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Posted: 1/4/2006 3:51:06 AM EDT
[#1]
Sounds familiar (including the year) B254 was my AIT (split) dont remember the Basic group my A1 was so f-ing old, the serial # was BELOW 10,000 my favorite was the low crawl range (AO Black?) great fun in 90+ temps and 130% humidity EVERY DAY. Fuyy what you get used to be it the Heat/humidity, Sweat (constant) sand(red) and wood chips in every orifice known (and some new ones) I vowed not to return to Benning ever as I was leaving on the bus. Air Force version: Two weeks training at Marrietta (sp) GA. stayed in hotel with coffee maker and maid servicce daily. They gave us a Suburban to use while we there. Got per diem as there was no open dining facility. Took the truck off base for food/beer and went to Hooters several times for wings. Once a news crew was there interviewing people about the GW1 going on at the time- we got lucky they left us alone- we had several pitchers in front of us. Made every attempt to stay out of the hot sun and got off at 5 or so daily. Visited Atlanta and got hammered and did over 100 mph on the way back to base. Was a blast. Oh, almost forgot the waterpark we went to near the base. Aced the final test with 100% score for not studying 1 second the time I was there  . Felt bad for the people who did not pass it!
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Posted: 1/4/2006 3:55:05 AM EDT
[#2]
I see Jackson was still the same 7 years after I left it. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 4:43:38 AM EDT
[#3]
Lots of guys from Ft. Benning here. Good. B-10-2, Harmony Church, also 1983. There are some smells that instantly take me back to those days. The smell of wool is one. Guess it was the blankets on the bunks. Another is bacon and breakfast stuff cooking, especially if I'm outdoors passing a restaurant. Reminds me of standing in the chow line, or passing the messhall on the way back into the company area after PT. My first assigned rifle was serial #128317. Can't even rattle off my current phone number as fast as that comes to my mind. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 5:10:43 AM EDT
[#4]
This is exactly what basic looked like for me!
 Yours truly. Check out that weapons rack number......911. 
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Posted: 1/4/2006 5:12:23 AM EDT
[#5]
Most of the guys in my basic went to Benning after basic.
The Army was doing MOS specific training then and it was an Airborne cycle. Kind of sucked cause while everyone else was in butt packs we were in full packs. When they were in the barracks sleeping in a warm bed, we didn't see the barracks except on weekends. Even the hurry and wait was different. Go get shots, we ran to get there and then did PT while waiting. Only one weekend pass per person during the training cycle and that was only at the end. Final march was 24 miles full pack. The Drill Sargents were all fresh back from Nam and quite frankly a little touched as a result and didn't take well to Joe Trainee. Day one, they marched us down Misery then ran us back up. Of 238 guys, only one made it to the top. Everyone else fell out. Falling out after that meant a beating followed by special duty. I equate my basic to Full Metal Jacket add, the full cadence with cuss words and stand at attention while we beat the shit out of this guy. 20 guys didn't make it and were recycled. There was no getting out. In my platoon, four didn't make it. Two went to hospital due to beatings, one drill sargents and one blanket party, and two were sent to jail. Like Joker I was given a Gomer. This guy literaly couldn't tie his shoes. Like Gomer he learned and his fat ass became lean and mean. Unlike Gomer he did't shoot the Drill Sargent but close he punched him out on graduation day. I don't know what they did to that guy but he sure could take a beating for he got it about three times a week for eight weeks. Strangely the Sr. Drill Sargent I liked and respected very much. He was up on abuse charges when I graduated. Shame for he was a soliders soldier for sure. He'd BTDT and back again. Funny thing I remember was my platoon Drill Sargent who was 82nd. He was unbelieveable with a rock and carried a pocket full. When one of us would get out step, he'd zing the rock and bing it off our steel pots. You got pretty good at dodging the richochets.  Single one thing I probably hated most was those damn brass weapon check rods. They used them like whip and I can still hear the ding, ding, ding, of those damn things bouncing off my steel pot like it was yesterday. Didn't care all that much for all those damn artillary simulators and tear gas bombs either. Seems they always set those things off when you were the most tired. Tj |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 5:39:39 AM EDT
[#6]
Ft. Leonard Wood 1984 Delta 2-3, steel pots, M16A1, M203's M60's, and M72 LAW's. Hotter in the summer than any place has a right to be.
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Posted: 1/4/2006 5:53:53 AM EDT
[#7]
I think you and I were there at the same time. C-2/54, graduated June of '88? |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 5:57:25 AM EDT
[#8]
1989, Ft Benning
M16A1s (some pretty old) Kevlars BDUs Starships, although 11M training was done at the old Harmony Church buildings. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 6:11:48 AM EDT
[#9]
AO F***ing Black! My God, I'll never forget that experience. 
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Posted: 1/4/2006 6:14:43 AM EDT
[#10]
C 4/30. You were leaving as I was getting there. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 6:14:59 AM EDT
[#11]
probably crossed paths.... |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 6:15:11 AM EDT
[#12]
Ft. Benning, C-8-2, December '66, what's an M-16?
"Cunt caps" & khakis, we all had 'em. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 6:40:51 AM EDT
[#13]
Our unit went to the tan boots. And in BCT and AIT there was NO dessert for anyone unless they maxed the APFT. -Ben |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 6:55:08 AM EDT
[#14]
My Army Basic looked like Sand Hill,circa 1990. With a little Harmony Church thrown in. We still had the Jeeps,the m16A1 ( only qualified on the A2 and then they took it back and reissued the A1s to us ). TOW, M203, all the stuff you mentioned. Had BDUs by then,of course.My brother lived in Atlanta at the time,so Family Weekend was actually family weekend for me,although at the time I was pissed off he didn't throw a party with the girls like he promised he would.....his little black book at the time was about the size of the Atlanta phone book.........
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Posted: 1/4/2006 7:06:40 AM EDT
[#15]
They left all the windows open one foot at night, in December and January, to protect against meningitis.
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Posted: 1/4/2006 7:08:43 AM EDT
[#16]
You had heat? 
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Posted: 1/4/2006 7:24:36 AM EDT
[#17]
I loved basic!
I had a different experience than most of you,because my command of the english language sucked! Seven of us were put on a train in Miami,FL and sent to Ft Benning,GA.I think it took us 24hrs to get there,but we had such a great trip that it seems now like it took a week.Not much sleep,although the Army got us "sleeping car" tickets!!! In charge,was the oldest guy among us: 26y/o draftee,married and with 1 child,small businessman, Richard Sheewack Sand Hill, C-5-3 was our outfit .......................in April 1966!  Between the 7 of us "Miami boys",we took 4 of the 5 awards given.Shewack got best marksman,Johnson,best PT score,forgot what the 3rd and 4th awards were,and I was "Outstanding Trainee" I was learning English and I used to make the trainees frown with my "commands" -I was the trainee (acting) senior NCO- therefore in charge of the training company. One afternoon I said: "We'll be rolling out of here tomorrow at zero,six hundred hours" Everyone got a smile on their face.They thought we were being trucked to our destination, instead of the usual long walk to whereever we were going.I meant "leaving" but used "rolling" as a metaphore.....they wanted to kill me!  Another time,I used spanish grammar and said: "gather round me in a shoe-horse".Of course I meant horseshoe  However,there is always someone who is worse off than you.That was Manuel Gonzales (another Miami boy with better english,but less common sense than me )Our DI was in our platoon's barracks expalining how to shine buckles (1st or second day of training) and said: "you get Brasso and elbow grease and get them shining.Any question?"Gonzales replied: "I know you get Brasso at the PX,but where do we get elbow grease?" He meant it! I knew less than him.I had no idea what a PX,elbow grease or Brasso were,but I wasn't going to be dumb enough to ask! Good old days!!
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Posted: 1/4/2006 7:34:56 AM EDT
[#18]
I can just imagine the conversation in THAT huddle.... "So, Ed,what do you want to be someday?" "Well,I want to own a website that talks about the guns that are gonna replace these big heavy M14s they make us carry around, and where people argue a lot,and I can be like Santa Claus and sit back and keep a list of who's being naughty and nice...as soon as Private Gore gets off his butt and invents the internet, whatever that is". |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 7:40:01 AM EDT
[#19]
I have NEVER owned a website,and until 3 yrs ago,I thought a server was a person employed for domestic work! I know little about computers and if this website depended on my "puter" expertise,it would be messed up!As to the M14,yes those suckers were heavy........weren't they?
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Posted: 1/4/2006 7:43:42 AM EDT
[#20]
Well, you knew what I meant. Yeah, they are heavy. Try dismounting and humping a TOW system for a ground mount.THAT is heavy. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 7:48:38 AM EDT
[#21]
We shared the 2nd floor of our barracks in the Hq & Hq Co,2/504th with the anti-tank platoon (I forgot what the heck they were called)  .Those 106 recoiless rifles were the shitz when fired though!
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Posted: 1/4/2006 9:08:50 AM EDT
[#22]
Just went to the mens room here at the office, and had a flashback to the latrine in our barracks at Benning. It was one of those wonderful wooden two-story buildings that were built during WWII as "temporary" barracks. There was a piss-trough, a communal shower room with 6 heads (Concentration Camp-style), and 6 toilets with no stalls around them, arranged facing each other in two rows of 3, so you were all within arms reach of each other. That's the glamorous life of the soldier. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 9:16:14 AM EDT
[#23]
Im sending one of my druggies off to Sill this month to reclass to FO, popped hot on coke so he cant fix aircraft anymore. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 9:22:53 AM EDT
[#24]
Ft Leonard Wood. Oct 1978. Rain, cold, C-rats, repeat.
 I never even SAW a jeep much less rode in one. It was either cattle cars or on foot. Drill Sgt SFC Dudley. He had cancer  , but STILL drove us into the ground daily. We were allowed to go to the Shoppette (under escort) the day before graduation with one 20$ traveler's check issued from our packet in the company safe.
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Posted: 1/4/2006 9:54:19 AM EDT
[#25]
 Ohmygod...I snarfed Propel. Poor guy... |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 9:54:21 AM EDT
[#26]
A-5-1 Sand Hill, Ft Benning 1983. Same as above except we had the cammie BDUs issued. Sand Hill barracks were still pretty new. "Alpha, Alpha, we're the power. Trained to kill at any hour. We're lean. We're mean.. the best the Army's seen. Knees to the breeze. Ass to the Blast. Peace by force. The A-Team!"  The automatic gunner in the squad carried an M16 with a bipod and extra ammo.  When I got to my active duty station in Panama, some of the anti-armour teams were still humping the 90mm recoiless. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 9:56:04 AM EDT
[#27]
Ahhh, memory lane.
First time: Ft. Benning, fall '89 - Jan'90 (11B) D/3-32 Inf. M-16A2's for BRM and then switched to A1's for AIT portion of OSUT M-72's and AT-4's M-60's and SAW's BDU's with Brady Bunch collars Sr. Drill SGT's and 1SG with VietNam experience Dessert? Dessert was being allowed to eat the dehydrated fruit in your MRE's. Second time: Ft. Sill, OK, winter '96 - spring '97 (13F - another Rock Hard FISTer representing) D-1/19 for BCT C-2/80 for AIT A2's the whole time LAW? That's what the UCMJ is, right? Drill SGT's with Desert Storm experience All the frigging dessert you wanted. (In fact, the difference in the chow was one of the biggest thigns that shocked me. The DFAC at Sill was nothing like the DFAC at Sand Hill.) Yes, that's right, I went through Basic and AIT / OSUT TWICE. I did just over two years and got out. Nine days shy of five years later, I reenlisted. Since I had been out more than three years, I had to redo BCT. The plus side was my previous active duty experience ensured my spot as the Platoon Guide for four out of the eight weeks. (No PG's for first two weeks. I would have lasted the last two, except I gave my positon up when one of squad leaders was busted for dipping. I told the D/SGT that I was just as responsible, since I knew what was happening. I earned a lot of respect amongst the guys for that.) Since I had BTDT, I knew all the tricks the Drill SGT's played, so I knew how to keep them off of our backs. Unfortunately, I had one fuckstick who never wanted to listen, he always wanted to do his own thing. Fucking idiot. (Colter Lane, if you're reading this, I'm still waiting for you to be man enough to administer that ass-whooping you dreamed you'd give me.) I think that having someone who'd already made it through OSUT before helped a few of the guys make it themselves. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 10:00:43 AM EDT
[#28]
Fort Lewis May 1967 Basic (It was the summer of Love)
M14's were issued we were given an orientation on the M16 but never shot them. Fired the M60, M2, M79, 3.5 Bazooka, LAW orientation, Frags and Smoke. 81mm mortar for the 11c's was the m1 VC village and E&E and the infiltration course are still strong memories I remember marching to the range the day the 6 Day war was declared Drill Sgt said forget about Nam you guys are going to Egypt. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 10:05:14 AM EDT
[#29]
 That's in all seriousness. I did it once. Don't want to and won't do it again! |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 12:06:27 PM EDT
[#30]
Harmony Church, B-4-2, summer of 1985
M151 jeeps WW-2 style steel pot....yep. M16A1 made by GM Hydramatic... like all chevies a real POS, doubled during rifle qualifications, but I got a barely passing score, so I wasn't allowed to shoot again with a decent rifle. We got to take the new rifles out of the wrappers for the next training cycle.  camo bdus M72's were still around. M203. 81mm mortars and the new 60mms had just come out. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 12:11:36 PM EDT
[#31]
Come on at least give it a try! |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 1:34:24 PM EDT
[#32]
i also did my time at fort Knox in 1983 , if you watched the movie stripes you have seen my training area. D-19-4
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Posted: 1/4/2006 1:37:21 PM EDT
[#33]
Three words for you people...
Dehydrated Pork Patties. /thread |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 2:15:04 PM EDT
[#34]
Fort Jackson SC June 1959
M1 rifles, WW2 barracks with no interior walls. Brown boots with a bottle of black dye issued; getting them black was your problem. The good old days?, I don't think so. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 3:18:30 PM EDT
[#35]
Some of us did. See page 2. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 3:42:42 PM EDT
[#36]
Fort Dix 1962
M1 Garand 1911 BAR .30 cal air cooled machine gun |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 3:43:57 PM EDT
[#37]
Got to Ft. Sill a few months after Zardoz, Broke my ankle on day 93, The difference between my first battery and my second was like June in Florida and January in New Hampshire.
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Posted: 1/4/2006 3:50:58 PM EDT
[#38]
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Posted: 1/4/2006 3:58:08 PM EDT
[#39]
1984
Sand Hill A-1-1 Steel Pot M16A1 - Colt Woodland BDUs DIs yelling and screaming- no hitting or grabbing Garbage can tossed down the bay for first call LAW anti tank rocket M203 Jeeps M113 APCs |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 4:14:56 PM EDT
[#40]
September 19th, 1987 Ft. Benning Georgia. They told us we were one of the last cycles to go through Harmony Church. I still don't know if that was true or not.
Steel pots A1s in BRM, A2 in ARM Camo BDUs NBC was still called NBC Both M60 and SAW The second day I was in the reception station some dumb kid jumped off one of the walkways and died. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 4:17:18 PM EDT
[#41]
I think I qualified with that piece of shit two years later. It cost me expert qualification. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 4:20:33 PM EDT
[#42]
Ft. Jasckson 1966:
Steel Pots M-14s Drag Ass Hill Jeeps Moron Drill Sergeants |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 4:43:57 PM EDT
[#43]
That NEVER fully hydrated no matter how long you soaked 'em. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 4:58:43 PM EDT
[#44]
oops! sorry how did i miss that? entered 10/31/65 graduated basic sometime in Jan 66 |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 6:09:26 PM EDT
[#45]
I had an M16 that had an 1/8" of daylight between the upper and lower receivers. I couldn't hit the 100m pop ups. I had to borrow a rifle to qualify with. The DI took my rifle after I tried to battle sight zero it and he couldn't hit with it.
Aah, Harmony Church. I went back there years ago to work some Barrett rifles over for the Sniper School. They were using the same barracks I stayed in at C-2-1. I laughed my ass off the day I got there to work their .50's over. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 6:15:18 PM EDT
[#46]
The new desert suede boots are Bellevilles. The pair of blacks my wife had issued 3+ months ago (supply getting rid of blacks) were belleville. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 6:23:13 PM EDT
[#47]
Fort Knox Summer 1966 -- C-16-4
Jeep M151 Rifle M14 M79 thumper M2 MG M60 MG Steel pots no BDUs they were fatigues then just had the change over from black and gold rank and white name tapes to subdued tanks were mix of m48 and m 60s gas mask was the m17 pistol was the 1911a1 after basic in AIT we had the 90 mm recoiless rifle |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 8:53:34 PM EDT
[#48]
Aww, man, you just weren't doing it right. What you needed to do was get a small field stove, either an Esbit or a Coleman, and boil some water for Ramen Noodles. Once you put the Ramen in, you dropped in the broken up pork patty. After it was done cooking, you added some E-Z Cheese, and, viola, haute cuisine. |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 9:29:45 PM EDT
[#49]
I'm thinking this smells like 1972. I was seven. Dad was back from Thailand for two years. EDIT: Blew that one by a country mile! 1966! |
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Posted: 1/4/2006 11:23:00 PM EDT
[#50]
This thread has brought back many, many memories of both Army ROTC Basic at Knox, and somewhat more recent and unpleasant memories of me at AOCS in '90.
I remember that I got to do a detail in the armorers' room, and the Specialist (I think - we're talking 22 or so years ago) showed us 81mm mortars, and the M3 Grease Guns they'd issue the tankers. I remember looking at them, marvelling (in my youthful, stupid way) that I couldn't believe that we still had a relic like that in active duty from the Second World War. I didn't fully appreciate the history I held in my hands.  Reserve Officer Candidate Chuckles, give us a grin!  Well, not the evil, child-raping grin.  Seven or so years later, and a different branch entirely:  Me and the Non-Commissioned Terrorist In Charge (NCOIC) of Battalion One. Also known as "The Antichrist," the highest-scoring drill instructor ever to graduate Marine D.I. school in history (like 1988). What a king-sized PITA this guy was! I think he may have hated me as much as I hated him. I think it's possible that the day I graduated, he put his .45 into his mouth and contemplated pulling the trigger.  Me n' Pop - he was out of the AF (he retired Major) since '77, but had a new uniform tailored for my commissioning day. We buried him in it a year and a half later. Fucking CANCER. Can't they find a cure for that shit? Lt. Shirey cutting off my tie after my first solo flight. That was a great memory, since I told a funny story about Lt. Shirey during the ceremony that the MC fined me for (it was like $1.82!) Memory lane. Hoo-rah! |
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