Saturday, March 17, 2012

The Army I Knew: AIT and Jump School

So we're up to the spring of 1981.

The Army booked me a flight from Newark, New Jersey to San Antonio, Texas so as to get me to my next stage of entry training; medical specialist Advanced Individual Training, or "AIT".
(Note #1: in the Eighties the enlisted medical field jobs were given an occupational code "91"; your basic combat medic was a "91-Bravo" - the medical MOS has been renamed several times since then. The one peculiarity of military medicine is that it is one of the few MOS that is slotted into combat, combat-support, and combat service-support units. Since we were (and are) technically a CS/CSS job we were open to men and women, but the guys knew that the sweet, sweet REMF slots were going to the ladies. You had a 91B MOS and something hanging? You were going to a line unit somewhere. That was just how it worked and, I assume, still does...)
And so late in the morning after our "graduation" from BCT a handful of us were herded into a GSA van and driven to the airport, handed our travel vouchers and tickets, and pointed in the general direction of the boarding area.
(Note #2: Army commercial travel in the Eighties was - so far as I can tell - very different from today in that the only acceptable outfit to fly in was either the Class A or Class B greens. The idea of flying a commercial airliner in fatigues...well, let's put it this way; when I was permanent party in the Eighties the married guys who lived off-post could stop on the way home or the way in to get fuel. But that was it. God help you if the post MPs caught you in the Piggly-Wiggly in your duty uniform/Class C/fatigues - no matter what seven kinds of hell your Old Lady would give you for not stopping to pick up coffee creamer and tampons. Your fatigues were considered your sloppy jeans and a T-shirt, and as a professional you were expected to appear in public in the equivalent of a business suit; your dress uniform. Recruiters never appeared in public in fatigues. PAO types, ROTC cadre, career counselors...dress greens. The current enthusiasm for running around in fatigues still baffles me, but it appears to be here to stay.)
One thing I remember is how ridiculous I felt. The AG-44 "army green" Class A uniform really was a sad sack (it had only one tiny positive; it was wool, unlike the AG-489 that replaced it, which was a nasty wool-poly blend that looked and felt like a leisure suit) when you had nothing to dress it up.

The hat was the horrible stiffened-peak garrison cap, the so-called "cunt cap" which was nearly impossible to wear without looking like a conehead. The greens thenselves could not be pressed, wrinkled when you looked at them, and even when clean looked dingy and unimpressive.

As trainees were were innocent of the magic of Corfam, the insta-spitshined low quarter shoes that every trooper bought as soon as he could afford them; our black shoes looked equally dingy.

The only ornaments we sported were our bolo badges and the ridiculous "Army Service Ribbon", the so-called "Fireguard" ribbon, since it symbolized nothing more than breathing while on the government's payroll.But that is what we had, and so we shuffled onto the half-empty airplane, enjoyed our Cokes and peanuts (believe it or not, airlines actually fed their passengers in the Eighties) and arrived in San Antonio near midnight; tired, rumpled, and mildly disoriented. Luckily for us the USAMEDDAC reception had detailed a van and driver that got us onto post and into our racks before about 0300.

First call was still at 0500...

I don't want to talk too much about AIT; the training was probably very like it is today; the basics of combat first aid interspersed with some tactical advice from the cadre, the senior of which were still, at that point (as they have become once more) combat veterans. But my personal AIT had some interesting grace notes.Perhaps the best - for me, anyway - was that my little group from Ft. Dix had arrived at the very tail end of the fill for the cycle, and so the barracks of our AIT company had filled up. We ended up bunking across the PT fields in a nearly empty bay in a nearly empty barrack.

This opened up wonderful vistas for us, poor stupid trainees that we were. We were completely ignored by our trainee leaders, and the medical training cadre may very well not have actually known where we were. We "made our bunks" by folding our linens and putting them in our lockers. Inspections? None. Fire guard? Why bother?After the rigors of BCT this seemed like lotos-eating luxury, and, sybarites that we were, we lolled in it shamelessly. But we weren't fools; we knew how precarious our slovenly life was and so made sure not to draw attention to our unsupervised existence. It worked, and we remained idle bodies for ten weeks.

I hate to admit it, but I didn't take nearly the advantage of the far more lax regimentation at Ft. Sam Houston. I have no idea if the the current training environment at MEDDAC is a sort of Fellini-movie orgy but in 1981 many of the young soldiers arrived from much more strict BCT posts than the Ottoman hareem that had been FDNJ and found themselves effectively unsupervised after duty hours amid what must have seemed like a cornucopia of healthy young adults of the opposite sex.

The fucking was Homeric.

Bound up as I was in nice-middle-class-boyness and a modicum of military sheepishness I was only peripherally involved in the swiving; a kiss here, a grope-and-cuddle there...I may have been one of the handful of medics who emerged from Class 6-81 unscrewed. Alas. Si jeunesse pouvait...sigh...

I did spend a little time in San Antonio. I sat on the Riverwalk under the tamarind trees, enjoying the view and marveling at the beribboned glory of the trainees from nearby Lackland AFB (little did I know that embryonic wing-wipers got ribbon for every-fucking-thing, including marksmanship - all I knew is that the weediest of them seemed to have more fruit salad on his chest than Audie Fucking Murphy...).

I also visited the Alamo, history buff that I am, and was struck by how small it seemed, tucked away inside urban San Antonio. It was hard to picture it was standing in the middle of butt-rump nowhere as it had in 1836.

The occupiers of 1981 appeared to be exclusively middle-aged white people somewhere between 25 and 60 pounds over their ideal body weight wearing clothes that had probably looked pretty sloppy when new.

It was hard to picture it as a battlefield, and even harder to imagine it as some sort of Ground Zero for heroism.The training was fairly simple, and hours less than demanding, and it was a pleasant couple of months before I was driven to the airport and decanted onto an airliner bound, this time, for Ft. Benning, Georgia and U.S. Army Airborne School.

-----

The jump school I attended, the school that had been running as such since the Sixties, and the school (so far as I know) that still operates today, is a three-week course run by the U.S. Army Infantry School. At the time the notional military unit that comprised it was called the "4th Student Training Battalion" and consisted of four companies, 42nd through 45th.

I understand that it has been renamed after one of the old WW2 parachute infantry regiments but no matter - it's still Jump School. The round of Ground Week - Tower Week - Jump Week hasn't changed.

Interestingly, the original course as designed in the Forties was called Paratrooper School and included all the tactics needed to work in an airborne infantry unit; assembly on the drop zone, moving out as a unit, and so on. This was cut down in the late Fifties or early Sixties, perhaps largely because the school became the sole parachute jump training for the entire U.S. military (along with numerous foreign nations) and the tactical part of the POI was considered excessive.

As with AIT, the actual details of my transit were unremarkable, and there's no need to revisit them; you can find all sorts of information about Jump School on the Internets.

I will mention two moments, though.

The first was some time in the middle of Tower Week, I think. We had had a long day (they were all long days) and were somewhere in the middle of the night when one of the company cadre, one SSG Gaddy, woke us up and "cabled us down" - the formation area outside 44th Company had four long steel cables stapled to the ground on which we formed up in roster number order
(I was Roster Number 118, which says something about the bizarre sorts of things that stick in your head even after thirty-one years)
- and proceeded to bomb us with a long and not particularly coherent rant about Death, Judgement Day, and Salvation or something to that effect.I vividly remember thinking somewhere in the midst of this bizarre oration
(to this day I'm not sure if he was drunk, bored, or simply nuts, or fucking with us just because he could - unlike the dreaded Blackhats, the actual Airborne School instructors, the company cadre were a collection of casuals, transients, and (I suspect) goofballs, fuck-offs, and fuck-ups who had been assigned to babysit trainees because they could do less harm there than anywhere else - and probably never will)
that one of us - Gaddy or me, standing out there in the warm Georgia spring night when we should have been sleeping, was fucking insane and at that exact moment I wasn't sure which one of us it was.

The other incident involved a very tall Marine sergeant and the company's daily march down to Lawson Army Airfield during Jump Week.

As a private, all I had to do to get through three weeks was keep my head down, my boots shined
(and I learned very quickly that I could not spit-shine them enough to avoid the dreaded "gig pit" and scurried down to the bootblack stand at the end of the battalion area and paid up. The bootblacks painted my boots with some sort of gawdawful shiny glop (that cracked off in several hours and had the long term effect of ruining the boots with a scrofulous residue of petrochemical scurf) that got me through morning inspection and the extra pushups)
and complete five successful parachute jumps.But the NCOs and officers were graded on "leadership", which meant what the U.S. Army considered "leadership", meaning drill and ceremonies and the small change of troop leading.

Including marching.

Marching, for the U.S. Army, meant "calling cadence". This is a relatively recent feature of Army life, dating, so I understand, from the WW2 era when African-American units used chanted call-and-response cadences to keep marching step. These "jody calls" ran around the Army by the late Forties and are now considered part and parcel of "leadership" - you march troops, you gotta jody-call cadence.

Apparently this was not so in the USMC, circa 1981. The NCO in question, a very tall staff sergeant intended for a Marine Recon unit, was perfectly competent at drill commands, keeping time, and could call the step in the peculiar "'Eft, 'eft, eftrawt'eft" USMC fashion (although once, for pure entertainment, he tried to teach us an "oblique" - a disaster never repeated).

But he swore up and down he couldn't call cadence.

The company cadre (of which I've already unburdened myself) dogged him through the entire course. He had to call cadence; his "leadership" evaluation portion of the school depended on it. He needed to learn one cadence, he needed to use it, as the final week approached he seems to have been pushed harder and harder to find a way to accomplish this "critical" task...

Finally Jump Week arrived, and SSG Lanky was put in charge of the company and given the dire warning that it was this march or doom. So we right-faced and marched off on the road down through the housing area towards the airfield and our parachutes. SSG Lanky eft-eft-efting through the battalion area and past the supply sheds, with one of the cadre glaring at him and shaking his head ominously.

Finally, with less than a mile to go and the final slope through the living area and past the post elementary school in view, Lanky cleared his throat and produced his cadence, the only one I guess that he had stashed in the back of his head.

-----

Well, the story is that the adorable, tow-headed offspring of one of the majors stationed at the USAIS hopped on his mommy's lap that evening, peered wide-eyed up at her, and in his childish treble asked guilelessly:

"Mommy, what's a 'ping-pong pussy'"?

Because here's the only cadence SSG Lanky could remember:

"I know your momma,
She's a good ol' whore!
She's got a ping-pong pussy,
And a rubber asshole!
She's got knots on her titties
As big as my balls!
And the stench from her gash
Could make a dead man crawl!"

I understand that no one ever asked SSG Lanky to call cadence again.Well, the rest is nothing special; I made my jumps, got my wings, and was shoved onto a bus headed up the road for Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, where the U.S. Army intended to make me into a highly-paid, highly-trained, high-speed, air-ram, fuel-injected Special Forces soldier.

And that is a tale for the next time.

12 comments:

Lisa said...

Thank you for another installment in FDC's Army. I'll be anticipating Ft. Bragg.

It is odd, "the current enthusiasm for running around in fatigues", no? I was appalled to see General Petraeus at a Senate hearing wearing them! What is the message? That they are so on-task that they can barely spare a moment from their warfighting duties?

It is disheartening to see one's Generals looking so beleaguered.

I wonder that this trend is mirroring our general cultural schlumpiness which tucks nothing in and wears permanent press (at bes), unless one works on Wall Street.

rangeragainstwar said...

Chief,
In 72 time frame we had 42nd thru 49th co.We moved to the permanent barracks which were previously OCS during the rvn shoot up.
My time in the 45th was in original WW2 billets called T bldgs. The T meant temporary.
Well they're all gone now, and so are we.
Every 1st sat in Oct we have the OLD AIRBORNE INSTR. ASSOC. REUNION in the Lumpkin Rd AMLEG. You are invited to attend.
In the old days 4th Bn were always permanent party and usually shake an bakes.
The 4th Bn side have been graciously admitted to the black hat association, since the old blood is thinning out rapidly.
Unlike the other orgs, they take no new/young members.
It's a dying breed and they won't bend.
My policy was to not allow the NCO's to fuck with the troops in company, except for normal needs for discipline. I felt that the training should be fun and a good memory, also a lot of guys were still going oconus, but it was tapering off. We even got the troops drunk on wed of jump week, courtesy of the student officers.
We drank on the cables.Steak was served in the mess hall.
How does one go thru jump school w/o Corcorans?
Thanks for the post.
Did you ever hear tales of the Custer Rd. O Club annex called the Airborne annex?It may have been obe by your day.
jim

rangeragainstwar said...

Chief,
The shake and bakes were platoon level.
All the Co HQ personnel were master jumpers. Usually.
Normal ash and trash.
jim

FDChief said...

Lisa: I think that's the idea - "We are at WOAH!", no time for pretty trinkets when the Enemy is at the Gates. Nice try, boys. I'd pay good money to see zombie George Marshal turn up in his pinks-and-greens and bitchslap that prancing pony Petraeus.

jim: I had a VERY brief run through the Benning School for Boys; just the three weeks and without a POV I missed most of the Victory Blvd. fun-and-games. Sadly, I think that the Eighties was a bad time for the school; most of the genuine vets were gone and the company cadre was full of wanna-bes and never-weres. Blackhats, though, were still sharp as razors. Some of the best organized instruction I've even had.

I keep forgetting, too, how small the Army was in my time; the whole idea of seven companies in 4SB seems incredible to me...

The one story I forgot to tell that I remember vividly was using Johnson paste wax on the floors, lighting it on fire, and then putting the smallest guy in the squad on top of the buffer (with a terry towel underneath) to produce the glassy shine demanded by the cadre.

That, and sleeping on the floor so as to keep the racks tight; we never slept IN them for the full three weeks...

Leon said...

Chief, I've got one question that's only vaguely connected to your army life posts. Do soldiers actually use the phrase "lock and load"? It's become so cliched that every (bad) action flick barks it out along with a dramatic racking of slides.

FDChief said...

Leon: You hear it on the range, yes; "Firers, lock and load one thirty round magazine and watch your lanes...". Now I can't speak for the guys in Iraq/A-stan, but in my day there was no need for anyone to say "lock and load" other than during range firing. In a real-world situation you pretty much locked your magazine in place when you left the wire; whether you "loaded" depended on the ROE - I was never in a "hot-war" other than the ridiculous Grenada adventure (where I had my heels locked by my First Shirt for putting a round in the chamber of my .45 when I was under the impression that we were taking fire - we were, but it was from our own Charlie Company) but generally the rule was that you didn't actually "load" unless you expected contact or were "weapons-free" (meaning that you expected anyone not wearing the same colored suit to be shooting at you).

The expression used to actually indicate killing someone/thing was "get some", as in "Get some of those fuckers!" - that pretty much implied that you were expected to load and fire.

So, in the sense you mean, no, I never heard that other than as a command to troopers conducting range firing...

rangeragainstwar said...

Leon,
Here's a fine point.
On every military, US rifle fron 1903 to present -YOU HAD TO LOAD THE RIFLE BEFORE YOU COULD LOCK IT!! The safeties could not be engaged UNLESS THE WEAPON WAS COCKED. iT HAD TO BE COCKED TO LOAD IT.
L&L has become part of the lingo.
I can't ever remember using this term.
jim

rangeragainstwar said...

Chief,
The class prep at the Airborne Dept was a reflection of the USAIS.
The entire post was held to a professional standard, and ALL instructors had to grad from USAIS ITC. Even Ranger field instructors.
When i was there, Lenny Scott cmd'd HQ Co/49th Co. He wrote CONTINUE MISSION, and Bob Howard had Ground week. My Bn Cdr Jim Anderson was a former Golden Knight OIC.
The bar was pretty high.
fwiw.
jim

Podunk Paul said...

“Twenty rounds. Load and lock.”
Chief and Ranger have good memories of the military, as well they should. Others of us saw and remember things differently, and not necessarily in a more balanced or healthful way. To contribute to the record, let me communicate the memories that the load-and-lock command elicits.
Back a long time ago, so long that you hardly recognize the young person that were, we transferred from Carson to Fort Ord for advanced infantry training. The cadre was represented by an ex-San Diego cop. We called the sadistic POS “Strong Arm.” Those of you that came into the military with more maturity or better attitudes would probably have not been too upset with Strong Arm and his attempts to be tough at the expense of those under his jurisdiction. Others, coming from less forgiving places, took his harassment personally.
On the morning for qualification with the BAR, the range was covered with heavy fog rolling in from the Pacific. The targets, a couple of hundred meters out, were invisible. My buddy Charlie, a tough little guy from West Dallas, had first turn as gunner; I was the loader.

At first, there was a delay. NCOs ran around in confusion behind us, but we heard enough to understand that the telephones to the target pullers had gone out.

Then Strong Arm showed up. Always assuming command, he strode downrange in our lane. If anyone could fix the telephones, Strong Arm was sure that he was the one to do it. His helmet bobbed and disappeared in the gray swirl. Charlie tracked him with the BAR.

“Twenty rounds. Load and lock!”

I inserted the magazine and Charlie worked the bolt. “It’ll be an accident,” he said. “They won’t be able to prove anything.”

“Ready on the right! Ready on the left! Ready on the firing line!” And the bastard’s helmet was still bobbing out there. Upwind of the loudspeaker, he must not have heard the command.

It was a difficult decision — the satisfaction of settling our scores on a scale against, what? Elemental decency? Pity for a guy caught in a firing lane with no place to run? What Basil might call grace? I don’t know what stayed our hand, why I told Charlie to cool it. It certainly wasn’t fear of military justice.

So a few seconds later, when the order to commence firing was given, we didn’t.

We rode back to the barracks in an open cattle trailer. Strong Arm stood a few feet from us, curious as to why Charlie and I were laughing so hard. We were laughing at him, of course. And, in retrospect, I think we had some sort of vague awareness that the three of us had had a very lucky day.

Anonymous said...

I don't know what I'd call it, Paul.

I have an icon somewhere of my guardian angel. There are times when I feel it's around and near. Maybe yours was back from lunch just in time.

bb

FDChief said...

jim: I can remember thinking that it was a silly phrase, because what you did was load the round and lock the bolt forward, so we should have continued to say it the other way around. One of the range cadre had to explain that the "lock" was locking the magazine in place. Sounded sketchy to me then, and it still does.

Paul: That's a great story! And your man was indeed a lucky boy that you two had some dim sense either of self-preservation or moral sense...

When I was on the trail we had a trainee that chambered a round on the zero range when he had people downrange. Needless to say he was immediately jumped by half a dozen range safety folks, drills, and assorted casuals. His story is that he had been down next to his rifle when a drill sergeant he didn't recognize walked up to him, bent over and whispered "lock and load". So he did.

Needless to say, his whack ass was shipped off to CMH, where the headshrinkers found out that he was as fucked up as a football bat, and he was turfed out of the service as too goofy even to be a grunt...

Lisa said...

Paul,

That is a great story. I wonder how often people escape with their lives after being a razor's width from death, without even knowing it!