Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas – The Gateway to the Air Force

Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas – The Gateway to the Air Force

PUT YOUR BAGS DOWN! PICK YOUR BAGS UP! PUT THEM DOWN! DID I SAY DROP THEM? LET’S TRY THIS AGAIN. PICK YOUR BAGS UP; PUT YOUR BAGS DOWN!!

This was the start of my journey in the United States Air Force on a hot night in July of 1996 as I stepped off a bus on Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. I can still hear Staff Sergeant Jennifer Chinn’s voice commanding us where to go and what to do. This was the cruelest woman I have ever known! To say that I felt way out of place as a 19 year old kid from a small town in Northern Michigan was an understatement! However, SSgt Chin started the process to break down a group of 50+ “kids” and build us up as “men” in the Greatest Air Force this world has ever and will ever know.

My time in basic military training (BMT) was tough; I’m not going to lie. I was far away from home, a newly wed as well. I missed my wife – I even missed my mom! I remember my first call back home. We were told to keep it brief; tell them we were ok and to give our address. I slipped in that I didn’t want to be here anymore – I wanted so desperately to just go home! I’m glad I struck through the mental toughness, the physical exhaustion that would become the next six weeks of my life. The decision to join something greater than me has undoubtedly given me heartache; but it has also allowed me to see the world and experience many things that I wouldn’t have had I stayed in that small town life that I was so accustomed to. Ellsworth, Michigan; a town of approximately 1,000 residents; a graduating class of just 26 of us, will always be home, but will never be a place I am a resident of again. My dad was in the Air Force for 7 years. I’ve had aunts and uncles who have served in the Marines, Army, and Navy. Military life was an easy choice. I’m not going to bore you with my struggles through BMT, the fact that I fought to do enough push-ups to graduate, or the aspect that I had the best “extra duty” in my flight. While others were pulling KP (kitchen patrol) or doing everyone’s laundry, I was marching the new troops back and forth to Wilford Hall for sick call – as they visited the doctors for various reasons, I sat in the waiting room watching tv and enjoying people being nice to me for those few moments a day! I do want to tell you a little history about the place that started my career into the United States Air Force career. I will continue to do this with each base I have had the privilege of working at. In all, I have lived on or near seven different bases (well, one of them twice) and have been deployed to another six bases (once again, one of them twice). It’s been an honor and privilege to serve my country, though it’s rapidly coming to a close. So let’s go, this is Lackland Air Force Base.

Lackland is best known for its role in being the sole location for U.S. Air Force enlisted Basic Military Training (BMT) for the active duty Regular Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard. BMT is organized into 9 basic training squadrons, each with their own training site on the base. The squadrons are aligned under the 737th Training Group and is known as the “Gateway to the Air Force.” Lackland AFB hosts a collection of vintage military aircraft on static display on its parade grounds, including a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, B-29 Superfortress, C-121 Constellation, Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a B-25 Mitchell.

Construction on Lackland Air Force Base began on June 15, 1941, and was originally part of Kelly Field. One year later, it became an independent organization—the San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center. From its acronym (SAACC), many people called the base sack, sack-c, or, less affectionately, sad sack. The War Department gave it its namesake on July 11, 1947, by naming the base for Brigadier General Frank D. Lackland. General Lackland entered the Army as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry in 1911 after serving in the District of Columbia National Guard for six years. He transferred to the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps during the First World War and, after completing his training as an air officer, was executive officer at Kelley Field and the School of Aerial Gunnery, Selfridge Field, Michigan. He served as commandant of the Air Forces advanced flying school at Kelly Field, Texas, as air officer for the Eighth Corps Area at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and retired as the commanding officer of the First Wing at March Field, California after 31 years in the Army. He passed away at Walter Reed Hospital on April 27, 1943 at the age of 58(a mere two years after he retired) and is buried in Section 4 of Arlington National Cemetery.

Lackland didn’t always have the distinction of being the only Air Force Basic Training facility. It shared Basic Military Training status temporarily with Sampson Air Force Base during the Korean War and Amarillo Air Force Base during the Vietnam War until Amarillo AFB’s closure in 1968. As a result of the Korean War, training populations at Lackland soared to 28 basic military training squadrons (BMTS) within the 3700th Military Training Wing. Temporary facilities, to include 129 “I dormitories”, were hastily erected as a quick fix to replace tents cities housing recruits. In 1955 the number of BMTS was reduced to 16, where it remained for the next two decades. The Vietnam War buildup necessitated a “split-phase” training from August 1965 to April 1966. This program provided for 22 days at Lackland and 8 days at a technical school, with directed duty assignees receiving the full 30 days at Lackland. When BMT returned to a single phase on April 1, 1966, it was briefly cut back to 24 days from April to July 1966. After that, basic training stabilized at a length of six weeks. This was the same length as the program used by the Army Air Forces when Lackland opened as a basic training base 20 years before. In October 2008 the BMT was expanded an extra two weeks to implement more air base defense training as well as other rudimentary skills. The BMT course of training is at 8 1⁄2 weeks.

Lackland gained a flying mission when adjacent Kelly Air Force Base closed in 2001. The two-mile-long runway is now a joint-use facility between Lackland AFB and the city of San Antonio. The portion of the former Kelly AFB still under USAF control is now known as Lackland AFB/Kelly Field Annex and its permanently based flying units include the Air Force Reserve Command’s (AFRC) 433d Airlift Wing, an Air Mobility Command (AMC)-gained unit flying the C-5 Galaxy and the 149th Fighter Wing of the Texas Air National Guard, an AETC-gained unit flying the F-16 Fighting Falcon. The civilian side of the former Kelly AFB is now known as Port San Antonio and hosts numerous major DoD defense contractors such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, many of which directly or indirectly support major overhaul and repair of military aircraft previously conducted, and in facilities previously occupied, by the Air Force. In winter of 2009 it was decided to combine all the military bases in San Antonio into one large base named Joint Base San Antonio. Lackland now consists of the Kelly airstrip, Security Hill, main base Lackland, and the old Medina officer training base now named Medina/Lackland Training Annex. With the exception of a few buildings most of the old Kelly Air Base including the housing has been turned over to civilian jurisdiction. Currently Lackland is one of the most heavily populated bases in the Air Force. With a daily population of more than 33,000, these Airmen and civilians work and train in 1,799 buildings consisting of over 13 million square feet. There are 177 miles of roads to access the 8,881 acres that make up Lackland Air Force Base. Today, our Airmen are brought onto Lackland Air Force Base and are entrusted to Military Training Instructors to provide orderly transition from civilian to military life. Recruits are trained in the fundamental skills necessary to be successful in an Expeditionary Air Force. This includes basic war skills, military discipline, physical fitness, drill and ceremonies, Air Force core values and a comprehensive range of subjects relating to Air Force life. More than 7 million young men and women have entered Air Force basic military training since February 4, 1946, when the training mission was moved to Lackland from Harlingen Air Force Base in Harlingen, Texas. As the “The Gateway to the Air Force,” approximately 35,000 recruits are trained each year! This is where “The Journey,” my journey of 21 years and counting started on July 31, 1996. I’ve never had the chance to thank that harsh woman; but thank you from the bottom of my heart, Jennifer Chinn, wherever you are!

Of course……The Journey Continues!!