Florida recruits get taste of basic training

Published April 14, 2009
By Staff Sgt. Adrian Bray
331st Recruiting Squadron

PACE, Fla. -- Air Force recruits here recently participated in an exercise depicting what they might expect upon arriving at basic military training.

Twenty young men and women in the 331st Recruiting Squadron delayed entry program participated in the session led by Senior Master Sgt. Grant Dugre, 96th Security Forces Squadron first sergeant, and Master Sgt. Shauna Bauer, 96th Mission Support Squadron career enlisted adviser.

Sergeants Dugre and Bauer, both from Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., led the future Airmen in a realistic session.

"This is just a short bit of what these recruits should expect to happen when they arrive at basic training. We are going to try to mimic what is going to happen when they get off the bus and into their squadrons," Sergeant Dugre said. "They will definitely have to do push-ups if they forget their reporting statement."

Tech. Sgt. Michael Forehand, the local Air Force recruiter here, was instrumental in setting this experience up and wants to do it again.

"We are going to try this again in six months. It is a great opportunity for these young people to see what kind of environment they are going to be in when they ship out," he said. "It will be a great benefit to these recruits to be prepared mentally for what they are in store for."

The 331st RCS is located on Gunter Annex in Montgomery, Ala., and covers approximately 88,000 square miles including parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama.