Before going to basic tranining in Fort Leonard Wood, I ended up in the hospital with pneumonia. After recovery I was taken to my basic training unit, housed in metal huts. As I entered I saw that all the lockers and bunks were taken. An "older" guy, maybe 25, took his bag out of a locker and let me have it, then he moved to the entrance. Odd behavior to say the least! Another kid arrived, walked the hut and found no locker or bed. I looked at all the old guys at the door with their bags and wondered what they knew. I gave my space to the new guy and moved to join the "old" guys.
A drill sgt walked in and called for everyone with a locker or bed and he led us out of the tin hut and into a brick barracks next to ou group of huts. "This is your space during basic, since we have no more space for you!" The "older" guys were all prior service vets coming back in. I had the luck to be with experienced veterans who gave me knowledge of what was going to happen, why and when. They knew what was expected and we cruised through the inspections, while the ones in the huts endured a hard learning curve!
The good thing that came out of it was that our barracks was kept warm and our latrine was across the hall and next to the training company's NCO room and we could overhear their discussions. The later one for the hits was about a block away and winter was coming to central Missouri!