by Oso » Mon Jun 16, 2003 11:11 am
When I went to Boot Camp for the USN, a very long time ago, we had a little drill we had to go through that was quite hilarious.
The first few weeks at Boot in San Diego you were sent to "Squirrel Island" which was the side of the base that was tucked right underneath the end of the runway at Lindbergh Field. (main airport in Diego).
The planes would be so low that you could count the tread ribs on the tires and see faces in the windows. It was a natural reaction to look up when standing in formation. Some could not resist. Whenever some jerk would look up while we were in formation at attention the DI would get riled to no end. His response was to make us do this drill for hours on end.
The drill?
We carried bolt action Springfield rifles with the firing pin removed. Heavy damn things.
We would be standing in formation at attention. When a plane would fly over, in unison we would drop down, roll over on our backs, aim at the plane, work the bolt action, pull the trigger and yell "Bang" at the top of our lungs. Get to our feet and stand at attention, waiting for our next victim.
On occasion we could make out some startled faces in the planes windows.
Can you imagine their thoughts? LOL
Can you imagine the stink it would raise today?