Do you know the military history of your basic training unit?

Here's a little history from my PI training platoon DIs. One of them SSgt Lameruiex was in the 1965 Dominican Republic fracas. At the height of the shooting he and another Marine were up on a rooftop intentionally drawing sniper fire. Every time he was fired on he would stand up and wave a rather large red flag. Those of you from the Marine Corps will recognize this as "Maggie's Drawers" that signifies a miss on the rifle range at PI. It is the ultimate embarrassment for a Marine rifleman. He was featured in either Look or Life magazine in a series of photos pulling this stunt. This is what Marine DIs are made of!

Army - Delta Co., 4th Bn, 10th Infantry Regiment at Fort Leonard Wood in 1994.
Air Force - Hotel Flight, Commissioned Officers Training at Maxwell AFB in 2006.
Navy - Sierra Company, Officers Development School at Naval Station Newport in 2009.

I know I'm a glutton for punishment. I've been through initial entry training 3 different times in 3 different services. I think I'm done jumping around though. At 43 years old I don't think they'll let me join up anywhere else. Although I am currently the chaplain for a Marine artillery battalion and as a Navy chaplain I can serve with the Coast Guard also, so maybe I'll get all 5 branches under my belt. :)

MCRD - Trains Marines.

I know somebody out there can tell us about the days when cavalrymen rode triceratops.

I was assigned to B-2-1 at Fort Benning, GA in April of 1980. The unit was specifically designed as a training unit and had no real historical lineage. The most important historical fact was that we were trained at Harmony Church. It doesn't exist anymore. It was all WWII barracks with company mess halls and a real "old Army" feel to it. I was 17 years old and that place made me a man. Running down to Victory Lake and PT conducted by Drill Sergeants on the old PT stands. I went back for my Grandson's graduation in 2014. I took him there to see where the "old man" went to infantry training. Harmony Church was gone! All that was left was a broken company street and everything else was covered with pine trees. It was a sad thing to see. That part of the Army was long gone. The place where I became a man...gone in structures but not in spirit. I swear I could hear the old training units singing cadence in the wind in the trees. Good bye Harmony Church. I'll always carry your spirit with me.

SFC Mark Merino, I was in D-3-1 at Fort Jackson (Tank Hill), SC, beginning 11NOV69 and ending 16JAN70. More specifically, I was the acting squad leader for 3rd Squad, 1st Platoon, Delta Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Basic Combat Training Brigade. This was before the regimental affiliation process created all that rich history!

In reality, “the Army just resurrected inactivated organizations to ‘create’ lineage and history through the Regimental affiliation system, implemented in 1981.” Old D-3-1, I'm sure was rolled into either the 165th or the 193rd Infantry Brigades.

Another example is, when service members go to jump school now, they're attached to the 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which was part of the 82nd Airborne Division during WWII. However, when I went to the same jump school in MAR-APR70, I was attached to the 47th Company, 4th Student Battalion, the School Brigade. Not quite as exotic is it?!”

Smoke and mirrors!
SGT Mark Anderson CSM Charles Hayden SSG Robert Webster

I was in 1/38th, Harmony Church, Fort Benning, GA. "Rock of the Marne". The 38th formed after the civil was also as an all black unit. After serving in WWI, WWII and Korea, it eventually ended up with TRADOC in the late 1980s. Now it is assigned with 4th ID @ FT Carson.

Here's some history for 2nd Bn 58th Inf (I was a Drill Sergeant with this unit 85-87)

Echo and Foxtrot Companies deployed to Vietnam as Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol Companies assigned to the 4th Infantry Division (July 5th, 1968 - February 1, 1969) and 101st Airborne Division (January 10, 1968 – February 1, 1969), respectively.

In May 1987, the 58th Infantry Regiment was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Training Brigade, Harmony Church, Fort Benning, Georgia, which was subsequently re-designated as the 198th Infantry Brigade.

I'm a Sailor don't think we have basic training "Units" as such. I was Company 443 Battalion 5 RTC Orlando, FL. Now my CC Company Commander was a CT Cryptologic Technician and I went into the same field and well versed in the History of my Community from the Black Chamber in New York to the On the Roof Gang in Washington DC to the Puzzle Palace Ft Meade Md.

I went to Basic in the Marine Corps. It's a little different there. Basically, you have 4 Recruit Training Battalions (RTBN). I think it was 2 in the early 80's when I was there. each with a certain number of companies. The number of companies changes based on demand. The History of USMC training units are all the same.....training units. Typically, you would have a designation like Platoon 1127, A Co., 1st RTBN.