Basic flashback

I was rooting through the top drawer of my dresser this afternoon, searching for a compass to take to Maria when I ride down to Jonesboro tomorrow. She's doing a great job of learning the new town, but sometimes has trouble keeping track of which way is north. We talked about getting her a GPS unit, but she didn't want to become dependent upon it and thought it might interfere with the geographic learning process.
Like a lot of guys - my dad included - my top dresser drawer has become kind of a museum or repository for odd/neat/semi-valuable stuff.
I'm writing this at work, but operating from memory I can tell you some of the contents:
A collection of BMW rally patches
A small ziploc bag of wheat-back pennies
Several pairs of sunglasses
A couple of silk pocket handkerchiefs
A current issue German paratrooper gravity knife
At least three packages of dental floss
A couple of packages of accordian fold wallet windows
Expired library cards from Tipton and Carmel, Ind.
A box that belonged to my first father-in-law, that has a cribbage board on the top. It contains a couple of receipts for his tuition at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., from 1939 and 1940, as well as a couple of tickets to a Detroit Tigers baseball game of that period
Two packs of reproduction WWII aircraft recognition playing cards from the Smithsonian Institution
A Polaroid color photo of my son Sean, aged about 5, in his fuzzy blue pajamas with the feet in them.
A 1970s Indiana State Fair press pass
A telephone recording device
A bottle of black ink
A photocopy of the after-action report filed by Col. Paul Tibbetts when he returned to Tinian after dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Some 1890s picture postcards of scenes around Indianapolis
A street map of Munich
A Zippo lighter
A big brass belt buckle from my Transcendental Meditation period that says "Jai Guru Dev"
A couple of small flashlights
A Universal Geneve wristwatch, circa 1944, that belonged to my first father-in-law
Several strands of Mardi Gras beads
Various keychains, some with keys to God knows what
A partial box of .45 ACP ammunition
About a dozen Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity decals
A handful of BMW rally pins
Several packs of matches from Nepenthe in Big Sur
An ID button from my 40th anniversary high school reunion
A bandanna from the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America national rally in Rhinelander, NY
A stick of Vietnam era cammo makeup
A small sack of various U.S. Army insignia and Vietnamese coins
Canadian $1 and $2 coins (one each)
Miscellaneous buttons and collar stays
A postchard from the Dachau concentration camp in Germany
A press pass for the premiere of the movie 2010
A 5x7 abscract tempra painting I did when I was a college freshman
A Nikon point-and-shoot film camera with panorama feature
A BMW motorcycle tire gauge that doesn't work but is too cool to throw away
A set of defense and prosecution evidence stickers from a courtroom
A farewell letter from the faculty sponsor of the Indiana State University student newspaper when I worked there
And the point of this post: my U.S. government-issued pocket notebook from Air Force basic training. I've reproduced here the page that shows the proper arrangement of an Airman Basic's footlocker lower section. I have no idea if they still use footlockers in the military, but this is how the bottom level was to be arranged for inspection in 1965.
Yes, 42 years ago today, I was in my fourth day of basic training at Lackland Air Force Base at San Antonio, Texas. By this time, we'd had our 75-cent haircuts and been issued our duffelbag full of uniform items. Staff Sgt. Maxie, our drill sergeant, recognized my leadership abilities and put me in charge of the upper bay (second floor) latrine with a crew of five or six at my command. It was my first and only command, since I went home on a medical (allergies) discharge after 41 days of military service.