Soldier, 55, about to graduate from combat basic training

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | May 28, 2014 | By Carolyn Jones

[T-Bird45]

I just scrolled to the bottom of the page and there they were.

[Michael.SF.]

They do not show on mine. weird.

[familyop]

"To make it through the grueling 2 1/2-month training,..."

Well done! But I wonder what his initial training was for. Combat engineers (combat type) were there for 13 weeks last time I saw it.

[familyop]

"When he returns to the Bay Area next week, Taffe plans to join the Army Reserve and return to his job as a security specialist at the U.S. Coast Guard in Alameda."

Oh, okay! I see. That explains his age, too (cutoff age for us was 34). Anyway, well done!

[atc23]

I’m 55, I should go back in the Navy - just to get out from under the bootheel of the hausfrau. I can dream, cant I? - I could not pass basic, I’d succumb on the marching “grinder”

[Bulwyf]

did 40-50 pull-ups.

No he didn’t, I’m sure they meant to print push-ups.

Good on this guy though for going out and doing it.

[Jet Jaguar]

Active Duty ping.

[Harold Shea]

That’s for sure.No way a 55 yo could have done basic

Training as what existed in 68,at least what I experinced

before coming down with double pneumonia and did the

rest of basic after getting out the hospital riding jeeps.lol

[luvbach1]

I went through Army basic when I was 23 and it was hard enough, especially the marching. Got a “march fracture” and “shin splints” by forcing a longer stride than my 5’7” frame allowed. Got bronchitis but got to ride to the firing range for a couple weeks until that cleared up; then incurred significant hearing loss in my left ear by being forced to fire a M-1 Garand rifle without ear protection(I protected the right ear by pressing it against the stock of the rifle). In those days (1961) the Army apparently considered you a sissy if you wanted to protect your hearing. I tried cotton in my ears but Sargent on range told me to remove it. No way could I have gone through all that at age 55.

[Mark17]

Did you get any disability for hearing loss? I got 10% for type 2 diabetes. They claimed agent orange in Vietnam contributed to it.

[luvbach1]

Did you get any disability for hearing loss?

I applied for it. They scheduled a hearing test but I received the notification four hours after the scheduled test. I was reported by office to have been a no show and I got a letter of denial of disability from VA. Appealed that successfully and got another test scheduled that conflicted with a long-planned move to CA from VA. Got a letter in CA from VA that my application was still pending. It's been close to 3 years. I may not live long enough to get compensation. There is no question what caused my hearing loss.

[Finatic]

Nobody thought I could do it but I went into Infantry/Airborne schools at Harmony Church, Ft Benning in 83. I was thankful to go through the Church and not the modern Sand Hill(ton).

They told us we had it easy compared to those who walked before us. Training standards dumbed down.

I weighed 118 lbs on my induction date, months later I came out at 165 including my blood wings.

Damn near killed me.

[MSF BU]

Airborne school is much easier now as opposed to the early eighties and earlier. In short, the school was made easier to accommodate females, end of story. No pull ups, no break area procedures, no gig pit, no heart break hill, etc.

[Ax]

I went through USAF basic in 1960 and it’s was an 8-week joke. We spent about three hours at the range. There was a lot of “admin” time that would’ve been better spent at the range and doing PT. I understand that it has been toughened up over the past few years. My first tour in the Philippines was like a vacation. Eight hours duty daily then the rest of the time drinking San Miguel. Good thing we weren’t attacked then. About a year later I got assigned to a small station in Italy. We went on full alert. We went to the supply warehouse and by the time I got there, all I got was a web belt and a tin pot.

[kearnyirish2]

“If a 55-year old can successfully complete basic training, then basic training has been dumbed down to irrelevance. Just do it by online and mail it in.”

YEars ago at the peak of our involvement in Iraq (when the military was overlooking felonies just to keep the troop levels up) I read a conversation with a DI who said they weren’t trying to flunk people, but help them get through. This was around the time those two girls were captured (Jessica Lynch and Shoshana Jackson?); they had no business being in the army, and were easily taken.

[Gay State Conservative]

I weighed 118 lbs on my induction date, months later I came out at 165 including my blood wings.

Is that a misprint...or are you a woman who "bulked up"?

[ottbmare]

And here the father is sacrificing to put this spoiled brat through college? That’s a problem. Let him figure it out for himself, Dad. He obviously knows everything.