Brad’s Gambling Life–Part 6, Into the Military

Although spending 10-12 hours a day in the San Antonio, Texas summer sun wouldn’t appeal to most people, Brad loved every minute of basic training at Lackland Air Force base: the punishing exercise sessions, the regimented marching everywhere you went, the constant screaming of the tough DI.  It was just the challenging life this strong and healthy and enthusiastic 17-year-old had pictured since he had played with toy soldiers in his childhood sandbox.

For the first eight weeks of basic training Brad’s gambling career was on hold.  The little bit of free time the exhausted recruits had was used to grab some sleep.  But in the last month the grueling schedule loosened up a bit, and there was some time to relax and have a little fun.  Brad had always been the game organizer, so they pushed together some footlockers and he taught them how to play – what else? – his road game, Tonk.  It was very low stakes; they made only $75 a month and $50 was held back until the end of training.  Needless to say Brad collected a lot of IOU’s that last month, but not all were paid off that last day when everyone scattered to other bases.

Brad’s next orders sent him to Vance Air Force Base, where working in the parachute room eight hours a day was certainly not his idea of excitement.  And although he had plenty of spare time, boring little Enid, Oklahoma held no attraction for him.  Never being a heavy drinker, he rarely joined the airmen who taxied to the cheap bars in town.  He spent some of his free time setting up pins in the base bowling alley to supplement his now $80 a month pay as a PFC (the rank before the name was changed to Airman 3^rd Class).  He earned 10-cents a game and became nimble enough to handle two lanes at a time.

This little job helped him build a bigger bankroll and soon he was dominating the poker games in the dayroom where the gambling airmen congregated during their free time.  The biggest games were on the monthly paydays, when all base work closed down at 11 a.m. after the pay was distributed, and the gambling action continued on through the night. Brad always preferred Tonk but poker was the game of choice at this base.  However, as usual, he had more experience than most of his fellow players, so skill trumped luck most of the time.  Many of the airmen lost all their money early in the month, but they were allowed to continue in the game in what they called Payday Poker, with IOU’s that had to be settled up the next payday before being allowed to again join in the games.  As would be the continuing situation throughout Brad’s gambling, his role would usually be the payee, not the payer.

After 6 months in Oklahoma, Brad did what he refers to as “the most stupid thing I have ever done in my life that turned out to be one of my greatest experiences.”  Tune in to the next installment of this series to hear about his next move, one that led to one super adventure.