Prep BMT Day 1
Happy Sunday Families!
So, what did the basics do on their first full day in BMT? You may ask. Well, they got up early for a start. Very early. Like 0430 early. Lots to do today, but after the nerves and excitement of I-Day, most of it is pretty mundane. Imagine starting your first day in a new job. Breakfast was room service, or at least squadron service in a box, during which time they were also drug tested. After breakfast, the day was mostly filled with briefings, fixing uniform sizing issues, and having their picture taken for their ID cards. In between, they started learning to march, set up their rooms in a military way, and began to memorize the military knowledge they will need to use the rest of their military career. Of course the Cadre are always making the best use of the time. Sometimes they combine memorization with exercise. We also took their portraits, which the prep school uses for administrative purposes, but will also be available for you to download after BMT is over. Here are a few photos of the day.
We have received a few questions on our FB page. One had to do with the red or green tags you see the basics wearing. The tags are call "Cowbells".
I am not sure of the origin, but that is what they are called. See the real examples below.
The purpose of the cowbells among other things is to identify basics who enter the prep school from active duty or reserve Air Force or Air National Guard. These preppies are known as "Priors" for their prior military service. There are approximately 50 Priors in each prep school class. Priors have red cowbells. The remainder of the preppies enter the prep school directly from civilian life. They are known as "Directs" and they have the green cowbells. It is important to stress here that all basic cadet candidates are treated equally by the cadre. The colors help the staff know what each group needs administratively. That being said, the Priors have already been through Air Force basic training and are expected to use their maturity and prior experience to mentor their direct entry classmates. If your direct entry son or daughter is lucky enough to room with a Prior they will be thankful. Next summer in USAFA Basic Cadet Training, all the Preppies (prior or direct) will be mentors to their USAFA direct entry classmates. We tip our hats to the Priors, however. It takes a special commitment and motivation. Before they finally pin on their 2nd Lieutenant bars, they will have been through basic training 3 times and that doesn't include any technical schools they have already been through.
We have also had a few questions about how to use this website and find the photos. Rather than repeat my earlier blog entry on the subject, here is a link that provides some guidance. FINDING THE PHOTOS. I hope this helps. It get's easier with practice, but we always link the photo location from this blog because we hope you will come here first and not just skip to the photos.
As I wrap up this entry, I would like to talk about expectations. Yesterday we took about 2600 pictures. Today we took about 500 and most of those you won't see until we publish the portraits after BMT. Our photo coverage is going to be like that. Feast or Famine. Our goal during BMT is to not go more than one day without new photos. That may not happen. Sometimes we will only have one squadron or flight and not another. Please resist the temptation to keep score. I don't have to tell you that this is not a normal year. You can count on two things from us over the next 19 days. We will have at least one blog entry every day. We will cover every significant BMT training event. We will catch your preppie multiple times, but we may not catch everyone doing everything. While we have a schedule to work from, COVID requirements, weather, and the constatly changing schedule are all out of our control. We are asking for your patience and understanding in advance as we all try to navigate in an environment that no one has any prior experience with. "Flexibility is the key to Airpower!. That is true more than ever this year.
The plan (today) is that we will have new photos for you tomorrow. What they are of, we will all know by tomorrow evening. I say that because I would rather tell you what the basics did each day after they have done it, rather than make promises that we can't deliver. In the blog each evening I will let you know if we expect to have photos the follwing day. That way you can plan your life and get away from your computer or tablet, get outside for some air or pay some attention to other family members.
Ok that's it for today. You will notice that there are now three photo albums in the Prep Gallery. All photos starting today for BMT will be in the Basic Military Training album. Hopefully tomorrow there will be many more. If you are travelling back home from I-Day, be safe. Actually, be safe wherever this finds you. Enjoy your evening.