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.
This
morning at formation DS Midget came up to me and asked if I shaved this
morning. I said "Yes drill sergeant, I shave every morning". I think
because he is so small he must be getting a different perspective than
all the other DSs. He then started to march us and because his steps are
so small, it was a little difficult to keep up with his quick left,
left, left.
So
the last time I wrote about the obstacle course I was mistaken. The course we did earlier is called “The Confidence Course”. Today we went
to the “real” obstacle course. It’s setup with about 8 lanes for people
to use. You start off crawling through sand, running a short distance,
climbing a rope, going over monkey bars, balancing over a log, and then
getting over some small walls. Then the fun began. We had to low crawl
for about 30 meters, crab walk for about the same, then sprint to the
finish line. Everyone had to go through the course once and then each
platoon picked their best 8 people to go for time. I was able to
complete each of the obstacles. I’ll tell you that my arms were burning!
We have some pretty athletic people in our platoon. We even have a guy
who had a scholarship for football at University of North Carolina. Our
platoon ended up beating all the others. The closest to us was over a
minute behind. This was a big event to win because it’s part of “The
Raider-Challenge”. Whichever platoon scores the most points will get
more time with their family on family day.
After
we finished they took us all to a pipe that was 8 feet off the ground
with water pouring out of it. We all got in line and rinsed off all the
sand that was caked all over us. We came back and took quick showers and
then ate lunch. Speaking of food, I’m a very luck guy. In formation the
way we line up for chow, I am always in the front of the line. Since
I’m first in line I get a little more time to eat. The food is good, we
are just always rushed for time. Later on we had a class on team
movement (squad formation and such) then we went out and practiced the
movements and formations.
We
came back up to find portions of the bay tossed. Our DS was showing the
new DS (DS Midget) how and what to look for when tossing a bay. None of
my stuff was tossed. I made sure to lock my locker and I take a long
time to make my bed when we get new sheets. Once it’s made, I sleep on
top of it in my winter PTs and a blanket that they issued us for
camping. That way when I get up, I can put away the blanket and just
straighten up the bed. Someone left their toothpaste in the latrine so
the DSs squeezed out all of it over all the sinks.
We
had to clean up our bay and later on clean up the company common area.
This includes picking up leaves again one by one. I think we’re going to
be leaf picker upper experts by the end of basic. LOL.
We
have mail call again today. I think everyone in the platoon got letters
except for me. I thought for sure I would have something by now. I was
so looking forward to some contact from home. That may be the hardest
thing about basic training - being totally cut off from the outside
world. I was talking with a few people yesterday and everyone is
suffering from the lack of contact with friends and family. Some have
even thought about quitting. Having everything taken away from you
really makes you appreciate all the little things you take for granted.
(Giving someone a call or sending an email…deciding you want pizza and
ice cream and wanting to take your time eating it. LOL) Seriously, I
think only people who have been to basic or prison may truly understand
the way this feels.
I
have stupid CQ duty tonight from 1 to 2 AM...totally sucks!!! I want to
sleep through the night for once! Our platoon has fireguard, laundry
guard and CQ duty tonight, so there will be 5 people up each hour and
everyone in the platoon will be doing something tonight. Nobody is
happy.
Random DS Quote: “Some people should not breed” ( a DS was observing Pvt. Home School on the obstacle course)
Overheard Quote: “It’s only gay if you’re touching” (said while we were getting rinsed off two at a time after the obstacle course.
A photo showing the lanes at the beginning of the obstacle course
A clip from the basic training DVD I ordered. It shows most of the obstacles
on the course and it has people from our entire company going through the course.
Some are a little less coordinated than others.
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