What do I remember most ?? That is a very difficult question !!!
I’ll start with our arrival at Bragg from Jump School. On a Bus, get on Post and what do we see, E-8s & 9s wearing Berets on-line policing up PINE CONES !!!! We all look at each other and go “WTF are they going to have us doing” ?!?!?!
We unload at the barracks and are invited into the “day room” for a welcome to Training Group speech and then we are told that the sodas and BEER !!!!! in the tubs with ice were ours and welcome aboard !!
The next few weeks we went through all of the testing, swimming, PT, etc and those of us that Passed drew our gear and were sent on to (the then) Phase I. We were “inserted” into Camp Mackall by way of a full equipment jump. Only one problem, we were on a C-123, the weather was for shit and we were flown around for about 2-3 hours waiting for the weather to break. During the leisurely flight one of my friends got airsick and puked in his piss-pot !! He passed it down the stick for the JM to dump into the pisser in the rear and when it was about halfway back the RED LIGHT ILLUMINATED !!! EVERYBODY, STAND UP!!!
The wayward helmet found itself being passed back to it’s owner, without having been DUMPED !!! As the jump commands proceeded, the helmet and owner were reunited and he donned it, puke and all. There was puke running and dripping off of his nose, ears, and chin. He was covered in it, and we were going to find ourselves without bathing facilities for the duration of Phase I. (He ended up having to wear those clothes for close to a week!!) When we finally left the airplane, all that broke the silence was his continued barfing all the way to the ground !!!
Well, that about sums up the first few weeks that commenced around September-October, 1969. We spent Thanksgiving out at Mackall and graduated just in time to go home on X-Mas leave with a Beret/SF Crest (without flash). The SAGA will continue !