5 on 1 in my barracks. The white kid was an asshole but didn’t deserve a gang beat down. I told them to leave and one approached me and I had a 32” Johnny Bench Louisville that he kissed. The others couldn’t overwhelm me in the hallway and left. They went to the 1st Sgt and complained. When the 1st Sgt asked me for the particulars I told him. He said “good job” as it was my responsibility on that floor of the barracks to keep order. General Daniel James selected me as the Outstanding Airman of the Year two weeks later...Go figure. Black gangs beating whites was commonplace in the USAF 45 years ago.
I heard stories about the dorms I lived in (Homestead. ‘82-85) during the ‘70s. A lot of draftees, post-Vietnam. It wasn’t uncommon for someone to be tossed down a flight of stairs. Turf wars over drug dealing.
Thanks for your service, FRiend.
Honestly, I always hear people saying that the military was a racist hotbed back then, but...I never saw it as much different than today, though I have a suspicion it is even more so now.
There was racism then, just like there is racism now. And there were and are black and white people who are racists, and black and white people who aren’t.
Times change, but human nature doesn’t...much.