Test Out (AIT - Fort Gordon) Day 112

"Mandatory Fun" The NCOs on the right and some Charlie company
soldiers on the left playing dodge ball

This morning we woke up and had to wear our IBAs (body armor) and take our dummy rifle as well. We ended up running with the gear on and let me tell you it was pretty tough! We ran 2.3 miles and at various intervals Sergeant Kent would have us raise the dummy rifle above our heads and run for a bit, bring it down, then repeat. It sucked! I am still pretty sore from it all, I don’t even want to know what I’ll feel like tomorrow.

We went to school and reviewed for the first half of the day. We then ate lunch and came back to take the final exam. I felt like everything I learned in this class was done on my own. I couldn’t understand the instructor very well because of his accent, so I was a little nervous going in. I didn’t care what score I received just as long as I passed. I don’t want to be in this class again! I ended up scoring a 90%, the test was 20 questions and I missed 2. I didn’t have the highest score in the class (a few got 100%), but I’m very happy to put this class behind me.

The other big news today was that some people started getting their duty station assignments. I heard people getting Alaska, Korea, and Ft. Stewart here in Georgia. PFC Metal checked his at lunch and he ended up getting Ft. Stewart. Like me, the last place he wants to be is here in Georgia. I checked mine and there is nothing there! What a bummer, I want to know where I’m heading. The folks in our class that still do not know like me are pretty upset, I think the suspense is killing everyone.

After class we headed back to the company and found out that we had to attend another “mandatory fun” event. The event...dodge ball vs. the NCOs. We get told what to do all the time here, so when we are told our personal time is getting cut into, it kind of sucks. PFC Metal and I were both pretty tired and just wanted to relax. We thought for a bit about just skipping it, but if there was any accountability done we didn’t want to get into trouble and have our upcoming 4-day weekend pass taken away. So to play it safe we decided to go. We had to march back to RBK and change into PT uniforms, then march back to the Charlie gym. Once there it turned out to be fun. I didn’t get the chance to hit an NCO because they only played in a couple of games. Most of the games were just Charlie vs. Charlie.