WELCOME TO LACKLAND AFB

foreign Carson and I want to welcome you to Lackland Air Force Base I wish it were possible for me to talk with you in person because the next seven minutes are important to us both important to me because I'm your commander and am responsible for your training and well-being I want you to get started off right and to succeed in your training important to you because what I have to say and help you a great deal if you listen and apply yourselves during the next six weeks you're on the threshold of a new experience it can be exciting satisfying rewarding or just the opposite depending largely upon you in any case your training here will be different from anything you've ever done before it will require cooperation on your part and some adjustments in your ways to the Air Force system of doing things you will learn more about this and your basic training but for the next six minutes I want to do just three things first show you some scenes of the training you will receive next tell you how you can help yourselves and lastly let you know some of my policies that will affect you as you watch some of these scenes from your basic training program I want to explain a few things you will encounter first this is no picnic it's not supposed to be you will get up early work late and learn a great deal about the Air Force about others and most importantly about yourselves you're a very special people to us and no two of you are alike but you have the abilities the Air Force needs and that makes you something special indeed during the next few weeks you will be taught how the Air Force functions the customs and courtesies of the service and how you fit into the air force structure there will be drill physical conditioning Marksmanship training and still more drill drill teaches discipline It prepares you to receive and to give orders it develops teamwork and it is an integral part of our system to speed your transition from civilian to military life you will be living and working with other Airmen with whom you may have very little in common except your newness to the Air Force this is both an opportunity and it's a challenge it is an opportunity to learn more about your fellow Americans to learn that differences in race religion and cultural backgrounds in no way diminish a man's stature as an individual it is a challenge for each one of you to learn to work and to live in this new environment in the days to come you may doubt at basic training is really worth your effort but it is over 2 million people have been trained here at the Gateway to the Air Force and have done some wonderful things for their country and for themselves the training is tough but certainly not impossible the failure rate for men is about five percent and slightly higher for women we have some special programs to help you physically mentally and morally and you will find out the details from your military training instructor in the next few days that man by the way is an expert in this business and is your best friend while you are here I want you to remember that your best friend although at times he might seem anything but that he is carefully chosen rigorously trained and works at least as hard as any of you will and he also wants you to succeed now what can you do to help yourself you must try hard we can help but you have to do it pay attention your instructors know their business and are here to help you so listen and learn look sharp you're about to become an Air Force man and we want you to look the part the first step is when you men get a haircut probably the closest you will have had since you were born but there's a good reason for this it starts all of you off at least equal in one respect your haircuts and a short haircut is cleaner cooler and much easier to keep the size it costs only 80 cents succeeding haircuts will be cut longer and by the time you graduate you will have grown up some in this respect also ask questions when you don't understand the training is rapid and once you fall behind it may be difficult to catch up go to your military training instructor before a small problem becomes a big one help others this is a very important point and will Mark you as a good person to know you will acquire friends and learn the teamwork that is so important in our Air Force have a good attitude this is a hard one at times as you will shortly find out but it is the most important of all some of you soon will get homesick you will get tired and you may become discouraged you might even feel that the Air Force is against you but I assure you this is not the case we want all of you to succeed and my people will do their absolute best by you particularly if you have a good attitude now to conclude I love the Air Force I could talk about it for hours however I know that some of you are tired and it's time to get on with your processing but let's get this straight this is the place of the fair Shake I do not care whether you're a white black brown or even purple the color of your skin has nothing to do with it you will be judged on your own merits by what you do rather than who you are or where you came from my policy is fairness and I will not accept anything else from anybody permanent party or students in short this means that I will not tolerate prejudice unreasonable unwarranted or inflammatory actions name calling or racism by anyone violators will be subject to disciplinary or other action in accordance with the uniform code of military Justice and appropriate regulations we will try to understand you your problems and how we can help you in turn I expect you to try to understand the Air Force and give us a chance to show you we mean what we say there are many sources available to you to make your feelings known from student critiques which are comments on the quality of your training to your Commanding General himself in case all other means fail but I urge you to try the system first your training instructor first sergeant squadron commander chaplain and others you will learn about however if you still feel that you have not been treated fairly then come see my Deputy genitality are finally me all of us are interested in you one last point on policy I Stand For Justice and an orderly process of change and will not allow otherwise we have a good system here it has been tested for years and produced exceedingly well however everything changes and I want to continue to improve our programs to eliminate unnecessary irritants and I will be looking for ways to do so let's use the system established and do so in an orderly Air Force manner in summary I'm glad you are here it will be a sporty course so work hard look sharp and have a good attitude these qualities alone will carry you a long way the Air Force is a great outfit and I am pleased you're about to find this out for yourself best of luck and I will see you around