Drop! Basic Training at the End of the Cold War
This is my basic training story. I enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1987 and began basic training in the summer of 1988. By the time I finished my signal corps training the next summer, the Berlin Wall was starting to crumble.
My family has perhaps a typical military history. My brothers, dad, and grandfathers all served in our military. Nobody made a career of the military but everyone wore the uniform.
To me, serving is a duty of citizenship. So I served. My signal unit came very close to going to the Persian Gulf War but our unit's mobilization was cancelled after being so high on the list that our unit's leaders were notified and we received the "you'd better show up if called" lecture in January 1991.
So this is the story of my basic training experience at Fort Leonard Wood. It is based on my memory and aided by a journal I kept during basic training and letters I wrote or received at the time. This will follow the format of starting with the verbatum journal entry. Followed by commentary of my memory of what was going on. Excuse the swearing. Swearing was as part of being a soldier as wearing BDUs, carrying an M-16, and marching. I had to break myself of the habit to casually swear once my son was born so he wouldn't pick up on it. I did a pretty good job it it, actually!
This is not like my blog so I will likely revise earlier portions as I go along and not just add new portions. It is a work in progress.
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