VA Military Memories Competition
QM3 Nicolette (Nikki) Martinez, U.S. Navy (1990-1994)
Where did you go to Boot Camp/ Basic Training? What specific memories do you have of instructors, fellow recruits and any rigorous training?:
I went to boot camp in Orlando, FL beginning September 9, 1990. My company was K106. I had a female and male company commanders. She was very hardcore and much harder on us recruits than he was. He was higher rank. The one specific memory I have is not the happiest. We had one woman who had just made it to the age cut off. She was Filipino and her English wasn’t very good. She was an introvert and her age set her apart from the rest of us as we were mostly 18-20 years old. I’m going to call her Maggie to protect her identity due to the nature of her sad story.
SGT Glen Sargent, U.S. Army (1999-2012)
Where did you go to Boot Camp/ Basic Training? What specific memories do you have of instructors, fellow recruits and any rigorous training?:
I joined the Army in 1999 and started my journey in August, heading straight to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri for boot camp. Arriving there late at night was a jarring experience; the drill sergeant’s yelling as we got off the bus made the reality of my decision immediately clear. The first night was confusing, to say the least. Sharing a bathroom with 40 strangers was a stark departure from the life I knew. Waking up to unfamiliar faces, I felt like a fish out of water. It was chaotic, overwhelming, and the constant uncertainty made every moment tense.
SGT Marivel Perez, U.S. Army (2001-2011)
Where did you go to Boot Camp/ Basic Training? What specific memories do you have of instructors, fellow recruits and any rigorous training?:
22 years ago, I was an 18-year-old who had just joined the Army. On 9/10 and 9/11 2001, I was at Fort Jackson, South Carolina conducting my final field training exercise in Basic Training. That morning, after setting up fox holes in the rain, pulling guard duty in the cold, and feeling completely drained from marching to the middle of nowhere the night before, we woke up, and were informed by our Drill Sergeants that our country had been attacked.
SGT Russell Holmes, U.S. Army (1984-2003)
Where did you go to Boot Camp/ Basic Training? What specific memories do you have of instructors, fellow recruits and any rigorous training?:
In 1984, FLW MO: We were training ‘Moving under fire”. We’d line up at the edge of the woods, and the first guy would run forward to cover. The first guy then yelled, “Covering!”. The next guy would yell, “Moving!” and run past the first guy and throw himself down at the next cover. He’d settle into a firing position and then yell, “Covering!” The first guy would yell “Moving!’ and run past him to the next cover. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. We were also using the downtime between platoons to enhance CTT skills. Located at this training area was the latrine. There was no running water at the training area, so the latrine was a wooden outhouse. It was about 8 feet wide and 30 feet long, with 10 holes cut out in the bench over the septic pit. It was well-maintained and clean for an outhouse. The stench, however, could lift the roof. Imagine countless soldiers doing their business in there, day in and day out. In Missouri. In August.
CAPT Michael Lilly, U.S. Navy (1968-1998)
Where did you go to Boot Camp/ Basic Training? What specific memories do you have of instructors, fellow recruits and any rigorous training?:
Saturday, July 20, 1968, is still the longest day of my life. This is how it began as I entered Naval Officer Candidate School – officer boot camp – at Newport, Rhode Island.
“HEY, YOU!”
The voice belonged to a khaki uniform.
I pointed to myself, “Who me?”
A3C Michael Bell, U.S. Air Force (1963-1966)
Where did you go to Boot Camp/ Basic Training? What specific memories do you have of instructors, fellow recruits and any rigorous training?:
Lackland, in winter…
I quit my high school senior year in South Bend on the November day JFK was assassinated. Being a foster kid and ward of Cook County court I was given one choice; enlist or go back to school. I chose USAF because my uncle had been in blue working on Boxcars in Japan during Korea, and everyone else in the family going back to the 1700s had been Army. I scored high on “Abstract Reasoning” – as my wife and kids would attest still holds true 60 years later. In almost exactly one month I found myself in Indianapolis taking the physical, and the oath with about 20 other guys my age. After spending that night in a seedy hotel part of the city, we were put on the civilian equivalent of a C-131 (aka T-29) Samaritan recip. Bound south vector to San Antonio, at age 17; my first airplane ride, and into the unkowable.