The Boot Camp Saga: The Life of the Trainee
Used to drive a Cadillac...
Now I'm marchin' there and back...
Reveille every day was at 0430. Within five minutes of that we would be dressed in our BDUs, shaved, and our teeth brushed, and would be making our beds. Right about this time Blackmarr would start pounding on the door; the dorm guard on duty would go through the entry procedure and let her in. Her first task was to reestablish for the day who was in charge by criticizing our beds--invariably, they were made poorly, not tightly enough, and not enough of them were done. As soon as most of the beds were done, we would start details. "Details" is an Air Force word for "cleaning"--it's divided up into specialized jobs, though, such as Stairwell, Shoe Aligners, Bed Aligners, High Dusters, Low Dusters, Latrine Crew, Laundry Crew, etc. The idea is that each person gets very good at their detail so the whole dorm gets cleaned well and quickly. My detail was A-Bay Empty Locker Duster, and it was about as glamorous and exciting as the title would lead you to believe. It was actually an easy detail which left me time to help other details out--until the B-Bay Empty Locker Duster got recycled. Then I got to do his detail and mine every day in the same amount of time. Empty lockers don't get inspected very often, but I always made sure they were dust-free anyway--if you're given an easy job, the least you can do is do well at it.
As soon as details were done, we would line up on the wall inside the door and wait (not more than a few minutes) for Assembly to play, at which point we would fall out to the drill pad outside. Depending on that day's schedule, we would then go either to PRT or to breakfast.
PRT (Physical Readiness Training) is the Air Force's way of getting trainees in shape. It lasts about 45 minutes and takes place in the early morning to avoid the heat of the Texan summer. Depending on the day of the week, PRT would consist of circuits (a selection of various running exercises), anaerobic exercise (push-ups, sit-ups, flutter-kicks, and other nefarious inventions), or a long-distance run. SSgt Blackmarr was very big on physical exercise--she was the most physically fit TI in the squadron, and demanded the same from us, so extracurricular PRT was her favored method of punishment.
(Tip: If you get SSgt Blackmarr as your TI, and she offers to take your flight to IHOP, the answer is "no ma'am!" IHOP stands for the International House of Pain, and after it's over, one of you will be mopping puddles of sweat off the floor of the latrine.)
After PRT came breakfast. Eating at the dining facility was an elaborate procedure which involved filing into the dining hall by column, signing for our food, sidestepping down the line, and quickly selecting our food. We would then hurry past the "Snake Pit" where all the TIs ate, desperately hoping not to be called over for a grilling, and be directed to our seats by the Chowrunner, a member of our flight. Our TIs were required to let us eat, but they controlled what we were allowed to eat and how long we had to eat it. Our flight, for example, was not allowed to use condiments (salt, pepper, & ketchup) for the first 4 weeks, but we were required to have 3 glasses of water per meal. TIs have better things to do than to stand around waiting for their trainees to feed themselves, so meals were always a mad scramble to absorb as much nutrition as possible before we were told to "hydrate and get out!" (Hydrate is an Air Force word for "drink water". At Lackland, most health problems, such as fatigue, low endurance, sleepiness, and the common cold, can be traced back by a TI to "failure to hydrate".)
After breakfast, the instructional part of the day began. Depending on the day's schedule, this could be almost anything, but classroom instruction was a staple of BMT. Once we arrived (in formation) at our classroom, the Dorm Chief (more on him later) would call "Column files from the [left|right]!" and we'd march into the classroom, get our BMTSGs out of our portfolios, and sit at attention until put at ease.
Generally, the biggest challenge of the classroom was staying awake. When you take a room full of trainees who are short on sleep and long on stress, sitting in a reasonably comfortable chair in a nice air-conditioned room, eyelids begin to droop. The instructors, of course, are watching for this, and will often punish an entire flight if one of their number succumbs to sleep, especially in the later weeks when the flights have begun to gel. This motivates trainees to watch out for each other and keep each other awake. I personally recommend taking a sip of water every time you feel yourself lose focus; this has the additional benefits of keeping you well-hydrated and excusing you to the bathroom every couple of hours.
When not in class, Blackmarr always had something for us to do, and everywhere we went, we marched. Marching is not especially complicated, but there's a lot to remember. Everyone in the flight gets into a rectangular ("column") formation; when the TI gives the "FORWARD... HARCH!" command, everyone steps off with their left foot and begins marching to the cadence which the TI calls out. (Pray that your TI is good at calling cadence.) The formation is divided into ranks (rows) and four elements (columns); each position has its own responsibilities. The four Element Leaders at the front are responsible for keeping Dress (staying aligned with the person on their right) and Interval (distance between them). The members of the 4th element (the one on the far right) are responsible for Cover (staying directly behind the person in front of them) and Distance (maintaining ~40" of space--one arm's length--between them and the person in front of them). Everyone not in the first rank or the 4th element just has to keep Dress and Cover, and as long as everyone does it right, the formation has perfect, neat-looking rows and columns and can move in military synchrony.
Together, Dress, Cover, Interval, and Distance (DCID) give you a proper military formation. Every flight spends many hours practicing this; the final exam is Graduation Day when you march with your flight across the Parade Field and down the Bomb Run in front of officers, generals, TIs, and your parents.
There's much more to learn and remember while marching--arm swing, posture, the Guideon Bearer position, and turning the formation with "Column Left" and "Column Right"--but DCID is the core of marching. The TIs had lots of verbal mnemonics which we would recite out loud until we had mastered the basics and could move on to learning more complicated maneuvers.
When our flight was marching well enough that we didn't require constant correction, our TI would sometimes have us sing "jodies" or marching chants. A jodie is a simple song with a strong rhythm which is sung while marching; typically the flight leader (that is, the TI) will sing each line and the rest of the flight will repeat it back. Some of these were actually pretty fun to sing. I wrote a jody for our flight, which we ended up singing during the sixth week on our way to get our final haircuts. The Flight 423 Marching Chant went as follows:
There once was a flight from 323
Whose biggest problem could only be
They were so tough and looked so fine
You'd think they came from a diamond mine!
Hail, hail, 423!
Zero week's just a memory
Uniforms are looking great
On June 2 you graduate!
423 goes marching out
And all the squadrons turn about
To see us stand and march and go
And make them look wrinkly and slow.
Hail, hail, 423!
Zero week's just a memory
Uniforms are looking great
On June 2 you graduate!
NEXT: Warrior Week!
Now I'm marchin' there and back...
Reveille every day was at 0430. Within five minutes of that we would be dressed in our BDUs, shaved, and our teeth brushed, and would be making our beds. Right about this time Blackmarr would start pounding on the door; the dorm guard on duty would go through the entry procedure and let her in. Her first task was to reestablish for the day who was in charge by criticizing our beds--invariably, they were made poorly, not tightly enough, and not enough of them were done. As soon as most of the beds were done, we would start details. "Details" is an Air Force word for "cleaning"--it's divided up into specialized jobs, though, such as Stairwell, Shoe Aligners, Bed Aligners, High Dusters, Low Dusters, Latrine Crew, Laundry Crew, etc. The idea is that each person gets very good at their detail so the whole dorm gets cleaned well and quickly. My detail was A-Bay Empty Locker Duster, and it was about as glamorous and exciting as the title would lead you to believe. It was actually an easy detail which left me time to help other details out--until the B-Bay Empty Locker Duster got recycled. Then I got to do his detail and mine every day in the same amount of time. Empty lockers don't get inspected very often, but I always made sure they were dust-free anyway--if you're given an easy job, the least you can do is do well at it.
As soon as details were done, we would line up on the wall inside the door and wait (not more than a few minutes) for Assembly to play, at which point we would fall out to the drill pad outside. Depending on that day's schedule, we would then go either to PRT or to breakfast.
PRT (Physical Readiness Training) is the Air Force's way of getting trainees in shape. It lasts about 45 minutes and takes place in the early morning to avoid the heat of the Texan summer. Depending on the day of the week, PRT would consist of circuits (a selection of various running exercises), anaerobic exercise (push-ups, sit-ups, flutter-kicks, and other nefarious inventions), or a long-distance run. SSgt Blackmarr was very big on physical exercise--she was the most physically fit TI in the squadron, and demanded the same from us, so extracurricular PRT was her favored method of punishment.
(Tip: If you get SSgt Blackmarr as your TI, and she offers to take your flight to IHOP, the answer is "no ma'am!" IHOP stands for the International House of Pain, and after it's over, one of you will be mopping puddles of sweat off the floor of the latrine.)
After PRT came breakfast. Eating at the dining facility was an elaborate procedure which involved filing into the dining hall by column, signing for our food, sidestepping down the line, and quickly selecting our food. We would then hurry past the "Snake Pit" where all the TIs ate, desperately hoping not to be called over for a grilling, and be directed to our seats by the Chowrunner, a member of our flight. Our TIs were required to let us eat, but they controlled what we were allowed to eat and how long we had to eat it. Our flight, for example, was not allowed to use condiments (salt, pepper, & ketchup) for the first 4 weeks, but we were required to have 3 glasses of water per meal. TIs have better things to do than to stand around waiting for their trainees to feed themselves, so meals were always a mad scramble to absorb as much nutrition as possible before we were told to "hydrate and get out!" (Hydrate is an Air Force word for "drink water". At Lackland, most health problems, such as fatigue, low endurance, sleepiness, and the common cold, can be traced back by a TI to "failure to hydrate".)
After breakfast, the instructional part of the day began. Depending on the day's schedule, this could be almost anything, but classroom instruction was a staple of BMT. Once we arrived (in formation) at our classroom, the Dorm Chief (more on him later) would call "Column files from the [left|right]!" and we'd march into the classroom, get our BMTSGs out of our portfolios, and sit at attention until put at ease.
Generally, the biggest challenge of the classroom was staying awake. When you take a room full of trainees who are short on sleep and long on stress, sitting in a reasonably comfortable chair in a nice air-conditioned room, eyelids begin to droop. The instructors, of course, are watching for this, and will often punish an entire flight if one of their number succumbs to sleep, especially in the later weeks when the flights have begun to gel. This motivates trainees to watch out for each other and keep each other awake. I personally recommend taking a sip of water every time you feel yourself lose focus; this has the additional benefits of keeping you well-hydrated and excusing you to the bathroom every couple of hours.
When not in class, Blackmarr always had something for us to do, and everywhere we went, we marched. Marching is not especially complicated, but there's a lot to remember. Everyone in the flight gets into a rectangular ("column") formation; when the TI gives the "FORWARD... HARCH!" command, everyone steps off with their left foot and begins marching to the cadence which the TI calls out. (Pray that your TI is good at calling cadence.) The formation is divided into ranks (rows) and four elements (columns); each position has its own responsibilities. The four Element Leaders at the front are responsible for keeping Dress (staying aligned with the person on their right) and Interval (distance between them). The members of the 4th element (the one on the far right) are responsible for Cover (staying directly behind the person in front of them) and Distance (maintaining ~40" of space--one arm's length--between them and the person in front of them). Everyone not in the first rank or the 4th element just has to keep Dress and Cover, and as long as everyone does it right, the formation has perfect, neat-looking rows and columns and can move in military synchrony.
Together, Dress, Cover, Interval, and Distance (DCID) give you a proper military formation. Every flight spends many hours practicing this; the final exam is Graduation Day when you march with your flight across the Parade Field and down the Bomb Run in front of officers, generals, TIs, and your parents.
There's much more to learn and remember while marching--arm swing, posture, the Guideon Bearer position, and turning the formation with "Column Left" and "Column Right"--but DCID is the core of marching. The TIs had lots of verbal mnemonics which we would recite out loud until we had mastered the basics and could move on to learning more complicated maneuvers.
When our flight was marching well enough that we didn't require constant correction, our TI would sometimes have us sing "jodies" or marching chants. A jodie is a simple song with a strong rhythm which is sung while marching; typically the flight leader (that is, the TI) will sing each line and the rest of the flight will repeat it back. Some of these were actually pretty fun to sing. I wrote a jody for our flight, which we ended up singing during the sixth week on our way to get our final haircuts. The Flight 423 Marching Chant went as follows:
There once was a flight from 323
Whose biggest problem could only be
They were so tough and looked so fine
You'd think they came from a diamond mine!
Hail, hail, 423!
Zero week's just a memory
Uniforms are looking great
On June 2 you graduate!
423 goes marching out
And all the squadrons turn about
To see us stand and march and go
And make them look wrinkly and slow.
Hail, hail, 423!
Zero week's just a memory
Uniforms are looking great
On June 2 you graduate!
NEXT: Warrior Week!