It was twenty years ago today...

July 29th has been a significant day in my life for the last twenty years. This was the day in 1987 when I started basic training. Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas really isn't that place you want to be for six weeks starting in late July. But that was when Uncle Sam wanted me. Of I went for the adventure of my lifetime. Truly this is as significant a date as my birthday. Because of the Air Force, my life has taken so many unexpected turns.

I remember arriving in Texas in the middle of the night. Me and the fifty or so other recruits boarded a bus, drove to the barracks, got yelled at immediately, and then went to the floor where we would live and got yelled at some more. I had seen far too many Hollywood war movies, so I knew what basic training was like. Okay, he would yell a while, but it was just part of the show, I thought. I thought that for a while and then my confidence started to wane. Then, finally, I realized the guy doing all of the yelling was crazy and that sometimes in the next six weeks (if not six minutes) he was going to kill me.

Then we went to bed. None of us really knew what to do. The next morning we woke to the bugle call and went off to do our bathroom business. I remember one guy walking up the aisle with hair down to his ass, butt naked for all of the world to see. He saved me that day, since Sgt. Abrahamson would have someone else to yell at. Lesson one for the day was learning how to make our beds. One of my duties for the next six weeks was to crawl under beds, pull the sheets really tight while someone else made the top. That is how you make a tight bed. I also was pretty good at ironing.

I only got into trouble a few times. Once was for calling my neighbor by his first name. The other time was when my drill instructor found a hair on my chin. He pulled my towards his face with it, before yanking it out.

There were many good moments in basic training. Once, Nick Jaeger, a young man from Minnesota, got in trouble for not having his towel in order. Sgt. Abrahamson took the towel and started wrapping it around Jaeger's neck.

"Airman Jaeger," the sergeant growled out, "do you know what would happen if I were to twist this towel one time for every soldier killed in Vietnam?"

"Sir, Airman Jaeger, reporting as ordered," Jaeger responded. "My head would pop off, sir."

It was the funniest thing we'd heard in weeks, and we all wanted to laugh. So the drill instructor barked out, "Permission to laugh." Everyone cracked a gut over that.

Looking back on it I am glad I was there. After graduating I went to Wichita Fall, Texas, and had a country fried steak on the way. No one yelled at me when I ate it. A few days after arriving in my Tech school I turned 22. I got to sleep in late and it was a great birthday, let me tell you.

One of my worries in life was that I would be the type of veteran who sat around all day, in a crappy job, saying "I wish I'd stayed in for 20 years. I would have a pension today." Well today is that day. I think I have had a pretty good time since getting out. I have no regrets for leaving. I also have no regrets for going in.

Well there's my nostalgia for today.