The Early Years Part 4

Thanks for joining me again. I had intended to have Part 4 out much sooner; however, with the holidays it has been difficult to carve out time for writing.

Let’s start with a brief recap of Part 3. We arrived at BMT, in-processed, were taken to our Dorm Bay, yelled at (a lot) and finally survived the night.

I’m not sure how much sleep we got, but I am sure it wasn’t much. Early in the morning hours our TI returned. He must not have been a morning person. I understand that. I don’t recall much of the days events, but I do remember being affectionally referred to as a “rainbow flight” because we were all still dressed in our civilian attire. I believe it was 3 or 4 days before we were issued our uniforms.

We spent part of the day learning how to properly, stand at attention, march and dress. No I don’t mean how to properly put our clothes on. Albeit some of our folks probably could have used a lesson in that also. Many of us were still, as the old timers say, “Wet behind the ears.” In a Military formation you are “dressed” by shuffling around getting lined up left to right and front to back.

The part of the day I was likely looking forward to the most (lunch time) turned out to be pretty intimidating. You’re in formation outside, studying from a binder filled with pertinent information, until you’re called inside. If I recall correctly, we were called in by elements. An element is one of the four lines that make up a formation. I was in the forth element, right side, middle of the pack. Once, inside, you take a tray and line up shoulder to shoulder.

Before you can even begin chowing down you have to pass the “Snake Pit.” No, it’s not full of snakes, although, that would have probably been less intimidating. Instead, it’s the table where the TI’s sit and eat. It’s also the place where they’ll randomly pick out a trainee to call to the table and answer a question. The questions mostly came from the binder we were issued which I mentioned above. IF you happened to answer the question wrong the entire Chow Hall found out about it.

When you think Chow Hall you may think chatting and relaxing, but this wasn’t that. You sat down and began eating fast, but not too fast. The trick was to all finish about the same time. If one person finished too quickly, sometimes your TI would force you all to get up, done or not, and leave. These are some of the lessons you learn by experience. No one tells you these things before you arrive. It’s kind of a right of passage type deal.

I guess I should have mentioned earlier the name of our TI. He was, after all, the man who would be attempting to turn our ragtag group into a well oiled machine. His name was SSgt King. I don’t know his first name, nor did I ever ask. We also had another man, TSgt Whitcher, who was getting his “Blue Rope.” For the sake of time I’ll forgo talking about the rope.

I don’t recall if I mentioned this was actually not week one. It was referred to as “zero week.” This is because it’s a secret week thrown in. I think it only lasts 3 or 4 days, but it’s not a pleasant surprise. I can’t say for sure, but I think it may be the week all of the new arrivals get to base. I’m sure we don’t all arrive the same day. There’s probably a several day window where everyone gets to base and gets in-processed.

Now, I’m sure there are plenty of people who remember things much better than I do. I’ve probably left out many details and the ones I’ve given are fuzzy. I will mention however, BMT changed significantly several years after I attended and likely looks different than I’m describing. I imagine if you find someone who went through 10 or 15 years before I did it would have changed a good deal as well.

I don’t recall all of the events of “Zero Week.” I’m not sure I could, even if I tried. I guess for me, it was a day to day process. It was something, at the time, I needed to get past. I guess looking back it really was more of a right of passage than I understand it to be back then. I was allowed to go through BMT to become an Airman. I wish I would have seen things a little differently back then. It’s said, “Hind Sight is 20/20.” I suppose that is true for those who reflect back on the past in light of the future. That statement may be best said in light of this one, “Those who don’t remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” Admittedly, neither statement are concrete. Both are subject to many factors, but in general they are beneficial.

I don’t intend to write about the next Six-weeks individually. I will likely hit some high points and summarize the experience. Thanks again for joining me. I intend to add Part 5 next week, but I place a heavy emphasis upon the word “intend.”