Oreo = heaven in my mouth (Basic Training) Day 39

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 we had another PT test. Everything went normal for the push-ups, and sit-ups, but the 2-mile run brought some drama. Our 2-mile run test is set-up so one platoon at a time starts and after about 3 minutes the next platoon starts and so on until all four platoons are running. We run down a road that is marked every quarter mile and after one mile we turn around and come back. We were first, so most of us finished before the rest of the platoons came in. All of a sudden I hear “man down, man down”. All the DSs ran over to 3^rd platoon (terminators) and sure enough here was a guy totally unconscious. He ran a little too hard and most likely didn’t hydrate enough. They ended up taking him to the hospital, so I’m not sure of his status right now. Pretty scary stuff! I’m not sure of my official scores yet, but I think I improved in every area. The official scores should be posted later in the day.

After breakfast we learned modern army combatives (aka UFC or MMA) moves. It was cool because we got to practice on each other, but it got hot as hell. I was sweating like a pig. It quickly became very uncomfortable for everyone. Finally, we broke for lunch and after lunch DS A-Hole said everyone has to do 30 push-ups, 30 sit-ups and 10 pull-ups. All this on a full stomach. Grrrr. Then we were allowed to take a shower and change into our PT uniforms. We found out later that the extra exercises after lunch was to burn extra calories. (even though no other platoon had to do it). 

Our company was being rewarded for everyone qualifying on the range yesterday. We all had the opportunity to go to the ice cream store next to the PX and get either an Oreo, Reeses Pieces or Butterfinger milkshake. I stopped and said “you had me at oreo”. We pre-ordered and then walked over and picked up our shakes. I wasn’t actually expecting much, but I was happily surprised by how good it was. It was heaven in my mouth. I savored every mouthful. That was awesome!!! The only down fall is that it was gone too fast. 

One of the nice benefits of white phase is that the DSs go home earlier, especially on the weekends. Today after around 4:30 (16:30) all the DSs were gone except for one for the entire company. Gotta love that. Just chillin’ in the bay with 34 other guys…bored guys who are trying to find interesting ways to entertain themselves. 

Random DS Quote: “Head and eyes forward privates, use your peripherals.” (At the PX a number of hot chicks came in and caused a distraction...lol)