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We were moved from the replacement company to our training unit after evening chow, so the drills had several hours to scream at us before lights out. There was one great big farm boy named Jamie in my platoon, and this guy was 6'8" and 300#, EASY. He was just a giant of a guy; his parents probably fed him mashed potatoes and gravy in his baby bottle.
Anyway, one of our drill sergeants was a really nasty, vicious so-and-so. He's got us all on line, standing at attention, and he's strolling up and down in front of us, looking for things about each recruit that he can use to rag on them. Then he gets to Jamie.
He stops. And he looks for a minute. And he starts to laugh.
"IDENTIFY YOURSELF, PRIVATE!"
Jamie shouted his name and home town (he was from Oklahoma, IIRC).
"GOOD GOD, SON, THEY NEVER HAD TO CALL YOU TWICE TO SUPPER, DID THEY?"
Most of the platoon lost it and burst out laughing at that point, so the drills PTd the living daylights out of us.
We were moved from the replacement company to our training unit after evening chow, so the drills had several hours to scream at us before lights out. There was one great big farm boy named Jamie in my platoon, and this guy was 6'8" and 300#, EASY. He was just a giant of a guy; his parents probably fed him mashed potatoes and gravy in his baby bottle.
Anyway, one of our drill sergeants was a really nasty, vicious so-and-so. He's got us all on line, standing at attention, and he's strolling up and down in front of us, looking for things about each recruit that he can use to rag on them. Then he gets to Jamie.
He stops. And he looks for a minute. And he starts to laugh.
"IDENTIFY YOURSELF, PRIVATE!"
Jamie shouted his name and home town (he was from Oklahoma, IIRC).
"GOOD GOD, SON, THEY NEVER HAD TO CALL YOU TWICE TO SUPPER, DID THEY?"
Most of the platoon lost it and burst out laughing at that point, so the drills PTd the living daylights out of us.
Hilarious! Those were my memories of AF BMT, being amused at the interactions between the TI's and the trainees. I laughed (in my head of course) the entire 6 weeks I was there. I kept a very low profile, helped I was the shortest in my flight. But I thought my TI's were just straight up comedians. They really didn't scare me too much actually. I had the best TI training from my own Mother, SHE was scary. One of the memories I have is this girl "fainting" in formation one day. The TI walked over to her as she's on the ground and stomps his boot down near her head. She flinched. He's then standing over her screaming at her to get up. She finally did and was promptly escorted over to the med hold never to be heard from again. Ahhhh, AF BMT in the late 90's...total summer camp!
We were moved from the replacement company to our training unit after evening chow, so the drills had several hours to scream at us before lights out. There was one great big farm boy named Jamie in my platoon, and this guy was 6'8" and 300#, EASY. He was just a giant of a guy; his parents probably fed him mashed potatoes and gravy in his baby bottle.
Anyway, one of our drill sergeants was a really nasty, vicious so-and-so. He's got us all on line, standing at attention, and he's strolling up and down in front of us, looking for things about each recruit that he can use to rag on them. Then he gets to Jamie.
He stops. And he looks for a minute. And he starts to laugh.
"IDENTIFY YOURSELF, PRIVATE!"
Jamie shouted his name and home town (he was from Oklahoma, IIRC).
"GOOD GOD, SON, THEY NEVER HAD TO CALL YOU TWICE TO SUPPER, DID THEY?"
Most of the platoon lost it and burst out laughing at that point, so the drills PTd the living daylights out of us.
I spilled my morning coffee laughing. Thanks for sharing.
My basic training at Ft. Ord was the usual breakdown of the individual to conform to a team, but it wasn't too bad, not like boot camp for a buddy of mine who joined the Marines. All the running was getting tiresome, until i noticed that all the cadre ran, too, and they never seemed to be out of breath, tired, ready to collapse, so I started watching what they did, and discovered the secret, which is; don't lift your knees or pump your arms, just lean forward and shuffle. You can go a long time just doing that without even breathing hard, but you're keeping up.
Ha-Ha! No names, but I still remember one of them, a black E6 who stayed in the army so his ex-wife couldn't get any of his pay or benefits. He loved Old Grand Dad bourbon, a lot.
Hilarious! Those were my memories of AF BMT, being amused at the interactions between the TI's and the trainees. I laughed (in my head of course) the entire 6 weeks I was there. I kept a very low profile, helped I was the shortest in my flight. But I thought my TI's were just straight up comedians. They really didn't scare me too much actually. I had the best TI training from my own Mother, SHE was scary. One of the memories I have is this girl "fainting" in formation one day. The TI walked over to her as she's on the ground and stomps his boot down near her head. She flinched. He's then standing over her screaming at her to get up. She finally did and was promptly escorted over to the med hold never to be heard from again. Ahhhh, AF BMT in the late 90's...total summer camp!
Not IET, but your description of your mother hit a note for me. When my BF (now DH) he was scared stupid to meet my relatives. My dad was on the short side (6'6 285 lbs), but my uncles and cousins were also there (they ranged from 6'6 to 7'3) and all the uncles and a couple of cousins had been or were AD.
I told him not to worry about the men. But he needed to be deathly afraid of the 5'3 102 lbs chihuahua by my dad's side. He quickly knew I was correct 10 minutes into the visit. He is STILL afraid of her or almost 36 years now.
I have often mused that she would've been an awesome weapon against our enemies.
For those looking for platoon pictures, check out Military Yearbook Project. https://militaryyearbookproject.org/ Unfortunately, it seems like the site is down more often than it's up recently. They have a yearbook section but it's pretty sparse. Platoon pictures are by far the most populated. Keep in mind that they only have pics that people have been kind enough to upload. So if you have your platoon picture, please consider making a high quality scan (they don't accept junk) and uploading it to their site. You don't need to be a member (which is free and easy anyway) to upload pictures. They also have a facebook group.
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