A pic of a 2nd platoon soldier going down Eagle Tower
These
entries are from the letters that Brandon has mailed to me. His writing
at times can be a bit difficult to determine his words... bare with me,
I do my best, especially with army terms.
Today
we all got dressed up and slung on our backpacks and vest for the march
to Eagle Tower. It’s not too far away, perhaps a couple of miles or so.
When we got there we ate breakfast and then the company broke into the
four platoons. Two of the other platoons started repelling down Eagle
Tower. My platoon went to another station to keep us busy. We learned
how to load a magazine of bullets in our rifles and how to check for
problems when the gun doesn't fire. We were given a magazine of blanks
and some that were designed to jam the rifle. It was interesting for the
first few times, but after an hour it gets pretty boring. We then switched to
practicing throwing a grenade. We used dummy grenades and threw them at a
target (picture yourself standing in a line throwing something like a rock into the sand...over and over). After that we switched to get ready to repel. We all got
harnessed up and then practiced on a mini version of eagle tower. (It
was only 10' tall…a midget Eagle Tower if you will) When we finished, we headed over
to Eagle Tower and waited in line. When I was about 10 people back all
of sudden it started pouring down rain. They cancelled the rest of the
event because of this. I didn't get to do it. We had to march back in
the rain, then we all got to take showers that weren't timed (yahoo!) we
just had enough time needed to be back in formation.
The
rest of the day was kind of strange, because the plan was for us to
still be at Eagle Tower. The DSs gave us some informal classes on staff,
we ate dinner outside in the courtyard because it was already set-up
for us to eat at Eagle Tower.
The
end of the night was our 3 DSs gathering everyone around and explaining
why they joined the Army. Then they had each of us state why we joined.
After that it was a Q & A session that lasted for a long time. It
was interesting to hear their stories and have them act more like people
instead of just yelling and swearing all the time.
Mail
came tonight, everyone had to put on their protective eye gear and sit
in a semi-circle around the DS. He would then read the name of who the
letter was to. When the person would sound off, he would throw the
letter in that general direction. Envelopes were flying everywhere. A
few "lucky" ones even got hit right in the forehead. It was pretty
funny. No mail for me yet. The rule is 5 push-ups for each letter &
15 push-ups for every heart on the letters. LOL. Even though I didn't
get any mail, I still ended up doing push-ups. When getting our
protective eyewear I forgot to put my dog tags (they have my locker key
on them) back down my shirt.
Since
I've been here the DSs have stated that basic training has changed a
lot, and it is still changing every cycle. They said too many people
were getting hurt because the generations coming into basic now are
soft.… too many video games & sitting in front of the TV. The DSs also can't touch anyone
unless they ask permission first. They can't even call anyone names. But
they can get their point across. Instead of saying "you're an idiot"
it could be "you're acting like an idiot" with some more colorful
language of course.
Random DS Quote: "How does 1st Platoon do everything?" response from the Platoon, "Sexy Drill Sergeant"
with Eagle Tower in the background
Me in front "Striking a Pose"
talking about everyone with the ds and sitting in a circle reminded me of stripes with john candy lol!
Sunday, May 2, 2010 - 03:42 PM
FS SPC Miller
Haha yea, "I figured I would join before I got drafted"
Tuesday, December 28, 2010 - 12:20 PM
Hew
talking about everyone with the ds and sitting in a circle reminded me of stripes with john candy lol!
Sunday, May 2, 2010 - 03:42 PM
FS SPC Miller
Haha yea, "I figured I would join before I got drafted"
Tuesday, December 28, 2010 - 12:20 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment