Revisiting an earlier blog entry
Not quite two years ago, I wrote the following as part of a blog entry:
"I mentioned in an earlier entry that August 8th was the 36th anniversary of the day I went off to Air Force Basic Training. In my mind it is still one of the longest, most difficult days of my life. I showed up seven pounds over the maximum allowable weight (I thought I'd mentioned this in the blog before but I couldn't find it, so forgive me if I'm repeating myself). I was given three choices. Go home and forget about the Air Force. Go home, lose the seven pounds and then come back a few days later; but I'd lose the G.I. Bill (which was my reason for enlisting). Or lose seven pounds that day and once I had weighed in, they'd accept me and put me on the plane. I'd probably be overweight on arrival in Texas when I was processing in, but then they'd just put me into their "fat person" program.
My father was there with me and he said choice three was my only choice (the other two involved returning home and since I lived with him, he removed those two other options by saying he'd kick me out). So I ran. Around the big block the enlistment place was on in those days. He sat there as I passed every ten minutes or so. Sometimes I'd vary and go an extra block in a direction at random.
Eventually I'd sweated out enough weight. I was put on a plane and the rest is history. Am I glad my father insisted I do that? Yes. Was it a major pain in the ass to do? Oh yeah!"
Now it's August 8, 2015. 38 years since the morning I arrived at the old Los Angeles Armed Forces Entrance and Examination Station on Wilshire Boulevard. I'd spent nearly 24 hours there the prior December in order to enlist under the old Deferred Enlistment Program. The way it worked was you signed your name to a contract and took the oath of enlistment, but you didn't actually enter the service until after you finished high school. I arrived there on that New Year's Eve Eve morning at 4 a.m. and took the oath of enlistment at 1 a.m. the following morning. Two rough days to go off to Air Force Basic Military training.
When I was there in 1977 it was a six week program and the physical fitness standards were a joke. You had to run 1.5 miles in 16:30 in order to graduate and move on to your next round of training. Today that time is 11:57 to meet the minimum standard. To be an honor graduate you have to run that 1.5 miles in 8:55. When I was running five miles a day back in the early 1990s I could barely manage 9 minute miles when running a 10K. This standard is even faster. You have to do at least 45 push-ups in one minute to graduate. Honor grad requires 62 push-ups. 50 sit-ups in one minute to graduate, 70 and 4 pull-ups for honor grad. Clearly the physical standards are tougher. The program is now eight weeks. More training. Higher standards.
But the funny thing about it is, in time of war, standards are relaxed. In time of peace, especially given the fondness for cutting spending on the military when it isn't engaged in a conflict abroad, the standards are raised even higher. In my day they referred to this as a Quality Force program. Weed out those who barely maintained standards and keep those who exceeded them.
38 years since I first heard a training instructor standing only inches from my face yelling at me at the top of his lungs. I was scared. It is okay to be scared. Just get the job done. I did.
"I mentioned in an earlier entry that August 8th was the 36th anniversary of the day I went off to Air Force Basic Training. In my mind it is still one of the longest, most difficult days of my life. I showed up seven pounds over the maximum allowable weight (I thought I'd mentioned this in the blog before but I couldn't find it, so forgive me if I'm repeating myself). I was given three choices. Go home and forget about the Air Force. Go home, lose the seven pounds and then come back a few days later; but I'd lose the G.I. Bill (which was my reason for enlisting). Or lose seven pounds that day and once I had weighed in, they'd accept me and put me on the plane. I'd probably be overweight on arrival in Texas when I was processing in, but then they'd just put me into their "fat person" program.
My father was there with me and he said choice three was my only choice (the other two involved returning home and since I lived with him, he removed those two other options by saying he'd kick me out). So I ran. Around the big block the enlistment place was on in those days. He sat there as I passed every ten minutes or so. Sometimes I'd vary and go an extra block in a direction at random.
Eventually I'd sweated out enough weight. I was put on a plane and the rest is history. Am I glad my father insisted I do that? Yes. Was it a major pain in the ass to do? Oh yeah!"
Now it's August 8, 2015. 38 years since the morning I arrived at the old Los Angeles Armed Forces Entrance and Examination Station on Wilshire Boulevard. I'd spent nearly 24 hours there the prior December in order to enlist under the old Deferred Enlistment Program. The way it worked was you signed your name to a contract and took the oath of enlistment, but you didn't actually enter the service until after you finished high school. I arrived there on that New Year's Eve Eve morning at 4 a.m. and took the oath of enlistment at 1 a.m. the following morning. Two rough days to go off to Air Force Basic Military training.
When I was there in 1977 it was a six week program and the physical fitness standards were a joke. You had to run 1.5 miles in 16:30 in order to graduate and move on to your next round of training. Today that time is 11:57 to meet the minimum standard. To be an honor graduate you have to run that 1.5 miles in 8:55. When I was running five miles a day back in the early 1990s I could barely manage 9 minute miles when running a 10K. This standard is even faster. You have to do at least 45 push-ups in one minute to graduate. Honor grad requires 62 push-ups. 50 sit-ups in one minute to graduate, 70 and 4 pull-ups for honor grad. Clearly the physical standards are tougher. The program is now eight weeks. More training. Higher standards.
But the funny thing about it is, in time of war, standards are relaxed. In time of peace, especially given the fondness for cutting spending on the military when it isn't engaged in a conflict abroad, the standards are raised even higher. In my day they referred to this as a Quality Force program. Weed out those who barely maintained standards and keep those who exceeded them.
38 years since I first heard a training instructor standing only inches from my face yelling at me at the top of his lungs. I was scared. It is okay to be scared. Just get the job done. I did.
posted by me at 7:57 PM
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