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After dinner that first night, it was back to the barracks to prepare our footlockers and living area.
Crawford took charge and coached everyone through how to set up our footlockers so that uniformity was established. The wooden footlockers had a top shelf and a lower area. In the lower area, he demonstrated that every pair of boxer shorts and T-shirt should be rolled instead of folded and each should be nine inches in length. He explained that this way, rolled items did not wrinkle as folded items did, and rolled items fit better in duffle bags, with less wasted space. Long johns went into the bottom as well and were also rolled. The top shelf, which was removable to expose the bottom, was first lined with a towel, neatly folded to fit snugly in the top. On the left side, in precise positions, went our razor, shaving cream, toothbrush, toothpaste, and soap dish with an unused bar of soap. On the other side went socks, also rolled, and an extra towel. Everyone laid their footlockers out the same. Then he explained that we would not touch anything on the top shelf, ever, if we wanted to stay on the good side of Staff Sergeant Ford.
“Look, we have to play the game, and the game is discipline. The quicker we learn that, the better off we’ll be. Setting up uniform displays, footlockers and wall lockers will get the drill sergeants off our backs much quicker. The first chance we have to go to the PX, you buy a new toothbrush, razor, shaving cream and toothpaste, and you put it in a shaving kit in the top of your wall locker. That’s the one safe place we are authorized that the drill sergeants won’t look into or have a shit fit about unless we give them a reason. Also, get a second towel—no, make that two more towels, with a hanger to hang one in your wall lockers with one in your butt pack. You’re going to need it in the field. Now let me show you how to lay out the wall lockers.” I was thinking that if Mother had seen my room this squared away, she would have been very happy.
He moved over to his wall locker, and we all followed as
he had our undivided attention. “On the top shelf, place your additional shaving kit in the back, right side. Hang each of your fatigues with the left sleeve out so they’re all facing the same way. The hanger hook should be facing the rear of the locker. Your low-quarter shoes go on the lower left side with your extra pair of boots on the right side, toes back an inch from the front. Change your boots every day, so each night you will be shining boots. Change your socks each day, and every day at noon. Might want to buy extra socks when you get a chance. Any questions?”
“Where do we put our laundry bags?” asked another trainee.
“Laundry bags are tied to the top rung at the foot of the bed, centered. Let me show you.” And he proceeded to demonstrate how to tie it. For a guy that was prior service Navy, Crawford sure knew a lot about how to set up an Army barracks.
“What about our TA-50 field gear?” came the next question.
“Everyone get your field gear and meet back here in the bay, and I’ll show you how to set it up. They were probably going to do that tomorrow, but let’s get it done tonight.” Once everyone was assembled with their equipment, Crawford walked us through how to put our field gear together. First, the web belts were adjusted to fit each other; then came the positioning of the suspenders, followed by the positioning of two ammo pouches. Next was our butt packs, centered on our backs. Canteen on left hip was next, followed by first aid pouch on the left shoulder.
“When you’re in the barracks, hang your field gear on the top left side of the bunk if you sleep on top and top right side if you sleep on the bottom, aisle side. Okay, now let’s get to putting everything in its place.”
Everyone moved to their respective areas and commenced putting things away, as well as making beds. Thank goodness we’d learned at the reception station how to make beds. Lights out was at 2200 hours, and most of us were quickly asleep as our bodies were sleep-deprived.
At 0500 hours every morning for the first week, the barracks exploded, with Staff Sergeant Van B. Ford turning on lights and kicking over garbage cans. Ten minutes later, everyone was outside doing pushups and flutter kicks, running, and low-crawling. Breaks included fireman carry races with one trainee being carried on the back of another trainee over a fifty-yard racecourse. An hour later, we were off to the mess hall for breakfast and back to the barracks to get our stuff for training. Somewhere in there, we were expected to brush our teeth, wash and make our beds. As time went on, we soon learned to shower the night before, make our beds as tight as possible so it was easy to make them up in the morning, and get up around 0430 hours to be ready when Staff Sergeant Ford came through the door.
After the first week, he came in at 0500 hours and found every one of us standing next to our footlockers, dressed, beds made and ready for training. “Normally, I have to wake dumbass trainees up for all eight weeks of training. However, y’all are a little smarter than the average trainees.” A new bond was formed with Staff Sergeant Ford. His job became much easier, resulting in our lives becoming more pleasant. We were still trainees, but we weren’t getting our butts chewed anymore. Not only were we smarter than the average trainees, but our bodies were becoming harder.
The physical training continued to be hard, but the ass chewing and intimidation subsided. We soon realized that the physical training we were doing was actually the same as the physical fitness test we would have to take at the end of our basic training. The test included low-crawling fifty feet out and back; the two-man fireman carry race; the overhead bars; run, dodge and jump; and a two-mile run. All events were for time. No one failed. At the end of our eight weeks, we were certainly different, both physically and mentally. The night before graduation, Staff Sergeant Ford was noted by the company commander as the Drill Sergeant of the Cycle for having the best platoon, which made the entire platoon really feel good about what we had done. The fact that over half the platoon would be heading to flight school also added to the good feelings. In fact, the only trainee that was supposed to be going but wasn’t was Crawford1. He was being held over. The next morning, Johnson, Hanna and I loaded a Greyhound bus along with thirty-seven others for our next assignment at Fort Wolters, Texas.
Chapter 2
Welcome to Preflight
The trip from Fort Polk, Louisiana, to Fort Wolters, Texas, took about seven hours on the Greyhound bus. This was the first time the forty flight-school-bound wannabes had been off a military installation in three months. We enjoyed sitting back in comfortable seats, also for the first time in three months. Almost everyone slept on the road trip. As we drew closer to Fort Wolters, the level of anticipation rose.
Fort Wolters had been an active basic training base in World War II and remained so through the Korean War but then had been placed in caretaker status, like so many other installations after Korea. Besides World War II wooden buildings, there were three-story concrete block barracks as well. These had two-man rooms and a community bathroom on each floor. Fort Wolters had only been reopened since 1966, when the demand for pilots had exceeded the capabilities of the traditional Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker, Alabama.
We were met at the main gate to Fort Wolters by another warrant officer cadet, or WOC, as all cadets were called.
After giving directions to the driver, he addressed us. “Hi, I’m Brian Brady, and I’m a cadet just like you guys. When we get to the barracks, gather up your stuff and fall into two ranks on the street next to the bus. I will then conduct a roll call and assign you a barracks.” He then turned his attention back to the bus driver.
The designated barracks were World War II wooden buildings like we’d had in basic training. Other buses were already there, offloading cadets. We removed our duffel bags from the bus and lined up as Brian had asked. We looked more like a mob than a military formation. As he called our names, we answered and moved to the designated building. There sat another cadet.
“Hi, Dan Cory,” I said as I extended my hand.
Taking my hand, he said, “Hi, Bob Atwell. Dan, you’re assigned to the fourth bunk on the right side. Footlocker is in front of your bunk and the wall locker is behind along the wall. Your blankets and sheets are on the bed, so you might start making it up. Once everyone gets in, I’ll be giving a quick briefing here on the first floor.”
“Okay,” I said, moving down to my assigned bunk and making the bed. Once everyone was in the building, Bob called those assigned upstairs and asked them to come downstairs for a briefing.
“Welcome to Preflight. You’ll get to meet our TAC officer tomorrow morning, and it will not be pleasant. Just try and laugh it off. Enough said about that. You need to remove all rank from your uniforms tonight and replace it with WOC brass. The post exchange will be open for a couple more hours, so when you leave here, get over there and get at least three sets of brass. The PX is down two blocks. Can’t miss it. After that, head over to the mess hall, which is one block behind this building. At eighteen hundred tonight, there will be a briefing back here on how to set up your wall locker and footlocker, as well as what you can expect in the morning. Okay, now you’re free until eighteen hundred.”
Heading back to my bunk to retrieve my cap, I noticed Bob standing next to his bed. His area looked pretty squared away.
“You going to the PX?” he asked.
“Yeah. Just looking at how you have your stuff set up. Looks pretty much like we did in basic,” I said.
“Really does, but note the attention to details. All the shirts are facing left, but note the spacing between each hanger—two inches. And my low-quarter shoes are exactly one inch from the end of the shelf and one inch from the left side, with my extra boots’ toes one inch from the front of the shelf and one inch from the right side.”
“Bob, I think I’m beginning to see the picture here,” I said.
