Page 117 - Stand Down Vietnam

I learned responsibilities and discipline. I learned a
lot from the “Old Salts” as they were called. When we
came back, I went to my boot camp in Great Lakes,
Illinois. We were at Old Camp Perry.

As a reserve, we only had to do two weeks of training.
There were seven of us from Kentucky.

The full course for boot camp is thirteen weeks, so a
bunch of us told them we wanted to do the full time.
My group came out as the color company; we outdid
everyone in the camp. I remember the first day I put
on that uniform; I was very proud. We were given the
choice to march first or last for graduation, we picked
last. When we passed in front of the Admiral, we were
spiffy, all spit-shined and everything. We had proved
ourselves, the Admiral saluted us back and we were
proud.

After boot camp, I went back to Winchester and went
back to school. I went to the Naval Reserve meetings.
Our Commander lived in Winchester, but the meetings
were in Lexington. I’d ride back and forth with the
Commander. Some of the guys said I was “brown-nosing”,
but I was just catching a ride. The Seabee spirit is
“Can Do” and we did all we could to carry on that
spirit.