Spending a winter in boot camp at Great Lakes Training Center was not my smartest decision. I clearly remember spending Christmas day working in the scullery ankle deep in dirty water from a leaking dish washing machine which had increased the temperature inside that small room to what seemed like 150 degrees.

No one wanted to be in boot camp during Christmas so we had many dirty Mess Trays tossed at us and we had to dump the remains of their meals into a trash can and into the conveyor of the dishwasher.

To make matters worse, I was very sick and barely made it through that Christmas. It made me appreciate every Christmas I now have, even the one in Vietnam.

It wasn't all bad, however, since our company managed to work hard and achieve Color Company for that group of graduates.

It made my parents very proud, and I felt very proud to have made it through boot camp.