 30 minutes(I figured out a couple of days later that the real distance was about 3 minutes), and hopped off the bus at the dorm. Lots of verbal abuse, USAF TI's weren't allowed to force trainees to do any physical stuff then, but they were masters of the mental game. The then told all of us that TI's were, by definition, always right, and not to correct them.

Next came roll call, where the highlight was Puerto Rican kid who corrected the TI's mispronunciation of his name 3 times. That was entertaining... I knew from being around military guys that basic is a game where the rules aren't always explained up front, but figuring them out puts you at an advantage, that none of the TI abuse was personal, you were an object lesson for everyone else, and that you should always try to make a small mistake regularly so the TI's don't think you are trying to show them up.

We arrived on the Friday before MLK day, and had the joy of 3 zero days that didn't count. We got pretty good at making beds and folding clothes. Doing either for 8 hours a day is a lot of practice.

I enjoyed basic up to teh point my left knee went back to it's old ways and I couldn't walk. I was discharged for medical reasons on the day my flight graduated. That was actually sort of depressing.

[victimofGM]

1990, Orlando Florida Navy, February. Guy ran away, was caught, brought back, and his new name was Dunaway Runaway. Loved firefighting training, hated the gas chamber.