The following is my recollection of my time at Basic Training, the Security Police Academy at Lackland AFB, and the three weeks at Camp Bullis:
08OCT75 - In Nashville, TN, I report early to the Armed Forces Entrance and Examination Station (AFEES) to go into the Air Force. A Marine Captain administers the oath. He had a stoic look on his face, like his face would crack if he smiled. As I recall, we swore to defend the Constitution, to obey our commanding officers, and to obey the Commander in Chief. An older recruit is given the paper work for me and another young man from Tennessee. We fly together (through Atlanta of course) and pick up a connecting (charter) flight to San Antonio, TX, and Lackland AFB.
We arrive at Basic Training as "rainbows" (nickname for new recruits because everyone is wearing different color clothing) late at night. The Training Instructors (TI) are Sgt Carter and Sgt Aldridge. We are kept up until 0200 to learn how to make a bunk with hospital corners, and absolutely NO sheet material hanging down. We are told that we are wasting our time because all of training will be for naught.
The next day we are told that we are "lower than whale s**t" by some CMSgt who is giving us a "reality" non-pep talk. Another sergeant tells us that although we might think we joined during "peace time", we had better think again. He tells us about the SPs from Thailand who responded to the seizing of the U.S.S. Mayaguez in the spring of that year. They were "safe" in Thailand. They were deployed. They all died when their helicopter crashed in transit to combat. He now has our attention.
15OCT75 - First week is over, and I've grown accustomed to the routine. At 0600 hours each morning, someone in an office downstairs will key the microphone and say, "It's 0600 dorm guard. Get 'em up!". After undergoing the operant conditioning of that for a few days, I would wake up as soon as the sergeant turned on the PA system. You could hear the "click" and "hum" of the PA warming up, and I would wake up before the announcement.
22OCT75 - By the third week some of the recruits have already been "set back" or "washed out". A young man from Tennessee who flew on the same flight with me and another recruit from the AFEES is assigned to my flight. He gets set back one week, and I hear through the "grapevine" that he gets set back another week. Don't know if he washed out.
29OCT75 - Sometime about this fourth week I got sick with a fever of 103 degrees. I am sent to the infirmary to segregate me from the others. The rule in effect was that if you lost more than three (3) days of basic training, you would be set back two weeks. On the third day my fever had still not broken, so as the medic was making his rounds to take our temperature, I put a piece of ice in my mouth and let it slowly melt. The medic arrived and placed the thermometer in my mouth. "Amazing Airman Brown! Not only has your fever come down, it's actually a little below normal". I think he knew what I had done, but he released me back to my unit nonetheless.
06NOV75 - We're in the home stretch now. Week 5. We've gone through the memorization drills of reciting the Chain of Command all the way from our TI to the Lieutenant to the unit commander, additional generals, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense, and finishing with President Ford. We go to the "Confidence Course". Now, those of you who did basic in the Army, Marines, or Navy, us Air Force Airman Basics had it easy. The longest run we had was only 1.5 miles long. We didn't go through an "Obstacle Course", like I said, it was a "Confidence Course". I barely made it through. I had to stop and puke a couple of times. Just like in high school football (I would learn years later that my hiatal hernia caused me to barf when running fast).
13NOV75 - Last week (#6). Everyone is very relaxed. We know we've just about made it. We were sitting around talking with Sgt Aldridge (who I ran into around 1977 in Montgomery, AL, where he was seeking a commission at Alabama State University). One of the "slick sleeves" was making a point about something, and he said to Sgt Aldridge something like, "Hey man! That's not true!". Sgt Aldridge immediately shot back, "'Man'?!? Who you calling 'Man', man?!?", to which the recruit responded, "Aw, man, sorry about that! But I wasn't talking to you, man. I was talking to the other man, man." We recruits all started laughing, and Sgt Aldridge could not contain the big grin on his face, so he just let it slide.
On our last couple of days, we assemble for one last time with that CMSgt who had told us how low we were. He reminds us that although we are about out of basic, we are not out of the military. He tells the tale of a young Airman Basic who, fresh out of basic and now in Tech School, is walking down the road one day. A general's car passes with the stars clearly displayed on the vehicle flag. The airman fails to salute. The general stops and inquires as to why. The airman basic says something about "all that saluting" was just for basic training. The young man was reassigned to go through ALL SIX weeks of basic training all over again.
Years later, when walking from my barracks to my job location, I would pass a three-star general who was driving to Air University HQ. I always sharply saluted him, and he always returned my salute.
20NOV75 - After six weeks, I've finally made it. I vividly remember sitting on the bus which was en route to the SP Academy (also on Lackland), and looking back at the dorms. I saw a group of "rainbows" being marched around, and I thought about what they were about to go through. I'm glad I did it. Wouldn't want to do it again. But would if called upon to serve once again.
End of Part 1 of 3. Next, the SP Academy at Lackland...
