Do you remember your first day of basic training?

Exhausted from the trip. Slept soundly, right up until they tossed the trashcan and started kicking it around.

Will never forget it.

mine wasn't horrific at all. I was raised in a family of high strung women. So I was use to getting yelled at all the time and having things thrown at me. I joined the army thinking I was going to get a male influence in my life and I ended up getting a female DS that was built like a brick shit house. She even had the male DS pissing themselves. She made sure to get in everyone's face and when she got to me she got no reaction whatsoever. This went on all through basic and finally one day she gets in my face and ask me" WHY IS IT PRIVATE THAT I HAVE EVERYONE HERE SCARED BUT YOU?! WHY DON'T I SCARE YOU BOY?!" and I replied "You ain't met my family DS. You are making feel right at home DS" They are even more scary than you." the rest of the Dill's busted out laughing and her face started to twitch and she walked away muttering to her self. I payed for it later. after graduation she met my family(my mom, aunt, sister, grandma) and she saw how they were and came to me and whispered in my ear "I understand now private"

I when the cattle car stop in front of Delta Company 3/10 that Jun 87 at Ft. Lost Woods. We get yell at and total get off. One drill, me to move out. What do I say? Yes, sir. This drill followed me and when find me, it was push-up the ground with my face. I sure, glad that get that drill.

God, what a night. Drove 6-hours from in-processing at Fort Jackson to get to Benning. We were supposed to arrive at 1800, and didn't get there until almost 2300 hours. That red, Georgia clay just GLOWED under the lights of the baseball diamond, and we saw our Drill cadre with black t-shirts and carrying bats and mattock handles. We get all excited and start talking about a game, and I remember a single voice, quietly say, "I don't think we're gonna play any ball."

Staff Sergeant Delaney gets on the bus - a tall, VERY dark Black man - and he smiles this HUGE smile. "Welcome to Fort Benning, gentlemen, I'm SSG Delaney..." and he went on for another minute or two about what to expect and that smile never left his face... until the MOMENT.

With the same smile, he starts, "You have fifteen seconds to get you and your gear off my bus," and the smile disappeared, "AND FOURTEEN OF THEM ARE GONE! NOW _MOOOOVE_!!!!!"

Not a person budged - we were paralyzed with fear from the transformation of nice, cuddly SSG Delaney into this horrid monster. "I SAID _MOOOOOVE_!!!!!" and he cocked back his mattock handle and took aim at the poor bastard in the first seat.

Yes, I am aware that it's an exaggeration, but I still think that we all got off the bus before that blow could have landed. We were diving out of the windows and over seats...

And then things got bad... This was June, 1981, E/7/1 ITB, Sand Hill, Fort Benning.

I got an Article 15 the first day of basic training. We were at Fort Polk, LA in 1972, we were awakened at 345 to prepare for the Cattle Car ride to our Basic Company. Turn in Reception Center blankets, sheets, get shots, and WAIT...The Cattle cars showed we got in, we got out and all we heard was run, not knowing where to run, we ran around the trucks. We were given bunk assignments and diagrams as to how to set up our locker and foot locker. Instructions on how to properly make a bunk with Dust Covers. Running all day, then it comes, lights out, but wait, there is a fire guard roster, and I have 11 to Midnight, well no use in going to sleep. So, I stayed up, I was exhausted. We were on the second floor of a WWII barrack, I sat on my footlocker. A Turtle (Wanna be Drill Sergeant with a helmet liner), had climbed the fire escape, crawled through the window, snuck up behind me and asked if I was sleeping, I said no, sitting, he said sitting is the same as sleeping. I had never heard that concept. He turned me in for sleeping on Fireguard. I got an Article 15, $25 2 weeks restriction, 2 weeks extra duty, and I was the example for the UCMJ class the following week. Article 15's stayed locally on Post and did not follow you, unfortunately I took AIT at North Fort, so I had to deal with that there, left AIT promoted to PFC, there was no place to go but up after that.

I didn't realize how scary a tiny woman could be until that night. I had arrived and expected TI's to jump on my bus and start yelling at us immediately. Not the case. (this made me even more on edge). After a "fun-filled" evening of briefings and trying to figure out if I was doing the right thing to avoid trouble, I finally got sent to my new sqd. The TI was a SrA White. She was a tiny black girl. I was wearing my tshirt my recruiter had given us for being in the DEP program, because it was the nicest shirt I had. (unbeknownst to me though, this was usually a sign to TI's to be extra tough on this trainee) She yelled at me "Who told you to wear that shirt?" "No one ma'am." "No one told you to wear that shirt?? So you just decided to wear it on your own?" "Yes ma'am" (looking back I wished I had told her why I chose to wear it. Maybe she would have had a twinge of guilt lol but maybe not.) "Well take that off and turn it inside out. You aren't in my air force yet!" off came the shirt and turned it inside out and back on it went. Laying in bed that night I remember thinking, "What did I get myself into...not like I had much of an option and it is too late now to do anything about the past."

The bus driver that dropped my group off, dropped us off in the wrong spot. He dropped us off at the actual quarterdeck instead of where we were suppose to be dropped off. we ended up surprising the RDC's because we were also the first group to show up.other than that it was a lot of sitting and standing as we were getting our stuff issued.

If AG Reception counts? Yes Sir, I do. A CPT. Stillman said "we were a fine looking group of men" to SFC Hulka. Next, we sat down for a lecture on 'goats with stinky butts' then he told us, "he and Uncle Sam were the same". The last few minutes of lecture was "how to walk, talk, shoot, ----, like American Soldiers". I was No/Go on that last skill, until some Corporal yelled "GRENADE"! Honestly all that took place about six months later, but I do enjoy seeing the inside of "Fort Arnold's" Reception from time to time!

April, 1991. Fort Jackson, SC.
**Oh-dark-hunnert. (aka, WTF-time-o-clock??)

Bus pulls up in the dark. Absolute silence... And then........... FIRST.FIVE.MINUTES.
"MCGIRR, WHERE'S YOUR SH*T?? WHY DON'T YOU HAVE YOUR SH*T?? FIND YOUR SH*T, MCGIRR!!!" ((Insert varying endless iterations of same concept))

(("I want to be home. What was I thinking? How was this a good idea??")) Good times. O_o