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.

GreenJackets (AIT - Fort Gordon) Day 24

The internet has finally come back up, it's been down for two days. There are rumors that some people here tried to change some settings on the router to give themselves more priority. Don't know if they're true or not, but ever since it came back up it's been slower than ever. I can't wait until I get my new iPhone, I'll use it to tether and it will be cheaper and it will not be bogged down with all the people here playing online games.

I was surprised to be woken up at 4AM to find out that I had a 4 hour hall guard shift to do. The schedule has not been up on the wall on our floor, so I haven't been paying attention. They also changed the hours to 4 at a time for the weekend because there are less people here. So I got up, got dressed and guarded the hall. I didn't have to do it for the entire shift though because all the new people had to get in formation at 7:00 for a financial briefing that was scheduled for most of the day. 

A little before 7:30 I ran in and quickly shaved and went down stairs. Once at the bottom of the stairs they posted the results of the knowledge test we took last night in order to phase up. I checked and found that I scored a 33 out of 50. 35 is passing, so I failed. What a bummer! I really felt confident when I took the test. After speaking with the guy who graded them, I found out that they were really strict with a number of the answers. So if they asked a name of the a person in the chain of command and I only put the name without the rank in front of it, then it was wrong. I had a number of little things like that. I guess I'll get a chance to to retake the test next Friday. Turns out that all 4 of the people in our room who took the test scored a 33, so nobody will be phasing up in our room. We will next time though for sure, I'm going to try and get everyone together to study before we take the test again.

We headed off to the financial brief. Once there the instructor introduced himself. He sounded like a guy trying to impersonate Tom Hanks in Forest Gump. The class went from 8:00 until about 16:00. A long day of everything from how to maintain good credit to saving for your future and retirement. I think it's a great idea for the young bucks, but I've already been around the block a few times and everything he went over I already either knew or experienced already.

We then had to go to a baseball game. Yes we had to go, it was an order from our company commander. Mandatory fun. I thought this was a little strange that they can force us go to a baseball game. I really didn't want to go, I have a lot of homework and I'm not the biggest baseball fan in the world. We left at 17:00 in about 10 or so buses packed with soldiers from Ft. Gordon.

We watched the Augusta GreenJackets beat the Kannapolis Intimidators 3-2 at Lake Olmstead Stadium. It turned out to be a little better than I thought it would be. It was military appreciation night there and it was cool to be one of the people that were being appreciated for serving my country. It made me proud to be a soldier. Sometimes that can be overlooked when I'm dealing with a bunch of crap all the time. It was also nice to get off base and see actual civilians. We had the illusion of being free….LOL. 

The ride home was long and I was in a bus full of young guys all jacked up on Mountain Dew and sugar. By the time we got back to the company area it was 23:30. I jumped in the shower and crashed.

Overheard Quote: "I don't remember being this stupid when I was younger" (One of the older guys talking to me on the way back to the company before getting on the bus. A number of soldiers were arguing over the stupidest things)