My friend's military physical in the '70s
I was not in the military but a guy with whom I was talking about exams 15 or 20 years ago told me about his experience when he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force back in the 1970s before group exams had disappeared and the MEPS system replaced it. He told me that he had to report to a recruitment location on the day of the physical. From there, a school bus was filled up with guys and were transported to the induction center. There were over a hundred recruits going through the physical that day. Some blood work and urinalysis was done and some other activities not related directly to the physical took place. For the physical exam, all the recruits were given individual lockers and were told to strip down to their undershorts wearing nothing else, lock all their other possessions in the locker, and sit in a large room in school-style desks. The entire group of recruits was separated into small groups of 7. The overall physical consisted of each recruit, in his assigned group of 7, moving from one room to another with each different room housing the examination of one body part or area. The exam started with one group at each of the examination room stations. Corpsmen supervised the rotation from room to room and would instruct the recruits what to do for that component of the exam. He was in Group 1 so his exam started with eyes, ears, nose, and throats and proceeded through the body areas much like a typical one-on-one exam. He said the exam proceeded pretty quickly with each station taking about 5 minutes for all 7 guys to have that body part examined by the doctor. The final station for him was a room with the door closed. Someone in the group whispered that this was the room where "they check your dick and balls." They had more of a wait before the corpsman opened the door and they were instructed to enter. He said the corpsman who opened the door lead the seven guys in and told them to stand shoulder to shoulder along a line painted on the floor. He said their were two other corpsmen in the room leaning against the wall facing the recruits. The corpsman who led them in said to the other two "I will go get the doctor." After only a few seconds, that corpsman returned with a doctor who addressed the group and said "drop your shorts to your knees and skin them back." The doctor then moved from man to man feeling the testes and telling each to "bear down." The corpsman had new gloves for the doctor after he finished with each. My friend said all seven guys were circumcised so he guessed the "skin them back" order was just a standard instruction. When he had examined all the guys' genitals, he told them to "bend over when I get to you and spread your cheeks." He just walked behind them and shined a small flashlight on their anuses. The two corpsmen who were leaning against the wall just watched the entire process. When all seven had been examined, the group was led out another door. He told me that he and some of the other guys knew this station would happen but they were totally in the dark about when it would happen because this station was off a hallway that was not obvious from the main room where all the other stations were located. He said the anticipation and anxiety among the group was really high.
Comments
highwater 3 years ago
1965... we were 20 years old they"invited all of us down for the "interview" to "weed out" all the miss fits!! They did a good job .. out of the 120 guys that went down for testing only half of us passed!! That was pretty good!! They took one guy any way although he was "BLIND" from birth and his seeing eye dog had a flat foot!!! They said his dog could sight the rifle and bark for him to pull the trigger!!!!!
Seriously!!! This was the Vietnam War circa late 1960's!!!
highwater
ak47 3 years ago
My friend got similar exam in the army. Examination was proceed in group of 2 guys at the time. He said good thing was that you didn't have to be naked in front of everyone. Just behind the screen with a doctor in front of other guy who wass watching everything before his genital and anus exam. Doctor ask to lie on the medical bed drop your pants, checked penis and balls and then as to rise legs up to your chest so he can look into anus. Then next guy has same procedure.
esaterman 3 years ago
In France when there was still a mandatory military service, I was summoned to report in a pre-induction military center where we stayed one day and a half, so we spend a night in the barracks in a large dormitory. It was in the middle of the 60's and the physical examination of draftees were performed in a large group stark naked from the beginning until the end like it was before in front of the draft board commission.( The report in front of the draft board commission was not yet suppressed but took place a few weeks after that first physical examination for the official decision about your fitness for military service but the double physical examinations lasted only for two years, but I was concerned by them one of these two years)
I was summoned with about 200 young men all aged of 18 the same morning.
After our arrival, we were divided in group of twenty guys supervised each by two non commissionners officers for all our time spend at the center, even at the dormitory or under group shower.
For the physical examinations, at the beginning of the second day ( the first was for various psychological and knowledge tests), we had first a shower in group in a large shower room, the twenty guys all together and supervised by the non commissionners officers who were responsible to send water, not very hot indeed, and checked that each young man had used the soap which he had taken in a kind of basket at the entrance of the shower room, then we were led by them to an other building where the medical examination took place.
We were first instructed to strip completely again in a large locker room, and then to line up in a large corridor for a visual inspection of an officer who was just coming and then we went in group from one medical room to another one, we stayed naked all the time, even for eyes or ears test or teeth examination, blood test and so on and we were always examined in group of 10 to 5 according to the room each one in front of the other under the sight of one non commissionner officer who was standing at the entrance of the room. Even the urine test was in the nude on ten walls urinals with two male nurses on each side and a non commissionner officer behind us who barked after us to make us hurry up.
The last part was obviously the genitals exams and the visual inspection of the anus while bending over, it was the same, we were ten in a line along the wall and one after one we were called to come in the center of the room in front of a military doctor who sat on a rolling stool , when he had finished with the genitals and palpation of balls and hernia test, he turned to come behind us and we had to bend over so that he could see our anus area, he instructed us to spread our butts but he let us our asshole exposed for a while to the other guys and the non commissionner officer to search a flashlight put on a desk on the side of the room, and he took his time like if he enjoyed of our embarrassment, then when coming again behind us he spread more widely our butts and inspected visually our asshole and anus area, then he gave us a strong slap on the butts with the instruction to lift up again.
But on the reverse of what I believed, it was not the end of the examination, we had still to go to an other room for a DRE which was performed on a table by an other doctor, we might be on all fours on the table under the sight of the other young men of the group.
Fortunately there was no female nurses to assist the military doctors and see our embarrassment in that akward situation.
pcguy 3 years ago
I had my draft physical in 1970 with about 50 other guys. For the rectal exam, we stood in a circle with about 15. We were told to spread our cheeks, and the doc moved from one to the other with an assistant lighting the dark passages. After we dressed, we were given lunch passes, and another guy and I joked about "the naked circle."
chum45 4 years ago
I went thru the draft physical in 1968 and it was much like the last writer spoke of----- except we were not dicvided into groups of 7 As i recall----we were in bigger groups---As for the rectal exam we were aqll in rows and each row had to bend over as a row and show their butt cracks as all the rows behind watched-----I felt sorry for the guy who accompanied the doc weho had to shine a flashlight up each guys butt hole----Can you imagine him---yrs later explaining to his son what he did in the war--"I shined a flashlight up 10,000 guys butt cracks" It did add a little humor to an otherwise odd day
n/a 4 years ago
i think this would be fun to participate in