The End Draws Near

My mood improved dramatically as April 6th, 1973 drew closer. That was my final day of basic training at Lackland AFB... At the beginning every moment had felt like an eternity. It was like "Groundhog Day". We woke up every morning stuck in hell, and no matter what we did we couldn't change the outcome... But as April approached it became undeniably clear that it was actually going to end.

One of the "rites of passage" I haven't mentioned yet was going to the "career facility" on base to start the paperwork for our future job/training assignments. (I think that was around the 4th week or so)... I had enlisted for 6 years which meant I had a guaranteed career field (ATC Radar Repair), but most of the guys didn't get their assignments until the final week of basic. (Sometimes it was one of their preferences, often it wasn't.)

Aside: When one guy found out he was going to be a Security Policeman he started running all over the dorm yelling "You're under arrest!" and pretending to shoot everyone... And I was like "They are seriously going to give him a loaded weapon???"

But the main thing I remember from the career facility was that it was totally staffed with civilian women. (I hadn't seen one "close up" for over a month.) BTW: This was the dark ages (before computers) so everything was typewritten and I remember the room being filled with the distinctive clacking of typewriters. (I don't think my children have ever heard that sound...)
I ended up at the desk of an Hispanic woman in her late 20s (wearing way too much eye makeup) and I remember thinking that under ordinary circumstances I wouldn't have given her a second look, but after more than a month of basic training being that close to her was almost intoxicating - she could not have been more attractive to me. (Hmm, I wonder if that had something to do with how much I missed my mother?)
She also could not have been more icy or distant (she never once made eye contact)... Then it occurred to me that she probably spent her entire day dealing with young men staring at her like a hungry dog eying a slab of meat... I bet that got really old after a while :-)

And some more random memories:

One of the places we were allowed to go during the last couple of weekends was a cafeteria operated by the BX (base exchange). And the main thing I remember about it was the jukebox (I really missed listening to music), and specifically, the song "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder. (One of my all time favorites - it had reached  #1 shortly before I started basic)...
Also - this one time there was a huge black airman there and whenever anyone played a country song he'd walk over and unplug the jukebox... Now - although I agreed with his taste in music I thought it was an incredibly rude (and potentially dangerous) thing to do... Yeah - things got pretty "heated" and I was really not in the mood to get stuck in the middle of race riot. (There was still a lot of tension back in 1973.)

Another aside: I cannot recall a single race related incident in our flight. (Nor was there a single theft - or any incident of any sort.) There had been some "unease" at first but it dissipated quickly. A few weeks into basic one of the guys who had spent his whole life in Harlem (and didn't trust anybody) said to me "You know... You're alright!" (That is actually one of my best memories from basic). Yeah - when it came right down to it everyone turned out to be pretty cool...

Next random memory: There was a guy (Airman Tolson) in the flight who could type over 110 words per minute with 100% accuracy. (That's insanely fast on an electric typewriter.) He ended up being a male admin (commonly known as a "titless WAF" back in the day - yeah, not very politically correct...)

And a final note: Late February to early April turned out to be the perfect time to be at Lackland... Not too hot, and not too cold... I just checked the historical records, and 1973 was the wettest year ever for San Antonio (52 inches total, 1.5 in March) so it must have rained during those 6 weeks, but I honestly don't remember it... I was just glad that I wasn't there for Christmas. We heard rumors that the TIs had made everyone sling their laundry bag over their shoulder and march around the building chanting "Ho! Ho! Ho!"... I'm not sorry I missed that :-)

All that remains now is to cover graduation and sum it all up - and that will be the topic of my next post.