I went to basic training at Fort Dix, Jan 1984, I loved the unknown always worried about not making it. I graduated and enjoyed a great 24 year carrier with the US Army.
Wow. What a mindbender to find this. I was in A-3-3 from Oct '85 to Jan '86. Drill Sgt Lemon was awesome. Also had Drill Sgts Maldonado and Davis. They were really cool. Never forget the smell of CS and having snot and tears running down your face.
I started there in July 1985. I can't remember which company now. It's been so long ago but I remember all the men that became good friends there. Pvt. Humphries, I will never forget you helping me out on that long march when I had to carry my combat buddy's gear back. Never forget the guy who didn't get his gas mask on and ran into that tree. I felt so bad for you. Never forget tricking the whole platoon that the drill sgt. said I had to be at the front of the chow line every meal. LOL! Front of the line most of basic training. Miss those days but more importantly I miss the friends I made then.
@@Redmow51 I was in mid june - mid august c-33 I still have that year book and my drill sargent was drill sargent Layton, lol about the chow line, its a thousand wonders you didn't get blanket party for tricky your chow line lol , we had one guy who refused to take a shower he wasn't in my room but in formation you could smell him a mile away! his room mates got sick of it n gave him a proper shower one night wire scrub brushes included, I still remember his last name n where he was from but won't mention it, but it was awesome he took his shower every day after that, one day we got back to the barracks late, not much time for showers, the drill sargents stood outside the showers n counted 30 seconds soap off or not you had to get out for the next guy to get his 30 second shower, off course we or most smarter guys just washed off what was most important parts, by then our time was up anyway, heck i was just happy they made time for at least some kind of shower that day! fun times n memorys i never will forget !
@@AmericanPatriot-cw9xe We forced some guy to take a shower. Don't remember his name but we all stood with him to help him pass the last PT Test. No, I was on good terms with everyone in our platoon. At the end, a couple of the guys knew I lied about being up front of the line but they didn't care. I was a skinny kid and they wanted me to have the time to eat. We really only had 1 guy no one liked and he got booted out in the 3rd week if I remember right. He painted the entire company area until he was released from the Army.
@@Redmow51 Thats Great Team work in basic training to all stand by n show support to help him pass his Pt test, in ait we had pillow fights between the upstairs where i was and the down stairs about every few nights one floor would sneak to the other floor in the middle of the night and stand by shout pillow fight as we hit them or they hit us first then it was a few minutes of few for each floor, this went on for a few weeks or so until one guy put a can of kiwi shoe polish in his pillow case and gave a dude a black eye n spoiled our fun, he ended up getting a hell of a blankey party because he attacked a much respected dude on our floor a very cool dude, most guys would have kicked his ass, but he was a green beret and would have destroyed the kiwi guy for sure, we was at ft sam houston in san antonio texas for combat medic training which was a blast for ait n most of the time as a mos back then it was 91A combat medic, now days not even sure what they changed it too. had great times in the army n other times i work to forget
Thanks for posting this, Rodriguez. Seems like just yesterday. I was 5th Training Brigade Soldier of the Cycle in October, 1985... A-5-5 Avengers! I got to make a speech during graduation on Doughboy Field. A handful of us who went through basic and AIT at Ft. Dix got sent to the same unit in Germany. I'm still in touch with one of the guys to this day, over 30 years later. He paid me a visit about a year ago... first time we'd seen each other since Germany in 1987. Good memories...
Took basic twice there. July 56 C Third Training Regt, Oct 1963 E Third Training Regt. Then Inf AIT and on to OCS. At second basic I wore Basic Airborne wings which got me a lot of looks and more questions. After showing DD214 showing Inearned those, my cadre showed pride telling other instructors I was entitled.
I went through basic at Ft Dix in 1979, and it was the real deal then. If you were a problem recruit, they would literally take you off in a private setting and beat the hell out of you. It was all calculated and the way real soldiers are hardened.
Was in A-3-3 third platoon Rangers. I don't ever regret going in. I am PVT Roach. Retired from the military in 2008. Retired as a SSG. served in Three overseas deployments. And had completed three tours of duty in korea. The army was one of the best things I had ever done. God Bless my fellow veterans. And God bless america. Who would have ever guessed I would ever see myself from 1985 in 2022!!!
Thanks to the drill SGT's . They were hard but fair. Would love to see if today's recruits would make it though when I did. If I would have a guess I would say no!!!!
summer of 85 for me Drill Sargent Layton tough as nails, fair, but nothing soft like this film, wehad vietnam vet drill sargents, n they trained us hard they way to be n what i wanted
Was there first part of 86 Co B is all I remember was Bravo Bushwhackers! I remember DS Tell, Lumpkin and several others I can picture but can’t recall their names.
Omg!!! They were my drill sergeants also along with drill sergeant maderos.. may have spelled his name wrong.. omg!!! I thought Godwin was pretty cool.
I went thru basic starting in January of 1990. Looking at this video I could almost smell the wet stinky dirty BDU's and the boot polish. I didn't even know half way thru basic that we had laundry facilities in our building. The Drills actually made everyone do laundry one weekend because we stunk so bad, that was the only time I washed my uniforms and tees and underwear and socks. lol. God I miss those days.. they went like a whirlwind. Bombarded with everything imaginable, always confused, tired and hungry, trying to keep up. Made friends with guys i still think about to this day, of course there was no social media back then so that was the only time I saw those guys. I decided awhile back that I want those guys to live in my memory just the way they were back then. If I could go back in time for just a moment, that would be one of the times on my list.
I went there in May 1990 the day after I graduated high school the checkered green force in the barracks The red themed chow hall -- and the distinct smell of pine sol stil to this day takes me back to DIX
*I went to Fort Dix Basic Training in September 1980. I served B-1-5 and was Platoon Leader. I will never forget my experience under Drill Seargant Kenworthy. Even to this day, I have never forgotten Basic Training. It's one of those things you never forget*
same company here that summer. MadDogs 2nd plt Couple DS I remember where Spurlock/Jilek/sills//Mills/Jacobo .. Finally Retired from Air NG in 2013,. turns out the old barracks are now a federal prison.
I did my basic training in 1981. The drill sergeant did not play when I was in. They called you every name in the book and would kick you in the butt. If you didn’t do what they said do. The training I received and the way they were treated in 1985 was similar to how I was treated. Today it’s a different story in basic training.
83, D-5-3, 1st platoon . Loved it !! Go Delta force !!! Our drill Sgt. Was stationed at the " tomb of the unknown soldier " after us. The highest honored post a soldier can receive !!! Best order barker I've seen to this day !!!
@@javiersepulveda2298 You’ve got a better memory than mine for names, lol ! You must’ve been in the next group given the time. Damn close, lol ! I’d have to get the book out to remember who my D.I.’s names were. One was a black female from I think the Virgin Islands. Before that, I had no clue that there could even be female drills working with male trainees.
Actually, they must have a high turnover, or something, because I don’t even recognize those names at all. A couple got transferred because they were sleeping together, one had a trainee drop a flash grenade, and it blew up close to his hand throwing it getting burned bad, another through a trainee out a window and we never seen him again, and the one I was talking about was transferred to the tomb of the unknown soldier, so, you may have had completely different drills in the company. @@javiersepulveda2298
I had a Drill Ssg Maderos and he was evil I still remember him and what he looked like and still can hear his voice.. but he made sure that I was a soldier when I graduated and most of the discipline I have today it was because of him.
I THINK I WAS IN DELTA 6-2 JAN. 26, 1972. MY SENIOR DRILL SGT. WAS SFC WHITEHEAD AND SSG SHORT. I WILL NEVER FORGET THEM. IT WAS THE MOST CHALLENGING THING I'VE EVER DONE.
Had to dig out my graduation book, B 2/39 1988. I do remember DS Tony Sirmons though, ran across him a year or so later after he got off the trail, pretty nice guy when he wasn't wearing that brown round HAHA!
1981 FT Dix....Alpha 4-3 .1st platoon (First Force) Thank you SGT. Williams! for turning me into a real man. I understand now after 40 yrs ago what in the hell you and SFC Benjamin were doing . After I came out ,I had no idea what to do so...I joined The California National Guard.
What's crazy is that I went through OSUT in Benning in 2004, but this makes me nostalgic. Hell, even when I got to Fort Bragg, these buildings bring back memories. Most of the buildings that look like that here, yes I've been at Bragg that long, are gone now. But something about this harkens back memories for some reason. I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. *Edit* That includes some CG reading off of a script because he knows he should, rather than wants to or has something meaningful to say. LOL
I remember a drill sergeant Gilbert and a drill sergeant Peters and a drill sergeant Hand. and a female black drill sergeant who was really short but I don't remember her name.
I was there 10/14/68-12/22/68 3rd BCT Brigade Pioneers Company B 2nd Battalion. This is tame to what our Cadre put us through. WETSU!!! We trained6 days a week due to abbreviated training due to Christmas. My Company broke the pro park record at that time.
I was there summer of 85 from mid june to mid august Charlie company C-3-3 Drill Sargent Layton a hell of one of the Army's greatest Drill Sargent ever ! , I was in the wolfpack platoon, "Proficency moral discipline espri we are the wolf pack none better than we", after 11th grade during summer vacation when I was 17 my mom had to sign permission for me to enlist under the Army Resever split option Program, ft sam houston the following summer to become a combat medic, enlisted jan 23rd 1985 exactly 2 months to the day I turned 17 I took my oath that never expires , Honorable discharged Jan 23rd 1993, Best Thing and Proudest thing that I did in my lifetime other than raise two wonderful kids who are awesome in their careers also, with my Drill Sargent Layton setting an example of how to be great leader n a man hard telling how my life would have went because my dad died when I was 16 and I had two younger brothers at home to give them a better role model than who I was before enlisting in the Us Army, I remember every single candence , every time i had to do push ups n asked permision to due more, and every event that happened during basic I was young and gung ho, I neve thought of joining any other service because I admired my dads brother who served proudly in Korea, even though he never talked about korea except show me funny pictures he took, and he even had the same Rifle he used in Korea or bought a duplicat, him and dad would always take me to shooting matchesn hunting and were awesome shots, but my dad n my uncle both served honorably during war time too in the Army I admired n respected them, and wanted to go the path into the army and Drill Sargent Layton I say Thank you for making and shaping us into the soldiers we hoped to become!
I Graduated Basic Training Aug 1982. Delta 3/3. My Drill Sgt’s. SSG Greenough, SGT Ortiz, SSG White. 1SG Green. CPT Moore Company Commander. I Served 22 year. Retired a MSG. I have to say I had good Sergeants.
I was there summer of 85 I was 17 in the split option program, I enlisted 2 months to the dy I turned 17 took my oath on Jan 23 1985, honorable discharged jan 23rd 1993 charlie company c-33 wolfpack, kidney cancer diagnosis last summer more likely from the contaminated ground water leaching into the a couple or so water wells according to the epa nationwide cleanup sites page all the ground water was contaminated from the fire fighting foam used by the airforce on the joint base Mcguire, I always wonder and think this is another Camp Lejune type of tragedy, they knew the wells was contaminated for several yrs before I was there and didnt put new wells in until 87 or later, I had a fun time in basic Drill Sargent Layton was my drill sargent and is a great man, he was tough as nails but fair n honest, he wa training soldiers to top perfection and I thank him to this day for making his contribution to continue creating our nations future war fighting soldiers , the cancer part for me is just part of my sacrifice for the honor of serving my country, I always wondered how many miles we marched during basic training, my left foot still feels the side effects of the marching with a stress facture, and the two mile run to graduate basic, because of needing 2 surgerys for it later on in life, I'm 52 now, but basic seems like yesterday, I love the show that plane coming in for a landing, every 20 mintues every night one would wake me up since I was on the top floor and the landing strip was right across our baracks , I only was 5'11 then and 140 lbs , i'm 6'3 now n 312 lbs, other than the foot problem and dealing with a strange rash over my whole body that was more like a giant blister from the constant bdu's rubbing it n irritating the rash ,basic was tough but yet easy for me because I was young and in shape from playing football in hs, I remember some guys fell out during road marchs n the sargents would have us pick them up and throw them head first into the back of a truck , i felt bad having to load them like that, the classic air injection guns, and seemed the guys in front of me would flinch n bleed, the gun contaminated then you step up get injected possibly with some contaminated blood, I rember as a medic giving and taking the anthrax vacines for special units going to saudi arabia for training back in 87 we took every injection they got, because we were told to go ahead n take them now, because we were just going to have to take them later, realisng then wars were planned some years in advanced, Lord only knows the terrible side effects of the vacines I given to troops thinking I was helping them, I live with quilt from it to this day for just doing my job, back then i was young n volunteered for doing extra things like that, there is a great video on vaxed you tube about another medic same time period telling her experience about it too and first hand also seeing immediate side effects in a few soldiers, again we signed up for it and was Government property, I never complain just explain, we all have our own service memorys to deal with, I have good n bad memorys some I won't even mention the public don't need to know and i wish i could forget, would i enlist again? you betcha it was a honor to serve my country proudly, if 18 Id enlist in a heatbeat, maybe even the coast guard it looks fun to me and i love boats and they protect our nations water ways and save many lifes which is a great feeling!
A-1-3 the best you'll ever see. We're head and shoulders above the rest. We're alpha company. We're the best. Yaaa alpha, if you can't hack it, PACK IT! 1984
I took basic there in March 1980. Delta 3-5. Ssg Stewart and sgt E5 Fernandez. Then in 84 was permant party there til 86. Still trying to figure out who I pissed off lol I had asked for Germany
I stumbled upon this video and thought how cool it was to see ole Fort Dix. Then I thought. "Hey. I was there in '85 and in A-3-3. Imagine my total surprise to see my fellow 1st Platoon Warlords at the end! Andrew, were you in A company?
Fort dix is only a national guard base now right? I jumped out of there before and i heard basic training used to go on there. Curious when they stopped basic training there.
1st, thanks to Andrew R. for posting this. I went basic training at Fort Dix. June 1985. Assigned to 4th Platoon, 1st Battalion, third basic training brigade. (Buddy platoon from Boston, MA). I'm reaching out. Was anyone there, during that time too? Drill Sgts Roux and Locklear.
Holy shit dude, I was in D-1-3 June 1985 also- Roux and Locklear, the senior drill instructor was Martinez. I remember all of you guys from Massachusetts, I was one of the 3 or 4 that went on active duty.
Cold Steal Charlie C 2 5. We had a DI named SGT. Carter in 1982 we were the last group to train in Olive Drab as we got to see the new recruits in Camouflage as we were across at our AIT Barracks just across a field and we thought the new Camou was like really awesome.
Sept. 88 as well. B-3-39. Drill Sgts Francios Minot and SSG Suarez. We won honor platoon, and they treated us to pizza in the barracks. Was the best pizza we ever ate. I guess because it was hard earned. Never forget all that damned sand!
they wanted to reycle me over a stress fracture from the road march on my left foot, they didnt think i woud qualify for on the final 2 mile run with it so bad, the doctor twisted n pulled hard on my foot asking me if it hurt! i said no but felt like punching the snot out of him, because it now hurt worse than ever! the first hundered yrds of the run the pain was unbearable, then majically it went away, I figured as hard as basic was, there would be no way for me to reycle with a messed up foot n make it all the way thru, we had one small guy from texas that broke his leg n was on crutches during a big part of basic i dont know how he did it but he was my inspiration, everyone thought from the first day he wouldnt nake it thru but he proved to me a warrior id consider it a honor to have to go to war and have him fighting beside, me, hope you dont feel bad about basic, the film made it look easier than what we went thru, sounds like you may have made it thru the second go around, my sister in laws current boyfriend got recycled he hurt his knee, n didnt make it during recyle because of his knee, people get injured n not everyone won't make it thru basic but at least they tried to serve which is more than about 99 percent of the population has done or wanted to serve so my hat is off to anyone who served or tried their best, got injured , or mentally wanst able to ever make it thru, fact is they tried n that is to be greatly commended
