Category: basic training

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Mishaps Happen in Basic Training That Give you Lasting Memories

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Strange happenings at our National Capital. They still have thousands of National Guardsmen guarding behind a huge barrier. This looks more like a war zone than our Capital.

The House of Represenitives closed down their session on Wednesday because they heard “Rumors,” that the capital was going to attacked by “domestic terrorist.” Nothing happen, and nothing has happened since that day.

So far the has been a cost of over $500,000 dollars to keep the Guard there. That comes out of our pockets my friend.

Don’t get me wrong. I support the National Guard 100%, but this seems a true overkill.

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I promised you that I would share another excerpt from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

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I actually have two excerpts. Aren’t I a nice guy???

One of the parts of training in Basic Training was to throw a grande. The instructor explained to each recruit how to pull the pin and throw the grande. Seemed simple enough for me.

I watch as each recruit pulled the pin and threw the grande. Looked like easy peesy.

Then I was second in line for my throw. They guy in front of me heard the instructions, pulled the pin and let the grande fall out of his hands right in the bunker. The instructor grabbed the recruit, and they both leapt out of the bunker, just before the grande exploded.

That got me a little apprehensive, of course. It was my term. The instructor had calmed down, and was ready to teach me how to throw the grande. He even joked about the mishap from before. I had no idea what he said.

He handed me the grande. I pulled the pin, and threw the grande. It was a success.

But, I will never forget the guy who had to be saved by another soldier.

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Another fun thing during basic was to walk through the “Gas Chamber.”

This was a very frightening experience for many of the men. Some didn’t want to go through. Of course the drill instructors helped them change their minds.

It was my turn to walk through. They made me take off my mask, and tell them my military ID number. I stumbled several times trying to get it out.

1962852, NO! 196 3854 NO! 19635854. The last one was the correct one, and they let me go out the other side.

When I got there, the men were all coughing, and tears coming down their faces. I joined them.

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Time for bed check. How are you doing? Did you have some bad experiences while enlisted? Did things go wrong for you?

Not to worry!! There are over 11, 600 fellow veterans on this site that have your back.

However, if the heat is too hot; the water too deep, and the mountains too hard to climb, GET HELP!!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

Never face this, not so friendly world, alone.

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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Basic Training in The Military Can be Interesting and Quite a Rude Awakening

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I have had a drastic drop in subscribers recently. From 2-24-21 to 3-1-21 I have only had 7 new subscribers, when I averaged over 20 a day.

Am I doing something wrong? Are you not happy with something I am writing? Please let me know. The whole purpose of this site is to reach out to my fellow veterans and give them hope.

Please make comments in the comment area below.

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I am going to share some more excerpts from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of life. with you today. They are from different parts of my military career.

In Basic Training, back in my day, we still had draftees. we had two in my platoon. They were not happy campers. The rest of us who enlisted finally told them to shut up and serve.

One of the draftees wouldn’t stop. He was a Native American. He was a good sized drink of water. Looked kind of like a linebacker.

The drill sergeant finally had enough of his whining and told him to straighten up and serve his country proudly. The Native American told him where to go.

The drill sergeant then told him to come into his room at the end of the barracks. It was pretty quiet for a while, and then all hell broke loose from that room. You could hear crashing of things, grunts of pain; cursing, and screaming.

Then it got very quiet again. We all figured that our drill sergeant had been beaten up, because he was 5’9′ and couldn’t have weighed more than 150 pounds. The Native American was 6 foot tall and around 200 pounds.

The door slowly came open and out staggered our drill sergeant. He looked like he had hit by a truck, but he was still standing. We all rushed to look in his room and there was the Native American out cold on the floor.

We had nothing but respect for our drill sergeant after that. Even the native american respected him.

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While I was deployed to South Korea, they gave us a thing called R&R. (Rest and recuperation.)

It was a week of going to Tokyo, Japan. All paid with free room and board. My very first vacation.

A buddy and I got there and settled down. The next day we went touring the area. We saw Japanese flower gardens. Pagodas, and lots of shopping areas. We were awestruck. Nothing like this back in the states!

Later in the week, we decided to venture into a bar that could be considered a disco bar later on in the states. We sat down and had a couple of beers.

Then an announcer who spoke English came on and announced that there was a belly dancer coming out to dance for us.

He went on to say that they were having a contest. The contest was to see who could hold onto the belly dancer’s hips the longest while she shimmied.

The dancer came out. She was beautiful and a caucasian girl. She started dancing around the circle of tables. At each table she would stop and invite a soldier to try to hold on to her. There were many who tried, but none that could hold on very long.

Then she came to my table. I had way too much the drink by that time and accepted the challenge. I put my hands on her hips and she began to shimmy. I kept a hold of her until she had to stop to rest.

I had won the contest. Then the announcer said what the prize was. YOU GET FREE DRINKS FOR THE REST OF THE EVENING!

Just what I didn’t need!! I also looked at my hands and they were full of blisters. The pain was setting in. What did I do about it? Had several more beers. I do not recall the rest of the evening. My buddy must have gotten me back to our hotel.

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More excerpts coming in my next post.

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How are things going for you.

Was your basic training interesting, or a nightmare?

Did you have time off when you were deployed, or did you sleep in a trench?

Some good things and some very bad things right?

Fear not!

There are ver 11,580 fellow veterans here who have your back.

BUT! If you can not cope with our world today, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7.

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

Never, ever, take on this world alone.

1-800-272-8255 Option # 1

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know about it.

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Following Orders Was a Must in the MIlitary, because Your life Depended on it

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No current news today

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Here are a couple more basic training stories:

My company went together to the grenade range.

It looked fairly easy. Just just be in the bunker, pull pin, and throw. Well of course, the guy right ahead of me had his grenade slip out of his hands and the instructor got him away before he could get injured.

So, I wasn’t as confident when I stepped in.He reminded me what happened to the soldier ahead of me, and repeated, “Take grenade, pull pin, and throw.”

I did exactly what he said to do, and I was successful. What I learned from that was, not matter how cocky you think you are be alert, and do exactly what you are told. That was the common thought throughout basic training.

My drill sergeant was a feisty guy.

He was only 5’7″ at best, but he definitely in charge. He would get in your face and scream if you did something wrong. He seemed very angry at those times, but I later realized that he was just trying to make us good soldiers.

He spent one Sunday working over me verbally. He had me go out in the parade ground and dig a big hole. He handed me his cigarette and told me to bury it there. I was able to do that with much sweat and grunting.

When I was finished burying it he said, “Dig it up again!” Al I said back to him was “Yes, Sargeant.” Of course, I had to fill up the hole again.

Towards the end of basic, he came to talk to me privately. He said, “I have been very hard on you. I wanted to see what you were made of. I liked what I saw, so I am nominating your for soldier of the month.”

I wasn’t selected as Soldier of the Month, by just the honor of being nominated was enough. He went on to name me an honor guard. We were in several parades.

What I learned from all of that was that there are times when you have to learn to accept orders, and do them quickly. That really prepared me for active duty.

Both of these stories are in my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In an Out of the Trenches of Life. Many more are there.

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How was your basic training?

Fun and Games, or do you have some bad memories from it?

You are not alone, my friend. There are over 11,500 fellow veterans here who have your back.

I remember a few guys who didn’t make it through basic. It was just too much for them.

If you have had some not so good memories from the military, and they control you, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7. It has highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are ok.

Do not take on this not so friendly world alone.

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

___________________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know about it.