I went back to Lackland Air Force Base to officiate my friend's retirement from active duty. I also had the opportunity to visit the old and new dorms/dormitories and attend a basic training graduation. Go Air Force!
I started basic on June 10 1970 we were in New barracks but not like those ,52 years later quite a bit different , made tsgt before getting out in 1978 vietnam, Germany Idaho, great 8 years.
I had 31 years in the Air Force active guard and reserve. A career of duty, sacrafice and adventure. For those of you going in, remember, YOU CHOSE THIS! Service before self. What you get should be because of what you give! You'll hear endless repetition of integrity and excellence. It won't mean anything until you actually apply them to yourself and how you do things. A long career or short, you can be proud that you served.
My dad served in the Army was in WW2 . He retired in 1964 passed away 2008. The military is nothing like it use to be, now a days I'm shocked when I meet someone that served time. Back in the 60' and 70's you can tell if a guy just got done with boot camp.
Was there in 82, 3763rd student squadron flight 187, stayed in the RH&T dorns. Everything was self sufficient, orderly room,classrooms, chow hall. My TI was Tsgt Rhodes, . Things have changed over the years
Wow. WOW. Those new dorms are gorgeous. I still remember the old ones so fresh. I like the open partition between the bays, and the windows! Wow, the windows! (Edit due to not watching the entire video.) OMG, the showers! HOLY SHIT, the OPEN CENTER "courtyard" under the facility. AMAZING CHANGES.
They had just finished the first building of the new dorms and were starting the second when I was in BMT in 2012, good stuff. I was a chapel guide and got to enjoy breakfast in one of the new dorm kitchens, it was so much nicer!! Good memories.
When I graduated basic in Sep '78, we had a grand total of two parents at our graduation parade. It was a Mom & Dad of one of our guys who was from San Antonio. All this feel good family day stuff didn't come around 'til much later on with the helicopter parents generation.
That's TSgt Hernandez. I knew I recognized him. I had the privilege of having him as our brother flight MTI when I went through BMT in 2010. He spent a lot of time with our flight (551) while at the 320TRS. It is a shame to see him retire. He was an amazing Instructor. Congratulations to him on his retirement!
Awesome! I hope he leaves a great influence on the students he instructs.He was a great role model to our flight at times when he toned down the MTI attitude. Of course I can't forget the entertainment value when he would scream at a trainee for doing something wrong. I even remember when he grabbed a chair and stood on it in the chow hall while a few instructors were yelling at a trainee. Nothing but great memories. I do wish him well on his new endeavors.!
I remember Lackland AFB vividly. Believe it or not, I was assigned to Lackland temporarily for my Mess Management Specialist (aka cook) training in the navy. Back in the late 90's and early 2000's, the navy cooks and the air force cooks (Services) trained along side each other in a consolidated fashion. Us navy guys and gals had to stay in the old Medina barracks while the air force got their own suites. Every time we wore our navy whites we would stick out like a sore thumb. The air force stared at us like we were aliens, especially when we would march to school in our foreign cadence. It's all good, though. Hey, I did get to date an attractive Air Force Reserve girl. That was cool. And I met a lot of good people and established some good friendships from both AF and navy. It does not matter if you're AF or navy --- because it's all gravy. Peace.
Come July 13 2021, will be 40 years that I was bused into Lackland AFB for Basic Training. I had 20 years of good memories and proud to serve. Squadron 3743, flt 25. T.I. SSgt Harris and Sgt Dasher two of the toughest female instructor. After training was over, those of us who had tech school together we said we had a lot of respect for our trainers. they changed our lives forever.
You might think that atrium in the new dorms is awesome but you cant hear squat while marching in there! We had some epic marching meltdowns take place in there hahaha...you would have several MTIs yelling, marching etc so it was hard to make out your MTIs commands. The guide on would hear one command the back of the flight would hear another! lol half the flight would go one way the other half a different way and then you would get blown up for not following their commands. At least 3 of our guide ons got fired in there lol. 323rd TRS, Flt 140 Anytime, Anyplace, Mustangs! :)
yeah around dinner time when flights were practicing drill and getting to chow was the loudest and you couldnt hear shit.. it got pretty chaotic down there
Kid Sergi My flight made SSgt Wilson lose her military bearing once! haha. We did an open ranks and a guy in the front was too close to the guy next to him so he did a little tea pot extension with his arm instead of extending it behind the person.....She turned away from us and busted out laughing!!! hahaha. Come 8th week my flight and our MTIs had a good laugh about that one...lol
the weather was perfect. A little cold some days, but i wasn't that much of an issue. Trust me, it's so much better than summer. It looks like feb. 4th is your grad date. No promises though.
Jeremy Brunn same with any branch's bootcamp/bmt, at least to my standards they're all a walk in the park. it's just these dorms look fuckin cake compared to when i went through. wasn't really comparing the difficulty
+Swift Uesi i just graduated bmt dec 4 and i have all the clarification you guys need. there are 4 new sqaudrons but one is not finished. the new squadrons that are finished are the 323rd mustangs, 320th gators, and 321st warthogs. the final one will be the 322nd after it is finished.(the drill pad and pt pad are not done yet) the old dorms that are still in use are the 322nd eagles, and 331st wolf's i believe is the name lol. and the 326th bulldogs was recently renovated for airmans week which every airman goes to in the 8th of training after they graduate. also there is one other old sqaudron that is used for trainees on medhold, trainees in the get fit program and trainees that are seperating.
Sorry to be negative but i will bet that half of these BMT graduates will not make it through tech school. Some of these airmen are going to do something stupid that will cost them.
Nah, don't be because it's the truth. Just people airmen make it through bmt doesn't mean they'll make it through tech school for 2 reasons. Not studying or dking something really dumb.
That never happened to me haha prolly bc I was at keesler. There were drug raids on a monthly basis though. Also the curfew was midnight instead of later. Plus we actually had to do shit on a down Friday smh. When I went there were very few washbacks from when I was first there to the airmen coming in. So I guess there's a good sign there except when they can't hold their liquor at an on base club... Or that airmen in personnel and finance buy 40 inch tvs...
thats why they implemented airmans week in the 8th week of training to teach new airman right from wrong. the ti's at airmans week said they have heard that there is a difference in airman who didnt go through airmans week and who did.
