After I took my oath and signed my papers I had to wait 4 months before I could leave for basic training. I continued with my diet and exercise regime because I wanted to be ready when I got there. When I left the MEPS the second time it was to the Nashville airport to catch a flight to Fort Jackson, SC. There were two of us going there and because I joined as a PFC (Private First Class) because of my college, I was made the group leader and they gave me all the documents to look after and told me I was in charge. We waited at the airport and caught our flight for basic. We landed in Atlanta first and planned to eat there as they gave us meal vouchers that we could spend at places to eat at the airport. When we landed in the ATL we discovered we only had 45 minutes to make our connecting flight and it was on a different concourse so we ran to the tram and just barely made it in time to board the plane so we decided we would have to wait until we landed in Columbia to eat. We got there at about 4:30pm. As we made out way through this very small airport we discovered that the place to eat had already closed for the night. So great, no food. I had been long enough without food already. As we made our way down the concourse we saw a bunch of people sitting quietly in chairs waiting. On one end was an Army Sgt. in his Class A uniform so we walked over to him. He looked at me and said "Who is your group leader?" I looked back and said "I am." to which he said, "I am what?" and I replied "The group leader?" He looked me dead in the eye and yelled "I am the group leader Sergeant!" And so it had begun. I repeated it back and then he told us to go sit down and not to talk and not to get up. He told us once an hour he would tell us we could use the latrine or the phone but until he said so to sit quietly. I told him that we never got to use our food vouchers and he told me not to worry they would feed us when we got there. We sat down and proceeded to wait until every other flight had arrived and at 9:30pm we boarded the bus for basic. As we drove away from the airport the bus driver, who was a civilian, "If you have them you better smoke them because they are going to take them away and you won't get them back." At that point almost everybody on the bus pulled out their smokes and started puffing away. People who didn't have any asked for one and people with brand new packs offered them out. I didn't take one and I didn't smoke. I remember it took about 15 or 20 smokey minutes to make to the post and I can still see the front gate in the darkness as we drove through. My adventure had begun!
I still have those food vouchers in my briefcase, I don't guess I could still use them at the airport yeah?
