A Rain Check, Please!

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Anyone that has followed this ride for long has realized that the High School years were not my favorite and that I scarcely wish to think about them. They were there and they were formative and I'm stuck at that. Anyway, in order to carry on with what I started, I've decided to take a "Rain Check" on those years and start out with college graduation so that the story can go forward. I owe this idea to a good friend who encourages me to continue - Thanks Mike!

I graduated Lander (a college at that time) in 1969. I had already enlisted in the Air Force earlier that year and had undergone the poking and prodding, the testing and the waiting associated with induction - all except the swearing in. I was sworn in on July 3rd in Charlotte and boarded an aircraft for my first flight ever. It ended in San Antonio and we were met at sometime after 11:00 pm by an enlisted man whose job it was to herd us to the first holding point. I've stated earlier what that night was like; so let's fast forward to the memories of the next few weeks.

The first week was designed to level us to a common denominator of frightened, exhausted, sleepy, brain-dead individuals. It wasn't "Hell Week" by any standard, but it did rate as "Heck Week" for sure. At every meal we had three minutes to eat and then we had to move on. I learned to eat quickly, but like a "gentleman" so that I didn't get written up for some violation. I remember double-timing a lot and I remember being "counseled" quite a bit for things like being late for formation (at least 5 seconds, but late), having salt stains on my blue web belt, needing a shave (true) and needing a haircut (not true) and on and on. We were allowed 50 demerits the first week and I got a bunch of them.

Just being scolded and given a demerit was one thing; but the real pain involved was learning how to "write gigs". We had to use the Air Force OTS "Gig Slip" and it had to look like the one in the manual. The one in the manual was typewritten. We only had black Skilcraft pens (made by blind people) but we had to make the form look typewritten. I was in a state of despair after the first night. I couldn't make the writing look like it was typed, so I got more demerits for being late with my writing.

We had PT every morning and of course there were certain weather conditions which governed our outside activities. There was a "green flag" which said activities were OK for everyone, a "Yellow Flag" which allowed some outside physical exertion, a "Red Flag" which indicated that those not acclimated (at least three weeks living in Texas) could not exercise and the "Purple Flag" indicating all outdoor activities were banned for everyone.

Here's how it worked. The "underclass" (those with less than six weeks in the school) exercised all at one time. At the time indicated on the schedule if there was a red flag then it was lowered and the yellow was flown until we completed our activities - then it was replaced by the red again. Six weeks later, after we were acclimated, PT was done later in the day and inevitably a purple was replaced with a red while we exercised. The show did go on!