Hey Kosmonaut, just read your post today. I did basic starting Jan 10, 1983. The M1-Abrams was still brand new so we got to train in old M60-A3 upgraded Viet Nam tanks.
It was pretty cool, because we were allowed to beat the shit out of them and chase after deer and run over small trees and stuff. I was pulled from my gate 3 test just 6 days short of Graduation on a forced section 8 under the Trainee Discharge Program. They said I had a "Personality Disorder" when in fact, I was an active Manic/Depressive. Under normal circumstances, I would have been treated by mental hygeine and reassigned
but we had a President who told starving inner city school children that ketchup was a vegetable, so what could you expect? I would have gone to Germany also, but the whole situation was out of my hands.