University of Northern Iowa - Old Gold Yearbook (Cedar Falls, IA)

Page 16 text:

 Air creto student hit the Itooks before lights out. Home of Esquire, Vetty Pin-Ups Resounds to Call-to-Arms Something new lias been added to Baker and Seerlcy halls. W lien once Inquire and Petty girl reigned supreme a» wall deroralions, drah unattractive class schedules hang: where the hoys once got together behind closed doors for that late hull session or weekly poker game, aircrew students now retire promptly at nine-fifteen. W hen the 80th College Training Detachment chose T. C. as its -ite. we students voluntarily gave to the army the use of these dormitories as barracks making the air crew students say. “The army was never like this.’ The soldier in uniform uses the same rooms and studies at the same desk, hut as all things must certainly change during a war. so too did Baker and Seerlcy. busy staff of non-commissioncd ofliecrs maintains the office of the 80th Training Detachment in the lounge, and the officers have their “inner sanctum behind the glass doors of the solarium in Seerlcy. In tin basement, the familiar click of pool halls or the sound of pingpong paddles t i 11 resounds in the recreation room, and if you step across the hall to the door marked “kitchen, you will (ind a candy shop where air crew students can buy that in-between-meals snack. The numerous forms and papers that all go to make up the so-called army bureaucracy may he found in tin trunk room, which now also houses supplies and is a receiving room for laundry. W andering to the other end of Seerlcy basement, we lind the pressing room turned into a hospital ward even air crew students become ill occasionally, in the Commons basement, the familiar Mast “line is now an army mess line where the men of the army air corps dim in a manner to which all army men would like to become accustomed. I - 11 it

Page 15 text:

Boots Worfe, Sing, Study . . . Free a Ma i to h igh t li’s nol all work in the Navy—at 16:30 each weekday. avcs swarm to the stores on the corner for an hour's liberty. On Saturday anil Sundays, they pack the buses and head for Cedar Falls and aterloo to enjoy shopping, a movie or howling, and dinner out. Each class has written and produced its own Seaman's show. Sports lovers participate in volleyball and basketball tournaments and swimming meets. There are also I SO shows, free movies and, since the arrival of the air corps, army-navy dances. For those few free minutes during the day. seamen enjoy relaxing in Bartlett's lounges, and the ship's store and naval post- ollice add to their convenience and enjoyment. It is quite natural that these seamen should have certain outstanding incidents which they will remember, hut some incidents are probably somewhat different from the way we would picture them. The seamen themselves gave these as their happenings to he remembered — coveted day of going into uniform and the proud lirst salutes: shots for tetanus and typhoid, given, they say. for two reasons -—to prevent disease and to give the girls something to talk about: lire drills in zero weather, with a blanket wrapped around to keep a seaman warm: singing while marching to regimental lecture each platoon has it own original song; standing for hours (it seems) for inspection. Trainees at the indoctrination center for the If'omen's Reserve of the f . S. Navy fall to that lioinl old Navy fowl.

Page 17 text:

Meal - time is a busy lime for every one! Air Students Busy Crew from Reveille to Taps Across the ram pus from ihe Wave «hip we find the army air corps ami llirir routine. Routine here mean falling out of hod at 05:15 ami answering reveille roll call liflecn minutes later. Retween 05:30 ami the first elans at 07:00. the air crew student must have his room ready for inspection, his clothe properly cared for. and breakfast eaten. These men. like people on other parts of the campus, found that living four in a room did have an advantage, for the work can he divided one man mops the floor, another cleans the mirror and lava- tory, and so on. Each man makes his own hed. army style, with one blanket placed over the hed and drawn tightly, with no wrinkles, and the two large com- fort are rolled, with one being placed at each end of the hed. Clothe and shoes must he properly placed ready for inspection. From seven through four more hours, the army air corps students are in classes, hut at eleven, they arc again ahead, for noon mess call is at eleven. After mess comes the first mail call of the day. fternoon classes begin at 12:30 and last until 16:30. Mess call comes again at 17:00. After mess, the students return again to Scerley and Raker for the last mail call of the day. Supervised study begins at 18:30 and lasts until 19:30 every night except Saturday and Sunday surely no one has a question on why these future pilots need to study after looking at their schedule. Little explanation is needed for the time from 19:30 to 21:00 that's ree time. 21:15 spells the end of a day of army routine for the air corps student and the beginning of eight hours of sleep. p « i s