(07-12-2023, 07:07 AM)727Sky Wrote:(07-11-2023, 10:26 PM)dbcowboy Wrote: I entered Basic in 1981. Air Force.Basic In the summer of 1967 where salt tablets were issued at Ft. Polk La. and one Korean drill Sargent was the terror of the base. Thankfully he was not my Platoon Drill Sargent but close enough to observe . He got busted down one stripe as he insisted all his Platoon were no better than trash so he had them all climb into a big stinky dumpster. Then he told them on the count of 3 the last people out of the dumpster would spend the rest of the day with some real quality time with him. At least one Broken Collar Bone, one arm, and no telling what else happened which did not set well with trying to get people to Nam.
My youngest son is graduating from Air Force Basic in two weeks.
We've talked a couple times.
The differences are astounding.
It was a different world back then...there were other things of course but time has faded those memories.. I do remember when someone did not salute correctly he would grab the thumb of the offending trainee and bend it in a way that had them on their knees in pain.. His platoon had some snappy good looking salutes I will say ! Sometime later a rule was passed that said a Drill Sargent could not touch a trainee without permission so always being a rule kinda guy he would ask first before twisting a guys thumb off. The most terrifying words at the base became "May I touch you"!
I had gone to a military academy which was worse than the real military ever put out.. so basic to me other than the heat (I was a squad leader) was not that big of a deal as I knew how to play the game. Then off to 6 weeks of B.S. preflight training where sleep deprivation and officer training went hand in hand before actual flight training began. I learned how to sleep at parade rest (no shit)!
Auhhhh those were the days !!
I can see this. I joined at 15 old. Graduated at 16 years. 12 months of basic boot camp training. Dawn till dusk. Each day. Yelled at constantly. Even the lowest rank (basically everyone) was referred to as 'sir' by me as a junior recruit. Only saluted officer types. I feared the gunnery officer.
Trained and educated in everything I could imagine. After graduating I went to my assigned rating that was not my preference but similar. Spent 3 months assimilation then another 9 months training before trusted with the task of maintaining, electrically and manually arming of aircraft. Served my nine years abroad and locally.
You know what? The UN determined that 'child soldiers' were not to be trained. The program was terminated in line with the UN so young people could not be taught basics at such a young age. That's government for you. They took the bended knee.
How long ago? For the first 6 months we trained with vintage WW2 .303 rifles and bayonets then we later trusted with 7.62 SLR and bayonets for the next 6 months. I still have the pics including flying back seat in TA4 Skyhawk and S2E Tracker. (I always got sick in the Hawk.) but this is what discipline as a mid teen did for me and I and the others who went through the same extremes are a solid group and are proud of our initial service that was better than any schooling.
I ended up as an instructor and the drill and parade commander for a police force.
But this isn't about me. Its about the service and the quantity of self discipline and respect that was instilled into me by that organisation at a young age.
Kind regards,
Bally