Forty One Years

A week ago (yesterday), it would have been 41 years since I got on the bus at Lackland (Air Force boot-camp) and left.    It came into my mind this week. 

Boot-camp during that period was six weeks.  Between the heat, humidity, and physical activities (normally only in morning hours), it was a miserable experience.  I think if anyone would have laid this out, I would have delayed going in for two months (fall weather).

I would have the last breakfast, and around 8 AM....the bus would pull up and I'd get onboard to spend a number of hours riding up to Sheppard AFB, Tx.  They would dump us out in some parking lot and we'd get a room-key, some linen, and a meal-card. 

This barracks was one of their mega-structures that was just about impossible to figure out anything but the floor area.  I probably spent twenty minutes walking in a full circle to find this room. 

I stepped into a plain simple room that I would share for a number of weeks with someone, and felt wonderful AC air chilling out the room.  I would open my small bag that had all my civilian clothing from the first arrival at bootcamp and discover that the sweat and smell made it just about impossible to wear.  So getting laundry powder and doing a wash was priority number one. 

This was a Friday.....so I had the entire weekend, and roughly forty dollars in my pocket.  It was a long weekend and other than a inprocessing time schedule for Monday, there was no real agenda. 

The negative with Sheppard?  As hot as it was in southern Texas.....it was just as hot there in northern Texas.  Fall really didn't arrive till the middle of October.  The base was a curious blend.....there was some modern structures there but they had buildings which had been put up in the 1940s and were still being used today.