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Academy introduction harsh

This is the second installment of a periodic diary provided by Khalil Madani, which will chronicle the Wesley Chapel graduate's first football season at the Air Force Academy. See www.sptimes.com to access prior Madani entries in our free archive search.

By Times Staff
Published August 16, 2005

The first day you're standing on the footsteps of certain hell, but you have no idea. It's in-processing day. I woke up at my host's house, went to a football breakfast and met all the coaches. There were 115 freshmen. It made me feel insignificant.

You are bussed from breakfast to in-processing. People greet you and help with paperwork. When you walk out you go to a black wall. It has the names of the 164 Academy graduates who have died. They do a brief speech. The cadetes are still nice.

They send you to a bridge that goes over a creek. Before you cross you meet two guys who are members of the first graduating class. They give you a speech on what it means to be in the Academy. Then you cross.

When you cross over that bridge you are a basic cadet at the Air Force Academy.

That's pretty much when all hell breaks loose.

I had (Land O'Lakes graduate) Scott Mays next to me the entire time. We sat on a bus and learned to sit at attention for the first time - back straight and off of the seat, heels together.

Cadre members were yelling at everyone.

Scott got yelled at for gazing. You're supposed to look forward the entire time.

I got yelled at for slouching. It's the most loud and hateful yelling you've experienced. It's ironic because the guy yelling at us was a football player.

You get off the bus at the Academy.

You're pretty much thrown through issue. They give you battle dress uniforms, physical conditioning gear, boots and shoes.

On top of that, you are issued 215 items you have to put in a huge green duffel bag. Some are as small as nail clippers. It weighed roughly 50-60 pounds. You carry it all day. It was murder. You couldn't put it down. You have to carry it in your left hand. You can't strap it around your back.

You're waiting in line at attention with this green duffel bag. You've never done anything like this before, and you wonder, "What the hell am I getting myself into?"

I lost 16 pounds in the first week because I couldn't get the meal etiquette right.

And you can't relax in your room. You have to study or clean. If they find dust you are in trouble.

The biggest thing they tried to enforce was not knowing the time. You're never supposed to know when things are going on. But you figure it out. They had us up sometime after 4:30 (a.m.), and we were in bed by 9:30 (p.m.).

It was kind of rough. You would wake up for 30 minutes of physical training. It was rough.

You're never allowed to speak unless you're spoken to or unless you have to.

During basic you begin to bond with people. I know it's corny to hear we're all brothers and sisters. You go through so many difficult things you really develop a strong bond.

The assault course was one of the toughest things. That's where it's physical all day. They teach you tactics with a rifle, with hand-to-hand combat. There's bombs going off in the background and when a bomb goes off you have to drop down and start crawling. It was hell.

It's nonstop. At the end you're so dead that you can hardly stand up. The cadre that run the assault course are the meanest cadre around.

We did a 5-mile formation run one night. The worst part about was midway through the run everyone's nose and throat started burning. Someone had been firing teargas in that area earlier in the day.

It's the worst feeling. It's hard to breathe.

I didn't have to do anything physically I could not accomplish.

Homesickness made me hate this the most. You're not allowed to speak to anyone. You can communicate through letters. It's so tough. I'm so close to my family.

We had 1,400 kids start out and about 100 quit. Three or four football players quit. Eight kids didn't even get off the bus during in-processing.

About 20-30 kids were medically turned back. One kid ran down a hill, tripped and snapped his femur in three places. One kid ran through the assault course one day and collapsed. They had to use the defibrillator to revive him.

I got a letter from my brother five days into basic training. There was a picture of him and his wife on their honeymoon with their feet kicked back and two beer bottles between them. At the bottom is said, "One day this will all be over and you'll be able to kick your feet back and relax."

That kept me going.

You wake up at times thinking you don't want to do this. It would be easy to give up. You know in the back of your head when it's 10 (p.m.) here and midnight in Florida, your buddies are out partying or playing cards somewhere. You're laid up in a bed wishing you were somewhere else.

I was allowed one 15-minute phone call during basic. That was tough. I was trying not to break down and cry. I did. My mom was a mess. My dad, who is one of the strongest willed men, he even broke down a bit.

To hear that really set me off.

I've thought about going home. My mom asked if I wanted to come home, and I told her, "No."

It was the easy way out. I can't imagine going back to a town where people are proud of me. What would they think of me if I came home? I wasn't about to walk down the streets of Dade City and see people and know in the back of their minds they think I'm making a bad decision.

I had blisters on my feet. A physical therapist told me I had the worst case of blisters in basic training. Out of 1,300 kids I had the worst case. I had 10-15 blisters on my feet. I had one on my heel 2 inches in diameter.

It was hell.

I would have bad ones and they would go away. I have them on my toes. I just regained feeling in my toes. They were numb for four weeks.

I have stress fractures in my toes, my shin and my knees from all the marching.

I would wake up in the morning and could hardly walk. I had to get my blisters dressed every morning.

They give you 12 tablets of aspirin when you get here, and I ran out of it pretty quick.

An infection went up into my right leg. It was so bad on Sunday my leg was swollen from the knee down.

I was admitted to the hospital (Aug.8), and discharged Sunday.

They told me the infection was so extensive they had trouble treating it.

Now I'm concerned because my leg looks like it did just before I was admitted.

I've missed a few classes and a bunch of football practices.

I was one of the kids they pulled up to varsity right away, and the only one who didn't have to go to the prep school.

My coaches came to visit me, and a slew of football players. They've treated me so well.

[Last modified August 17, 2005, 10:37:02]