Early on the morning of the 6th I took the train downtown and walked over to the Federal building. There was a group of about 30 guys are going to Great Lakes that day to start their Navy careers. We had another swearing in and did lots of paperwork and then a lot of hurry up and wait.
At one point they got everyone together and sent us downstairs to line up on the sidewalk outside the building. There was no rhyme or reason to how we lined up and the group was getting ready to walk down the street in line to the train station for the day long trip to Chicago and then Great Lakes.
Then for no apparent reason and seemingly random one of the officers picked six guys out of the group of thirty. I was one of the six and we were told to stand there while the rest of the group marched down the street to the train station. Then we were told that the few of us would be going to the Naval Training Center at San Diego instead of Great Lakes.
We were put into a van and driven to the airport. None of the six of us including me had ever been on an airplane. We then flew to Los Angeles and then transferred to another plane to San Diego. It was a very long trip for a first flight and quite the experience.
The difference in the weather was shocking. It was February and cold in Philadelphia. We were all dressed warmly for the trip to what was expected to be an even colder Chicago area. San Diego was warm and it felt like a summer evening.
Even with the time difference it was still very late in the day by the time we got to the base in San Diego. We had to have a very brief initial processing and given a place to sleep in a temporary barracks. We were very odd there on the base in our civilian clothes and long hair. They gave us something to eat and then they walked us over to a rec area to watch a movie on an outdoor screen. Wow, we thought boot camp was great.
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