It was May 1986, basic training at Ft. Dix. It was my 19th Birthday and we had only 10 days left before graduation. I was disappointed as I would have been legal drinking age in my state but not much I could do about it. I didn't tell anyone and figured oh well might as well make the best of it and laugh off my predicament finally being legal to drink but can't now.
The troops were getting more cocky as the end was in sight and the Drill Sergeants had lightened up on us too. However today was the day they decided to take charge and give us one more really hard day. They started yelling and dropping the whole company for anything and everything that we did. We were all in good shape so it wasn't that bad. I was doing the pushups thinking hey its my birthday I'm not having fun but I'm going have a funny story to tell how I celebrated my 19th birthday.
I survived the day and told some people at the end of the day. I didn't want the drill sergeants to know as I didn't want to see how'd they treat me.