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Authors: John Steinbeck
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what they would do when they graduated, go on W.P.A. or try to keep the orchestra going, and then Pearl Harbor was attacked and war was declared.
There was a long train trip to the induction center and the ride on the truck and the examinations and tests, and now Bill was ready to begin his training as a bombardier. He was not very tall—5 ft. 7 in. His face was square and firm and his hair sandy. He had cultivated a manner of good-humored taciturnity not very unlike his father’s manner. “When you get the feel of it,” his father wrote, “I’d like to come down and see what kind of an Air Force we’ve got.”
During the first days, sometimes Bill was a little panicky. He had thought of himself as being pretty hard but now new, sore muscles soon showed him he was not. If he had not been so tired those first few days the constant supervision would have frightened him, but when he was finally released he dropped on his cot and went to sleep. He wrote an occasional post card home. At first he had thought of writing long, descriptive letters to a girl he knew, but he soon gave that up. Things were happening to him too fast for description. He took his aptitude test in a half-bewildered state and he was assigned to a bombardier school. He was to learn a complicated trade and technique in twelve weeks. The program was exact; it went as follows:
1. The objective—proficiency as a bombardier member of the Air Force combat team with a minimum of tactical transition training after the completion of this course.
2. The scope—
a. Qualification in the technical duties of a bombardier.
b. Qualification as third-class bombardier.
c. Qualification in the technical duties of aircraft observer.
d. Physical training to develop and maintain the alertness required in combat crew members.
e. Military training to inculcate an appreciation of strict compliance with instructions from higher authority.
3. The duration—12 weeks.
a. First three weeks preliminary ground training.
b. 4th to 9th weeks inclusive, ground and air training.
c. 10th to 12th weeks inclusive, air training to include tactical bombing and reconnaissance missions.
And at the bottom of the program it said, “The hours prescribed herein per phase of instruction represent the time required for the average student to accomplish the objective.”
These were the things he had to learn in twelve weeks. Bill, with a number of others from his induction center, were moved to a bombing school. In the barracks he had his own cot now and a little domain about him. He began to make friends and gradually what had seemed like anarchy to him began to iron out. Drill and athletics went on constantly and Bill’s shoulders were back now and he began to fit his uniform. At night he was not as tired as he had been at first.
At first he had disliked the formations, but as he became precise in his step and carriage he grew to like them; the beat of the step, the numbers of men all acting in precise unison, became a satisfying thing to him. He discovered something he had not learned, which the directionless depression had not permitted him to learn—the simple truth that concerted action of a group of men produces a good feeling in all of them. In formation he with the others shouted the step count at the top of his lungs and they all felt good about it. When his unit was good enough so that every rifle grounded with one sound, they felt good about that too. They took pride in their unison.
The days were balanced for them, formation to breakfast, and classroom and athletics, then application of the classroom work and more drill and lunch, then back to classroom, out to the formation and practice with appliances. There was so much to do that the days raced by.
The study began in the classroom. There was a discussion of the reason of training, what it aimed toward, and what the duties and the responsibilities of a bombardier are—and his responsibilities are very sharp. He
There was a long train trip to the induction center and the ride on the truck and the examinations and tests, and now Bill was ready to begin his training as a bombardier. He was not very tall—5 ft. 7 in. His face was square and firm and his hair sandy. He had cultivated a manner of good-humored taciturnity not very unlike his father’s manner. “When you get the feel of it,” his father wrote, “I’d like to come down and see what kind of an Air Force we’ve got.”
During the first days, sometimes Bill was a little panicky. He had thought of himself as being pretty hard but now new, sore muscles soon showed him he was not. If he had not been so tired those first few days the constant supervision would have frightened him, but when he was finally released he dropped on his cot and went to sleep. He wrote an occasional post card home. At first he had thought of writing long, descriptive letters to a girl he knew, but he soon gave that up. Things were happening to him too fast for description. He took his aptitude test in a half-bewildered state and he was assigned to a bombardier school. He was to learn a complicated trade and technique in twelve weeks. The program was exact; it went as follows:
1. The objective—proficiency as a bombardier member of the Air Force combat team with a minimum of tactical transition training after the completion of this course.
2. The scope—
a. Qualification in the technical duties of a bombardier.
b. Qualification as third-class bombardier.
c. Qualification in the technical duties of aircraft observer.
d. Physical training to develop and maintain the alertness required in combat crew members.
e. Military training to inculcate an appreciation of strict compliance with instructions from higher authority.
3. The duration—12 weeks.
a. First three weeks preliminary ground training.
b. 4th to 9th weeks inclusive, ground and air training.
c. 10th to 12th weeks inclusive, air training to include tactical bombing and reconnaissance missions.
And at the bottom of the program it said, “The hours prescribed herein per phase of instruction represent the time required for the average student to accomplish the objective.”
These were the things he had to learn in twelve weeks. Bill, with a number of others from his induction center, were moved to a bombing school. In the barracks he had his own cot now and a little domain about him. He began to make friends and gradually what had seemed like anarchy to him began to iron out. Drill and athletics went on constantly and Bill’s shoulders were back now and he began to fit his uniform. At night he was not as tired as he had been at first.
At first he had disliked the formations, but as he became precise in his step and carriage he grew to like them; the beat of the step, the numbers of men all acting in precise unison, became a satisfying thing to him. He discovered something he had not learned, which the directionless depression had not permitted him to learn—the simple truth that concerted action of a group of men produces a good feeling in all of them. In formation he with the others shouted the step count at the top of his lungs and they all felt good about it. When his unit was good enough so that every rifle grounded with one sound, they felt good about that too. They took pride in their unison.
The days were balanced for them, formation to breakfast, and classroom and athletics, then application of the classroom work and more drill and lunch, then back to classroom, out to the formation and practice with appliances. There was so much to do that the days raced by.
The study began in the classroom. There was a discussion of the reason of training, what it aimed toward, and what the duties and the responsibilities of a bombardier are—and his responsibilities are very sharp. He
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