t,
I noticed that too. That first night at Reception was possibly the longest in my life.
I remember the bus pulled up- this was at Ft Dix- it was the middle of the night. A little female E5 stepped into the bus and said, loudly and clearly but not shrilly, she wanted everyone off the bus and in a line out on the cement.
Everyone was kinda groggy, and moving slowly. After about 15 seconds of watching us schlep around looking for our bags and whatnot, she screamed at us like a bobcat getting its tail twisted. You never saw so many overfed, dopey boys move so fast in your life.
It was uphill from there.
Wait a second. I went through Reception Station Fort Dix in '83. We got there after midnight also. All the yelling we got was from other trainees when we entered the barracks and disrupted their sleep. Next day we were hand-held by a very nice E-4 to get our shots, uniforms, haircuts, etc. It wasn't too bad at all. They even gave us sodas and ice cream at the mess hall. I kept saying to myself, this boot camp stuff is easy.
Until the cattle wagons arrived. They stuffed us, well, like cattle with our duffle bags still attached to our backs. The same E-4 waving us goodbye with a smile. Then the doors opened when we got to our actual training unit. It reminds me of that scene in what's-its-name movie of fresh russian soldiers arriving by cattle car at Stalingrad...