son starts air force basic today

[foxxie02]

19 year old reported to basic training last night/this morning down in texas... oh what memories it brings back...I Did basic army training back in early 90's at Ft Lost in the Woods Missouri. looking forward to see if and what transformation my wife and I will see after basic and a school. any one else see drastic changes in their children after entrance in to military??

 

[Informed Decision]

Congrats to him & you. I'm sure he'll be fine. Lackland AFB should be bearable this time of year. I was blessed with Texas in July when I went in. Once he learns how to fold his socks & make his bed he'll be cruising. They used to make everyone call when they got there to say they were fine. Ask him if he has gotten his hair cut yet. If so ask him if the other flights (squads) are calling his flight "pingers". That's cause his hair is popping back out! Also before they get thier uniforms,they are called a rainbow flight cause everyone has civilian clothes on. What will he be doing?

 

[foxxie02]

He did 3 years rotc in high school so he made e3/afc going in... shouldnt be too hard an adjustment I would think.. his MOS is aircraft/jet mechanic. at least something that related to real job in the real world...

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Has he been practicing his sitting and coffee drinking? I'm pretty sure that's 80% of USAF basic...

 

[Informed Decision]

I was in autopilot & instrumentation. Basically all the gauges & dials you see in the cockpit, I worked on them in the aircraft. Sounds like he may be in power plant.

The coffee drinking & sitting training starts after he shows that he's smart enough to use his brain & they know they got a good one. Behind Blue Eyes must be asking since he probably saw it from afar.LOL

 

[Jeff]

Congrats!
I was there 21 years ago this month. One heck of a good time!

 

[Bfish]

My brother lives on base down at Lackland right now... As a zero weeker he said it's kind of rough but by the 2nd it's not too bad! He said basic wasn't too fun but training for MOS is great. Hopefully he enjoys it! It also seems that you are very proud of him so if you can go to graduation you may consider it.

 

[JettaKnight]

Huh. One of my Bible study students just started her basic today too.

 

[Alamo]

Congrats to him & you. I'm sure he'll be fine. Lackland AFB should be bearable this time of year. I was blessed with Texas in July when I went in.

+1 on that. It just stopped being cold (well, cold for Texas), and it's not yet broiling. 50-60 at night, 70s during the day. He will probably get drenched a few times tho. I also was at Lackland for training during July, holy smokes it was roasty. My training was ROTC field training instead of basic, but it has a similar, um, ambiance I guess you'd say, and we lived in the old WWII un-airconditioned open bay barracks, just like I saw in the old WWII movies. I don't know if I was radically different after than before, but I was certainly hot and sweaty while it was happening.

In the old days, newbie trainees were called "pickles." With the old solid color olive-drab fatigues and a shaved head, they looked the part.

Best wishes to him. Hope you can make it down in a few weeks for his graduation parade.

And best wishes to you too!

 

[Alamo]

Has he been practicing his sitting and coffee drinking? I'm pretty sure that's 80% of USAF basic...

Tsk tsk, such jealousy...

 

[Dead Duck]

 

[fullauto 45]

BMTS 3707 1981 basic in May and June sucked at Lackland. In fact when it was too hot, we would PT under the overhangs on the dorms. And if it rained....same place. Several times, it was too hot to PT at all. Yep, sitting in a class room all day in the A/C was terrible listening to some guy with stars on his shoulder.

 

[Informed Decision]

Another thing I recall was that when we were released for on base leave , & were walking around or taking in a movie, we would come across a lot of military foreigners from the sand countries. They like to embellish their uniforms with a lot of ribbons & tassels, we never knew if they were officers or not so we would always salute them. You'd be in deep stuff if you're caught not saluting an officer!

 

[Cynical]

I remember the day I left for sunny Ft. Jackson on June 29th. It sucked for sure, but when I came home my elders actually took the time to shake my hand and mean it. On behalf of my family thank him for his willingness to serve. My neighbor was a Ltc. In the Air Force and he said that he knew I was home driving my dads pickup because I was sitting at the position of attention. I think I still do.

 

[Cynical]

Another thing I recall was that when we were released for on base leave , & were walking around or taking in a movie, we would come across a lot of military foreigners from the sand countries. They like to embellish their uniforms with a lot of ribbons & tassels, we never knew if they were officers or not so we would always salute them. You'd be in deep stuff if you're caught not saluting an officer!

Yep, you're spot on there. I saluted people that were junior enlisted many times. They had frilly epaulets and looked like generals. I hated doing push-ups and wasn't going to risk it.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Another thing I recall was that when we were released for on base leave , & were walking around or taking in a movie, we would come across a lot of military foreigners from the sand countries. They like to embellish their uniforms with a lot of ribbons & tassels, we never knew if they were officers or not so we would always salute them. You'd be in deep stuff if you're caught not saluting an officer!

Marines used to salute our Spec-4's fairly often.

 

[Alamo]

... we never knew if they were officers or not so we would always salute them. You'd be in deep stuff if you're caught not saluting an officer!

Heh, yes that was deeply ingrained. I was at Chanute AFB in the summer of 1981 on a summer AFROTC program. Chanute is closed now but then it was a busy technical training center, a lot of airmen there for tech school. As a cadet I wore an officer's flight cap with the silver and blue braid but no rank, and blue shoulder marks, so at a distance I looked like an officer, altho in reality enlisted troops were not required to salute me. However all those one-stripers and slick-sleeves had just had spent a couple months in the unreality of basic training and tech school was not a lot different, so they took no chances. More than once I realized I was being saluted from 100 yard away! I had to up my SA so I would notice that still, rigid figure in the distance with his hand to his forehead.

And if I happened to be outside one of the training buildings when class let out, a couple hundred of those guys would burst out onto the sidewalk, not in formation but in a long broken string, and I'd be waving my arm like a windmill. They got a kick out of that!

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Tsk tsk, such jealousy...

Nah, when I was young I wanted to do interesting things. Now that I'm less young I've discovered the joy of sitting and drinking coffee while getting paid for it. He just figured it out earlier.

 

[GunSlinger]

Congrats to you and your son! You have to be pretty proud!

 

[K9stang]

BMTS 3706. Feb. 1985
Thank him for his service. Aircraft maintenance is a good MOS. Back then the technical school was at Shephard AFB in northern TX. that was the first time I ever went through a tornado siren, I didn't know what to think. Now they are normal to me.