Class 39-65

Class 39-65 reported to the US Navy School Pre-Flight on October 20, 1965.  Most of us came directly from civilian life, mostly college graduates with a few dropouts like myself.  Mostly Navy, we had a large Marine contingent, both college graduates, and some from active Marine service.  

I first met some of  my classmates sharing a ride from the airport.  We checked in and had our orders endorsed at the Office  of the Day's shack.  We were no longer  civilians and subject to a new, strict code of behavior we would soon be learning about.

A short ride took us to a nondescript, wooden World War II-era building, known as Indoctrination Battalion.  Most striking was the shouting we heard coming from the  interior.  Most of us looked at each other with a mix of surprise and trepedation.   We would be on the go every waking hour for the next couple of weeks.  Some "highlights:"

• Early morning (pre dawn) runs were the norm.  Everyone was expected to finish, and you were expected to help your classmates if they were falling behind.  This was a common theme.

• Early days were spent getting introduced to the military:  filling out forms, taking aptitude tests, getting fitted for uniforms, haircuts, etc.  Then the real military indoctrination began

• Inspections were a big part of the program.  In addition do daily inspections, major inspections were held every few days,  these were of two kinds:

  • RLP (room, locker, and personnel) Inspection- As the name implies, these three elements were inspected.  

  • A full bag inspection was similar, except all our belongings had to laid out for inspection. 

We moved to our "permanent"  home after the the authorities ratified that we met standards.  For us, that was Battalion 3, nickname "Tiger Island."  We we fortunate in that Batt 3 was housed in a permanent brick building instead of temporary WW II structures used by some other battalions.

The routine changed somewhat in the Battalion.  We didn't do the daily runs, but there was plenty to do:

• Academics took up a large part of the week, perhaps 2/3rds of each workday plus study time at night.  The hours from 7pm to 8:30 were devoted  to study.  

• We began physical training in earnest.  We were required to complete a cross country run and an obstacle course.  

• Military training was ever-present.  We started the day with a personnel inspection.  We marched everywhere.  In additional, we practiced close order drill on the "grinder."  For this we were issued M-1 Garand rifles.  

In addition to physical training, we had to qualify in several water survival areas.  Some were straightforward, such as swimming for a given distance (a mile if memory serves) and keeping afloat for a time in one location.  More unusual were the tower jump and the Dilbert Dunker.  The tower jump was to simulate abandoning ship or aircraft.  You climbed a tower at the edge of the pool.   Looking down from the tower, which was about 12' tall, we saw the bottom of the pool, about 25 feet below our eye level, but looked forever.  We were to jump the arms and legs locked, and swim the length the pool underwater.  Surfacing at any point meant you got to do it again.

Which I got to do.  First time I used the standard stroke,  but didn't seem to be going anywhere and quickly surfaced.  Next time I tried a different tactic.  One in the water and oriented, swim  to bottom and follow it,  It showed I was making good progress with each stroke,  I was surprised when I bumped into the wall. 

Similar with the Dilbert Dunker.  This was to simulate escaping from a T-28 aircraft, which tended to flip upside down when ditching.  So you were strapped ino a rudimentary cockpit, and launched down a slide into pool, where the cockpit flipped upside down.  First time down, I couldn't locate the seat belt release, and had to be let out by one of the instructors observing the event.  He had one thing to say: "Open your eyes next time."  This I did and got out expeditiously.

Physical training was only one of the three areas were were graded.  The other two were academics, and miliary bearing.  The latter area was most troublesome for me.  I've never been a spilt and polish person, even by civilian standards, much less by Navy requirements.  Still, I managed to improve during the course.  At our last inspection, our Class Officer CAPT Lent said I was "squared away"-- the ultimate compliment.

Academics were not a problem.  Our course work considered of naval orientation, naval history and world affairs, naval leadership, and eventually, aerodynamics, which was rumored to be the toughest.  I managed to max the exam (40 of 40 correct).