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.
We
woke up this morning, and had no morning PT, we just got dressed in our
ACUs. We did some stretches as a company and then started on our 8k
road march. We had on our A-Pack (Assault Pack - back pack filled with
some odds & ends) and our Flick (a vest that can carry a number of
items - canteen, first aid pack, cartridges) with of course our rifle
that we had to carry. The march was much better then the 3k with our
rucksack. We ended up going almost two miles farther than the 8k because
they took a wrong turn. PVT Home School was having issues so the
company commander made him march in front with him about half way
through. By the end of the march we made it to a new range that we would
be pre-qualifying on. My shoulders were starting to burn and my legs
were beat. It ended just in time.
We
ate breakfast at the range - duty food. (This is where the DFAC
delivers the food and the duty squad dishes it out to the company.) This
new range is the one we will qualify on. It has 6 different targets at
various distances from 50m to 300m. We get 40 shots all together - 20
from prone supported (laying using a sandbag) - 10 from prone
unsupported (laying with no sandbag) - 10 from the kneeling position
(previously I called the sitting position, you basically put your right
knee on the ground and sit on your right foot). You have to at least
score 23 total to qualify. If you don't qualify, you cannot graduate
basic. You will get recycled. I shot 25, 26, 24 & 30. Good enough to
qualify. We have more practices tomorrow and then we qualify on
Friday.
It's
been getting quite hot during the day. We've been allowed to wear our
"eye pro" sunglasses during our range time, which is cool. I also have
quite the tan. I've been putting sunscreen on my neck and face, but
forget my hands and wrist. I have dark hands and about 4 inches up past
my wrist then it goes to white.
One
of the benefits of being at an all male basic training is that most of
them time we are allowed to relieve ourselves at the wood-line. This is
good news because the latrines at the ranges are very disgusting. The
pee troughs are clogged and just sit there with standing pee and all the
toilets are basically in the open in the middle of the room. They are
basically just holes in a bench so you can see and smell all that
everyone has deposited. It's gross! We were allowed to purchase Powerade
and power bars today...and I partook. They hit the spot.
We
had the buses take us back to the bay and then took a nice long shower.
You get pretty dirty lying on the dirt all day while getting sweaty in the hot sun.
On
another note, it's kind of funny that our platoon leader and his
assistants both have the worst gas in the platoon. With 35 guys all
together farts are always a pretty funny deal. There are planned farts,
attacked farts, crop dusting, and the loud farts in quiet formations.
Sometimes the DSs even get mad because it's just too much. I have to
admit that they still make me laugh when someone lets out a loud one
when it's absolutely quiet. My 12 year old humor starts coming out.
Random DS Quote: "Slap it like you would your wife's face". (DS explaining how to un-jam our rifles using the "SPORTS" technique).
our company consisting of the Outlaws, Terminators & Gladiators. You can see a variety
of the positions we shoot from, the pop up targets, and how each soldier "coaches" position
themselves to help out the shooter with their breathing, trigger squeeze, and head position
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