Basic Training 1970 at Fort Lewis, Washington
As mentioned previously the local draft board showed interest in my becoming a member of the U.S. Military as my twentieth birthday was approaching and requested I take a bus ride from Waco, Texas to Dallas, Texas to the regional induction station for medical evaluation. The bus ride was paid for by the draft board so my thoughts were of a quick ride to Dallas on a brand spanking new Gray Hound Bus, take the test, tell them no thank you and ride the big bus back to Waco.
Left Waco about 9:00 AM from the Gray Hound Bus terminal for Dallas, the bus was one of the new split level models and the seats were nice and comfy and there were not many folks on the bus. As we left Waco I was able to see all the sights out the window and enjoy the country side. The ride from Waco to Dallas should have taken two hours at the most, the bus however stopped at every other town on the way there so the two hour trip took four hours.
When the bus arrived in Dallas at the induction or reception station as the military called it, no seats were left and everyone on the bus was there courtesy of the U.S. military to get medical, physical, and mental testing to determine if WE should be in the military.
On leaving the bus we moved right into the testing, no break, no lunch, just hurry up and wait from 1:00 PM till 8:00 PM. It was a long day of poking, prodding, coughing, standing, sitting, bending, squatting, reaching, X-rays, questions, and test. Just after 8:00 PM about a third of us were given vouchers for a hotel next to the reception station, told to eat at the hotel restaurant for supper and breakfast, sleep in room provided, report back for more testing at 7:00 AM.
The hotel was not bad, not that I spent a lot of time in hotels previously, the food was good and the room was ok, after all I was tired and slept well till 5:00 AM when the phone rang and the alarm clock sounded to remind me to get a shower, dressed, go eat and be at the reception station at 7:00 AM.
About twenty of us walked over the the reception station that morning for more medical test,questions, and educational test. Around 3:00 PM fifteen of us from the group were hustled into offices with representatives of the military, Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force who tried to sell us on why we should be in their service. Apparently we were some of the lucky few who passed all the examinations.
When all the talking was over we were ushered out into a large hallway, there were doors marked with all the military services names over the door. We were told to pick a door or we would have a door picked for us. My family members had served in the U.S. Army over time, so I walked through the Army door. On entering the room was shuffled over to a group of thirty or so guys where WE all waited for a few minutes.
All of a sudden the curtain on the stage in front of us opened, there was a large American flag, a very large soldier with all sorts of stripes on his sleeves and medals on his chest. He yelled attention so loud it shook the room, we had no idea what he meant other than pay attention but some how we figured out he meant for us to stand straight, quit talking look straight ahead and wait till we were spoken to.
A few moments later another large rugged looking soldier walked up with eagles on his shoulders also with lots of medals on his chest. The guy told us to raise our right hand and repeat what he said so WE did. The Army officer then congratulated us on being new members of the United States Army and gave us one of those speeches to get us motivated about the next two years of our life, we were what they called two year draftees, not regular three year enlistees.
Life became very regimented at that moment with lots of yelling and screaming from folks telling us to run here and run there, don’t smile, don’t talk, and so on.
Around 6:00 PM our small group was loaded onto a Trailways bus and taken to Dallas Love Field were we boarded a United Air Lines air craft, this was exciting since at that time I had never been on a commercial air craft nor had I been out of Texas. We were not told where we were going and that made the trip even more exciting and more like an adventure.
Around 1:00 AM are some weird late or early time we arrived at Tacoma, Washington and were loaded onto a weird looking kind of bus they called a cattle car and drove forever or so it seemed till we got the front gate of Fort Lewis, Washington. Bright lights, folks in uniform boarded the cattle car and checked each of us off a list on a clip board.
On arrival at another reception station area we were marched to a military all night dinner (mess hall) where we almost got to eat something call shit on a shingle (ground beef with lots of salt and gravy spread over burned toast) but after several bites of this wonder of wonders food, we were yelled at and moved out of the dinner and on to more test, more medical evaluations, given uniforms and various types of equipment, hair cuts (shaved to the skin) and dropped off in front of an old two story building where all thirty of us stood at attention for some time.
The sun was just coming up when a soldier walked out in front of our group/formation and barked or yelled at us he was our Drill Sergeant (DS) till he was not. We were then marched over to the physical training area where we did all sorts of physical exercises like jumping jacks, side straddles, push-ups, sit-ups, running in place and so on for about thirty minutes.
Once the work-out was finished we were formed up again in a group and the DS shouted “Who has had ROTC training”? Two of us raised our hands and were told we were the Platoon Sergeants and I was the Senior and too pick the squad leaders and get back to him in an hour.
This is how my two year draftee status with the U.S. Army started and there were many strange and somewhat shocking things to come for me at the old age of almost twenty, more on the life and times of ME in basic training to follow, if I can remember them.
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