 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| In the Army now... | ||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||
| On January 9th, 1999 I reported to 1/38th Infantry Regt. at Fort Benning, Georgia for the start of Basic Training, my introduction to the Army lifestyle and discipline. The 1/38th Infantry was the very first non-infantry Basic Training Unit at Fort Benning and my company was one of the first to go through. (Lucky us!!!). All our Drill Sergeants were Infantry though and a lot of them were Airborne and/or Rangers on top of that. The "Starship" in the picture is where I lived for my first nine weeks in the US Army. We weren't allowed to take pictures during the training (they made me throw away the disposable camera I had the night I got there) so all these pics were taken by my dad on my graduation day. |
||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||
| A closer view of the Battalion Headquarters... from here that Lt. Col Strickland & CSM Messina (they were in charge while I was there) oversaw 5 companies of basic trainees. (Sometimes I had to pull guard duty at the desk inside the glass doors). |
||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||
| This is me in my Class A uniform on graduation day from Basic Training...I didn't have any unit patches or anything else yet because I still had to go to Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Fort Gordon, (also Georgia) for almost 9 more months of training in Army Communications. Then I would wear the Signal Corps Regimental Crest & the Army Service Ribbon. (The "bolo" badge over the right pocket means I qualified as a "Marksman" (23 out of 40 targets) on both the M16A2 assault rifle and the hand grenade). Leaving Basic Training was one of the happiest days of my life! I hope I never have to go back to Fort Benning... | ||||||||||||||||
| me | ||||||||||||||||