After Action Report - Basic Training Jun 84-Aug 84

Date: September 23, 2009

Subject: Basic Training June 1984-August 1984

From: ET1 Cole
To: shipmates, friends, and anyone else who'll listen

Purpose: Summarize the actions involved in Basic Training June 1984-August 1984

We finished our initial outfitting and were commissioned. Now we had to cross the bridge from R and O over to the main part of RTC (Recruit Training Command). It wasn't far but it felt good to finally get this show on the road.

As we marched we came across individuals and companies who were in different stages of their training and when we saw those guys wearing the white web belt, I know I felt jealous. They were on the downhill and we were just beginning. We learned that if you were not in company formation you had to run to each of your destinations.

One individual we came across was a high school acquaintance of mine name Ronnie Blondheim. I hadn't known he had joined the Navy but THERE he was. He dated a girl I knew. Ronnie somehow recognized me in all my navular (sic) glory and shouted, "Hey EB, you dropped your comb." One day Ronnie, I'll catch up with you.

The first two weeks or so were the same for a drill company as it was for a BMR company. We learned close order drill with M-1 Garand rifles. One time we screwed up and Parker made us hold those rifles over our heads until my arms felt like wet noodles. He was a good example though, he held one up to. Only it looked like he didn't have to put any effort into it and he never gave the appearance like he needed a break. On the other hand you could hear the company groaning and complaining after a few minutes.

We also had breaks called smoke and cokes. It's self explanatory, have a cigarette and drink a soda. Often times we shined our boondockers (boots) during these breaks. It was also a time to relax, however short it was. Sometimes we turned in our dixie cups for washing. This was done by several people in the company who washed them by hand. They called these jobs collateral duties. They were in addition to all the regular chores we were assigned, like making our racks (beds) and shining our shoes.

We were all assigned collateral duties. There was a RCPO (recruit chief petty officer). Our RCPO was a little scrawny guy named Bomar. His job was to make sure we got to each assignment on time and basically when the drill instructor wasn't around he was in charge. There were various other duties assigned such as yeoman and master at arms. I was assigned two jobs, Religious petty officer and my other task was to put the Plan of the Day on the chalkboard every night for the next days training.

Now religious petty officer ended up being a cool job. It was my task to pray every night at TAPS (bedtime) and to organize anyone who wanted to go to church on Sunday. Church became popular as basic training wore on. Why? Well not for the reason you'd think. It was the one place you were allowed to sleep in basic training and believe me you needed it. So as time wore on I was leading quite a contingent to church.

My other task, not so fun. I had to use dental floss and masking tape to make a sort of template so that all the letters were the same height and so that there was a same amount of space between lines. There couldn't be any smudges. I spent many a nights trying to get that thing perfect so I didn't get in trouble.

Speaking of trouble, I ran out of masking tape one day and asked Parker for another roll. He went to the company next door and came back with it and told me not to lose it. Guess what? Yep, it got lost.

I went to marching party for that one. What's marching party you ask? About 10 pm everyone who screwed up had to put his watch cap on and meet on the grinder with all the other brigands for an hour of calisthetic hell. Hello Dolly's, 8 count body builders, push ups....sit ups...running in place...I survived but I vowed to stay out of trouble.

Nighttime was the one time when we could write letters and study. I had met April in February of 1984 and before I left for basic training in June had already told her that she was going to be my wife. She wasn't as sure. I wrote her a letter from basic training asking her what she would say if I asked her to marry me. To this day she still claims that wasn't a proposal.

We also spent occasional hours training for our drill company routines. I was in the fifty state flags. Most of these practices were getting used to marching with the flag. The more complicated stuff would come later.

Lessons Learned: Avoid losing masking tape when it means you have to work out if it's lost. When you write a proposal, write it like you mean it.

Action Items: Basic Training cont'd - Dallas Cowboys halftime show, San Diego Soccers, more drill, gas chamber and smoke house

Appendix: Personnel Involved: Co. 84-926, EN1 Parker, me, Ronnie Blondheim, D. Bomar, April