Conclusions

On the morning of Friday April 6, 1973 I awoke with a sense of relief, and disbelief... After 6 weeks of Air Force basic training it was finally going to be over.

But before I get to that, I just realized that I've left out a very significant event from the final week: the 1.5 mile run... Long story short - if you didn't finish in less that 12 minutes you didn't complete basic training... Now, that may not sound particularly fast, but it's actually about 2/3 the pace of an Olympic marathoner. And when you factor in combat boots (and asthma) it wasn't easy at all. (I was more worried about that run than anything else during basic.)
Actually, they had prepped us pretty well - we had started at 1/2 mile and gradually increased the distance throughout basic, so all but a couple of guys made it on the first try - myself included. (I did not want to do that again.) Afterward the drill sergeants continued working with the "stragglers" until they passed, so everybody graduated...

I don't remember a whole lot about that final Friday, but I seem to recall that the pace was fairly leisurely. At some point during the morning we changed into our dress blues (AKA bus driver uniform) for the ceremony, and that's when it became apparent that very few of us could tie a Windsor knot. That resulted in a brief period of chaos as everyone ran around the dorm trying to find someone with the necessary skills, so it came to pass that I had a long line of guys waiting for me to tie their ties for them. Yeah - that was kind of weird :-)

We marched over to the parade grounds (which was on the opposite end of the base) and got in formation with the other graduating flights...As I recall, there were some parents in attendance but not very many. That's probably because back in 1973 airfares were roughly triple what there are today (adjusted for inflation) and most of the guys' families couldn't afford it.
Then we marched past the reviewing stand, there was some speeches, we threw our hats in the air, our drill sergeants congratulated us and told us not to call them "sir" anymore ... and that was pretty much it.

Later in the day that they gave us back our "civvies", and someone with a Polaroid captured the event for me. (At the time I didn't fully grasp the significance of the moment):

As you can see, I had already gotten my Airman First Class stripes sewn on. (The laundry shop did that "while-you-wait"). The 2-stripe promotion at the end of basic was one of the "perqs" of signing up for 6 years... And I can't help but notice the tan line from the fatigue cap :-)

We weren't scheduled to depart for tech school until Monday morning so we had the weekend to ourselves. A few guys took the opportunity to head into San Antonio but most of us stayed on base... It's kind of hard to explain why. Personally, I just needed some time to decompress from the constant stress - to get used to feeling "human" again - not having to worry about every single word and movement. (It ended up taking about 3 months to fully recover)... And to be honest, I wasn't exactly sure what the rules were at that point :-)

I remember going bowling with The Grinch on Saturday, and in the evening we went to the the Airman's Club. They had a live band (I remember them playing "The Cisco Kid" by War) and there were some WAFs (Women in the Air Force) in attendance. As I recall, they were getting plenty of attention :-)

And that was the end of basic training...

Although I made it through with my "sense of self" intact, I was definitely not the same person... My life up to that point had been an exercise in avoidance... Discomfort, effort, conflict - you name it, I avoided it... My first grade teacher summed it up nicely on my report card: "Peter has to take more pride in his work", "his attitude is 'just get by'", "to him, work is something to bypass as much as possible".

Basic training changed that... Almost every day for 6 weeks I had been pushed well beyond the point of mental and physical exhaustion and in the process discovered a strength inside of me I never suspected was there. Obviously, fear was a motivator, but when it came right down to it I made a commitment to myself (and to everyone around me) to do what needed to be done regardless of the difficulty or discomfort... One step at time... minute by minute ... hour by hour ... day by day... I pushed myself through to the end.

As of this writing (2013) I've been married for 38 years, raised 3 children, completed a BS in Computer Science while working half time, completed a Juris Doctor while working full time, and (with the exception of a few weeks after leaving the military) have never been unemployed. I honestly cannot imagine having done any of that without the self-discipline and determination I learned during those 6 weeks.

Like I said before - who would have guessed? ... :-)