Boot Camp: It was before dawn on an October morning in Waukegan, IL. It was as normal as a day can be in below zero temperatures with thousands of people working and marching. We woke up at 4:00am as usual, to the sound of light switches being thrown.
You would think that something as quiet as turning on a few light switches wouldn’t evoke the frenzy and alertness that comes with eighty six men jumping out of their racks. But that was the way it was, starting on that first morning of September 17th, we had begun training ourselves to listen in our sleep.
That morning when our drill instructor flicked the switches for the first time, we learned what would happen if you were not out of bed by the time the last of the ten switches was thrown. If you had trouble getting out of bed, you would be sore all day from the man-killers and eight-count body-builders.
We had 30 minutes to shower, shave and get dressed in the uniform of the day which on this brisk morning consisted of long underwear, sweats, dungaree jeans, t-shirt, sweater, dungaree shirt, wind breaker, raincoat, gloves, beanie cap, utility belt, and two pairs of socks. Mind you, we were only marching the equivalent of two blocks to the mess hall and the school house. That is how truly cold it was.
The day progressed, and Division 506 went on our way, doing the standard seamanship classes and naval history classes, lunch, indoor drills, more classes, dinner, then folding and stowage drills, an hour or two of free time, and then finally at 10:00pm, lights out. We would not be sleeping long that night.
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3 comments:
wow...tell me more.
what a great way for me to catch up on all those years of a deferred friendship...
Wow, talk about a trip down memory lane.... You know to this day I still wake up whenever I hear the lightswitch. Oddly enough my overhead bedroom light turns instead of switches so it doesn't make any noise, but I curse John everytime he turns on his bedside lamp.....
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