Air Force Basic Training

October 10th, 1969, was a very big day in my life. It was the day I took my first airplane ride. It was the day I was finally free of the problems at home. It was the day I joined the Air Force.

I was sworn-in, along with a group of other young people, at the Pittsburgh Military Recruiting Center. We went in a bus to the Pittsburgh International Airport and got on the plane. I remember sitting in the rear of the airplane, on the right side, by the window. I had a clear view of the clouds and ground.

I was dating Kathleen (Kathy) Bozman at this time. I remember writing a letter to her while I was on that first airplane flight. I was awe-inspired to be able to look out the window of the plane and see the tops of the clouds. I remember describing them to her. I told her they were so white and fluffy. It looked like I was looking down on a vast field of fluffy cotton.

We got to San Antonio Airport late in the evening and to Lackland Air Force Base well after dark. The Military Training Instructor (known to all basic trainees at “The T.I.”) came onto our bus as soon as we stopped on the base. He began screaming at us immediately. None of us knew what to expect so we just grabbed our bags and ran out of the bus. He told us to “form up” in a line with our suitcases in front of us. We all tried to look military but we were just a bunch of scared young men in civilian clothes standing in the dark and being yelled at. The T.I. went up and down the line and yelled at anyone who hadn’t placed his suitcase directly in front of himself. Welcome to basic training!

Our bus had stopped in front of a chow hall (that’s a place to eat for those of you who were never in the military). The T.I. told us to go inside, get a tray, go through the line, tell the chow hall workers what we wanted, and then sit down and eat. He told us we had twenty minutes. I was near the end of the line. The food actually looked good and I took quite a bit. About two minutes after I sat down and started to eat the T.I. began yelling for us to quickly get back on the bus. He was standing near me so I told him I hadn’t had time to eat. He said that was too bad and that I had to get back on the bus. I told him I thought we had twenty minutes to eat. He yelled that the whole group had only twenty minutes to eat and that I’d better get my ……. er…ah….self back on the bus. I did.