Basic Training
Howard Zanit: Basic Training, having heard stories from people about that, does scare you, because I think boot camp.
Darlene Anderson: Boot camp is designed to, you know, break them down and to build them back up. Everything that happened at boot camp and that they learn in boot camp is for a reason, and you find out later on.
David Smith: Well, he was firm in the decision up until the day it was time for him to actually go down.
Patricia Smith: You would’ve thought he was going to the guillotine. Truly, I mean, he just… You know, I think most of it was just the unknown, scared. He’d heard some horror stories, you know. They’re going to be screaming at you, they’re going to be doing this, that and the other.
David Smith: I think he was just really worried about surrendering his freedom and how much control was going to be over his life.
Mary McHugh: I wasn’t very worried about the Basic Training because Scott had prepared himself mentally and physically. He trained to go into Basic Training. Several months before graduation, he began a physical regimen that involved about 10 miles of jogging a day.
Holly Clayman: When we said goodbye, we really tried to hold it together, and we tried not to let him see our emotion, and we did, until we turned our backs and walked out the door.
Nancy Kennon: It was the first letter that I got from her that actually made me feel good, when she said it’s going pretty good, and she really liked it, and I was actually shocked just to know that, because I was really worried about her not liking it and not liking to be told what to do, and… But she, she fit right in.
Patti Kolk: I was very proud to be able to go to his graduation ceremony, to see them dressed in their dress uniform. It was very exciting.
Robert Kennon: We was there at that graduation that day. We was trying to figure out where could we sit so we could take some good pictures, right. And I went up to one of the officers there and he asked — I asked him, we were like, “My daughter, she’s in, like, C4.” At that moment he goes like, “Y’all be very proud of your daughter because she’s a stick,” because that’s one of the highest things that they can accomplish, you know, carrying that flag, and so that made me feel really, really good.
Monique Morris: My proudest moment was when I saw him at his graduation, when I was in those stands and I could actually pick his face out of that crowd. That was my proudest moment. I’d never felt that good, not even — (crying) I don’t even think the day I gave birth to him I felt that good. I really was so proud.
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