Growing up on a small farm in southern Kansas, I was not looking forward to my high school graduation in May 1958. I knew college was completely out of the question, and job opportunities were very limited. So I was looking for another option.
One day a farmers’ magazine arrived in the mail with an advertisement: “Join the Air Force, see the world.” Wow! I knew that was for me! I immediately wrote for information from a recruiter in Kansas City. Every day I anxiously waited for the mailman to bring the recruiter’s package. The day finally arrived, and I could get the forms completed and returned. After many hours of discussions with my parents, they reluctantly signed the forms.
With tears in my eyes, I told my parents goodbye from Union Station in Kansas City Dec. 1, 1958. A scared country girl looking for an adventure, I was finally on my way to basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, at last a member of the U.S. Air Force.
I had no idea what to expect other than I knew I had signed a three-year commitment. When I arrived in San Antonio, we were bused to the base and given uniforms along with lots of instruction on how and when each uniform was to be worn. The first few weeks remain a blur in my memory; however, that was the first place I lived with indoor plumbing!
What do they mean “0500 hours?” I soon learned that was the time to get up, dressed and out the barracks door. Marching in formation to the dining hall, marching to a classroom for studies, more marching. Singing songs as we marched added to the enjoyment. Classroom instruction included Air Force history, chain of command, protocol, how to spit polish shoes and “roll” my stockings so everything was neat and tidy in the drawers, and the right way to make a bed so a quarter would bounce off the blanket if it was tucked in correctly. I shared a room with two other girls, met girls from all over the country, and spent lots of time making sure the room was ready for a “white glove” inspection at any time.
Eight weeks went by so fast, and then I was assigned to McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Wash., where I spent my entire enlistment as a military personnel clerk. During my three years, I experienced so many exciting things, but the best was meeting my husband of 56 years.
From a country girl to a proud member of the Air Force, it was an experience of a lifetime – and I would do it all over again.