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Class of 1975
Happy Anniversary Class of '75 -- 5 July 1971 / 5 July 2005
34 years ago, I checked out of my room at the Rodeway Inn in Colorado Springs and boarded a bus for the Academy for in-processing as a Basic Cadet (my number, 750881K). 5 July 1971. Between the fireworks the night before, my soon-to-be classmates playing ice-cube hockey in the halls, and being gone from my family for the first time, I got maybe an hour's worth of sleep. I remember that first day as a little bewildering, but all-in-all not too bad. Lunch at Mitch's was actually pretty good. I ate what I thought were the biggest and best tasting hamburgers ever. And the upperclassman that was leading my group around seemed really nice. We sat at our table and gazed all over the place as we had our first meal together. I thought to myself, "This doesn't seem too hard. I think I could really like this place!" A few days later, after the M-80 round went off and the-world-as-I-knew-it turned upside down, I wanted more than anything else to curl up into a tiny ball and be as far away from that place as physically possible! Why was everybody shouting? And why at me? It was another 3 weeks (when we marched into Jack's Valley) before I got over the initial shock of being a doolie and knowing why we were called "squats" and "smacks". I've often fantasized over the years what my life would've been like if I had never gone to the Academy. Who knows? But one thing I'm sure of -- if I had never stepped off the bus at the BOR 34 years ago, I would never have met the finest, most decent people that I have ever known. People who carried my rifle when I started to fall back during a run; people who always checked "my six" inflight; people who chose to serve when the rest of the nation was indifferent; people in whose company made me want to be a better human being and excel in everything I do; people who have remained my friends for life -- my classmates. May the next 34 years be enriching and fulfilling for each of you! '75 Best Alive! Jim CarlsonGUTS Squadron (C Flight) CS-22/CS-33
******************* "squats" -- because our physical training consisted mainly of squat thrusts. "smacks" -- the
sounds our puny little bodies made each time we hit the wall
when an upperclassman walked by (followed by, "By
your leave, Sir!")
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