MILITARY ANNIVERSARY
Fifty-four years ago today I enlisted as a private in the US Air Force at the recruiting office at Phoenix, Arizona. I was eighteen years old by only five days. My Air Force job specialty? “Apprentice Bassoonist,” Level 3. I kid thee not.
From Phoenix I rode the train to basic training at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas. In 1951, airmen usually traveled by train, not by plane. These were the old Air Force “brown shoe” days, when the snazzy blue uniform was new, brown shoes were optional, and the lowest rank was “private” not “airman.”
I was born in East Los Angeles, and had never been away from home. The entire Air Force experience marked many major turning points in my life, beginning with basic training and especially, a little over a year later, aviation cadets.
From Phoenix I rode the train to basic training at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas. In 1951, airmen usually traveled by train, not by plane. These were the old Air Force “brown shoe” days, when the snazzy blue uniform was new, brown shoes were optional, and the lowest rank was “private” not “airman.”
I was born in East Los Angeles, and had never been away from home. The entire Air Force experience marked many major turning points in my life, beginning with basic training and especially, a little over a year later, aviation cadets.
posted by Blogs by Rep Bob Lynn | 6:07 AM
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