%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 A blog of no uncertain musings. What goes on in my mind is often a source of wonder to me. |
Part 1 Notes ▼ It was the summer of 1974, and my last final of my sophomore year was finished on Friday, 10 May. I had two weeks to prepare for my journey south. Fellow ROTC cadet, Everett, and I were driving approximately 2000 miles from Orono, Maine, to Ft Benning, Georgia to attend the U.S. Army’s Airborne School. Our class would begin on Monday, 27 May; we had to sign in the day prior. Yep, I was gonna jump out of airplanes! After all, I was 19 years old and invincible. Everett’s sister lived in Virginia Beach about two blocks away from the ocean. We planned to stay three or four days with her family, enjoying some fun on sand and surf. It was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. The average temperature of the ocean in Maine was 20-plus degrees colder than Virginia; forty-five degrees was not inviting. And, because Airborne School was three weeks long, attending it messed with our summer work schedules. We’d only be able to find part-time work in July and August when we returned. Having a little fun before school was the order of the day. Getting to Virginia Beach as fast as possible was our mission. We were fired up and ready for our adventure. Arriving about midnight, we quickly crashed in the beds provided—we had driven about 15 hours straight. Twelve hours later, after showering and eating lunch, we were ready for the beach. Grabbing our towels, we rushed outside … and came to an abrupt halt. We felt like we’d run into a wall. In point of fact, we had. Virginia’s heat and humidity snapped their proverbial fingers at us, and we returned to the welcome embrace of central air-conditioning. It was nearer 7 pm before we managed to get to the beach. This visit proved to be the best four days of our trip. Actual preparations for Airborne School began at the start of our Spring semester. Since that school was particularly demanding physically, our ROTC department set up a regular schedule of physical training (PT) to be held before our classes. Our cadre was not taking such attendance lightly. Cadets who attended Airborne School, Summer Camp, or Ranger School would not wash out because they were in poor shape. Three times a week during the semester, cadets attending any of those schools would meet at 6 am for PT. We did calisthenics, especially push-ups and sit-ups, finishing with a two-to-three-mile run. Toward the end of the semester, PT became more rigorous with increased reps of exercises and a final run of eight miles. And, we had to pass the Army’s PT Test with an 80% grade versus the 60% needed to just pass. And yet, we discovered we still weren’t ready for the level of PT the Black Hats (NCO Drill Instructors) at Airborne School heaped upon us. Our first test was to do 100 push-ups in two minutes (the usual PT Test maximum was 71 in two minutes). Failure to do 100 in the time allotted resulted in a one-mile run. I ran that mile. I estimated I did close to 750 push-ups that first day. Airborne School was three weeks long with the first week crammed with more push-ups, sit-ups and running than I’d done in my entire year of ROTC. Our training class was all ROTC cadets from various universities. Each week had rather innocuous names that told us exactly what we’d be doing: The first was Ground Week; next was Tower Week; the final week was Jump Week. Come back tomorrow for Part 2: Ground Week |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
