No Time! (AIT - Fort Gordon) Day 70

Another photo of the Charlie company remodel. They are moving 
new beds up to the rooms.

Standing in morning formation before PT is somewhat torturous. While we are standing there going through roll call, we can smell the bacon cooking from the RFAC which is right around the corner. This is all happening while everyone is standing there with an empty stomach. LOL

PT this morning was another AGR run which I ran in C group again. This time the group was a little bigger and we ran at a faster pace. At the end we did some sprints, so by the time we were done I had a good sweat going. We ran around the smaller track around Barton field which I hear is about two miles.

We had the typical morning, leisurely breakfast and a nap at IET center. This time we were not interrupted which was nice. We have a test today for CLI, so having a nap before hand and going in well rested was important to me.

I went to class after lunch and we were able to do some last minute studying for an hour before we took the test. The test consisted of about 30 items that we had to do in the command line interface. All were Unix commands and were pretty straight forward. I ended up messing up one of the steps so I only got a 96.5% on it. There was only one person who got a 100%. I should have too, but I made a stupid mistake...oh well, next time.

After the test we had to go over to another part of the school and we ended up having to do detail until it was time to head back to class to be dismissed. If I would have known that I would have taken longer on the darn test.

On the march back to RBK the sergeant did something pretty funny. Out of the blue he tells the road guards to catch him a goose. There are a number of Canadian geese that like to hang out around Barton Field. So the two road guards to running around chasing after these geese. Picture two guys with bright orange vests on with their hands stretched out trying to catch geese. It was pretty funny. I wondered what the people driving by were thinking..LOL.

The laughing stopped when we arrived back to RBK. The sergeant told us that the brigade commander and a number of other brass are coming through to inspect our barracks tomorrow. So the sergeant said we had to clean the barracks until lights out. That means no personal time at all tonight. That pissed me off a bit, sucks not to be able to talk to my wife before I go to sleep.

Overheard Quote: "That middle toilet looks like someone poured caramel syrup in it" (PFC Metal after he was cleaning the toilets complaining about a poop stain that circled around the bowl of the toilet)

Extra Training (AIT - Fort Gordon) Day 69

A photo of the Charlie barracks during the remodel. There are a number
of trucks as well as some lifts behind them. Looks like they are doing
quite the remodel.

This morning I woke up a little confused for some reason. I didn’t understand why my alarm was going off so early, for some reason I thought it was the weekend. So I was a little disappointed when I started thinking clearly and saw “Tuesday” on my phone.

PT today was muscle failure day. We did a number of push-ups and sit-ups until we basically couldn’t do them anymore. My arms felt like wet noodles when we finished. It was a pretty good workout!

We did all our duties and ate another leisurely breakfast, then headed over to the IET center. I took a nice nap, but was prematurely awakened by a battle buddy warning me that a sergeant was in there and walking around waking people up. Grrrrr!! I woke up PFC Metal so we were both awake by the time he came around to our area. He asked why we were there and what company we were with etc. We told him we were in software and didn’t have school until noon. He then moved on to mess with other privates. He ended up making about 8 people leave. I’m not sure why, they must have been there when they were supposed to be somewhere else. One thing’s for sure, I’m getting tired of having my nap time getting interrupted LOL. 

School today we reviewed and prepared for the upcoming test tomorrow. The instructor also changed things up a bit and had each half of the class play against each other answering questions about CLI. Our team was up until the final question, where we bet everything and lost....so we had to clean up the room before we left.

After class we learned that we are supposed to have some extra training every Tuesday. So after dinner we had to gather as a company and the sergeants went over the 9 line medivac report as well as the basics on using some high speed walkie talkies. That lasted about 45 minutes, then we marched back to RBK.

Once back at RBK SGT Pineapple started giving us another speech. In a nutshell he told us that we need to get used to wearing our Camelbaks. If we don’t, then we’ll die down range.

Overheard Quote: “Is there a secret photographer out here?” (Sgt Kent during PT wondering why everyone was looking like they were posing during the cool down stretches)



Lisa Moore

My son is headed to Ft Gordon End of Sept and I know in a earlier Blog  you said talked about where to check in/report.  Can you send me that information.  We will be driving him from Benning to Gordon and I like to have an idea of where to go.  Thank you for time and the job you do. my email is moorl69@hotmail.com

Wednesday, August 25, 2010 - 11:21 AM


PFC McGuire

Not sure if your son is a 25B or not. If he is in the 15th Signal Battalion he will check in at headquarters located on Barnes Ave right after 27th street. (See link below). When I was released from basic they surprisingly didn't give me any information on where to go. Luckily I knew someone who arrived before me and I was able to call them and ask directions on where to go.

Let me know if you have any more questions,

PFC McGuire

Google Map of Signal Battalion Headquarters

Friday, August 27, 2010 - 09:34 PM

Command Overload (AIT - Fort Gordon) Day 68

I had to get up at 1:30 AM for an hour long hall guard shift. While I’m thankful that it’s only an hour and we can use electronics, it’s still a bummer to have to get up in the middle of the night. I’m just glad I don’t have to do it that often. The guy I was with wanted to do all the cleaning in the bathrooms because he thought it would make the time go by fast. Who am I to argue with that? The only problem was that when I finished the shift I had a hard time getting back to sleep. I kept tossing and turning looking at my watch and seeing my time available to sleep keep shrinking. It seemed as though right when I fell asleep the alarm went off to wake up.

This morning’s PT was AGR (ability group runs). I of course got in the C group which is where I normally run. The sergeant told everyone that was 27 or younger to move up to B group..LOL. After all the younger guys moved we were left with only 12 people. We started off with a light trot and to my surprise we never sped up. Also to my surprise we had two people fall out. I was thinking to myself for the first time ever that perhaps I should have moved up to the next group! At our turn around point I hadn’t even broke a sweat. Then finally when we got to the top of a hill the sergeant told us to sprint down and back up the hill. I took off and came back up. We ended up doing that 3 times and after that I was sweating pretty good. We then started a jog back and about a quarter mile from our starting point the sergeant released us and told us to run at our own pace back to the start. So I ended up with a pretty good workout even after the slow start.

Yesterday all of Charlie moved over to Bravo barracks, so everyone from RBK was told we don’t have to come to the morning formation. They are remodeling Charlie barracks right now and will be for a week. This is great news because we can now go back to our schedule of a leisurely breakfast which was nice. We then walked over to the IET center where I promptly took a nap. I had no problems falling asleep this time!

I woke up about an hour later and startied checking out the news on my iPhone when a sergeant walks up out of nowhere and rudely awakens PFC Metal who was still napping next to me. She told him he couldn’t sleep here and to sit up straight. “If you want to sleep go back to your barracks”. I think it makes the sergeants feel better about themselves when they can give out a good yelling at a private. PFC Metal was a little disoriented at first because he was dead asleep when this sergeant started yelling at him and nudging him to wake up. It’s funny to look back on and laugh now, but what a crappy way to wake up. Normally the sergeants don’t go in the IET center, it’s for the soldiers who are attending AIT. So this was a rare occurrence.  

After lunch at the DFAC we headed over to our CLI class. This time it wasn’t all just a refresher for me. We went over a whole bunch of new Unix commands that I was not familiar with and some that I have messed with very little. We also went over the VI editor which I have experience with, but do not care for too much. Tomorrow we will be practicing all we have learned so far and reviewing for the test which will be the following day.

We then ate dinner and marched back to RBK where I took an extra long relaxing shower. Let me tell you those feel so awesome after a day out in the Georgia sun in full ACUs.

Wet Weather Gear (AIT - Fort Gordon) Day 65

PT this morning was OK, for some reason my throat is starting to get sore. I thought I was over being sick, but it is trying to make a comeback. Grrrrr. We did 60/120’s today...sprint for 60 seconds then walk for 120 seconds. I just didn’t have it in me to give 100%, so I put in about 75%. I’m hoping resting up this weekend that I’ll feel better by Monday.

We went over to Charlie and did duties for about a half hour, then I was PFC Metal’s battle buddy for an appointment at the dental clinic. We took off and I waited in the waiting room watching the news. Strange how little I watch TV now. I used to watch it daily before joining. I can now probably count the number of hours I’ve watched TV on one hand. 

After the appointment we headed back just in time to head to class, guess we’ll eat a snack during the break for our lunch. We are in a new class room with a new teacher. CLI class today turned out to be basic Unix commands. I already knew everything the instructor went over because I’ve been used to working on Macs which are Unix based machines. I just went around the class helping out anyone who was stuck or needed help on the practical exercises we did.

After class and dinner we had our normal Friday safety briefing. The safety briefing was short, but then one of the NCOs got up and just started talking and talking to the formation. I swear they all love to hear the sound of their own voice. It started to rain, that had no affect on him...he just kept going and going. Finally it was time for RBK to form up and march over, so he had everyone fall out.

Everyone at RBK has been required to pack their wet weather gear, but so far we haven’t had to use it. I still can’t get over the weather here in Georgia. It will be hot as hell and sunny as can be, then before you know it rain clouds come in and it dumps rain like crazy. This doesn’t usually last too long, then it’s back to being sunny again. So far we’ve been pretty lucky, the rain has always come down while we’ve been in class or eating. Today we were not so lucky, but I was able to use my wet weather gear for the first time. 

We formed up for the RBK formation and what do you know...the NCO that is marching us over had to give us a little speech about something. He went on and on while the rain poured down and we just stood there. This was a sergeant from Delta company and he was complaining about the state of our rooms over at RBK. Strange because all we ever get is complements from upper command about how our barracks are so much cleaner and better than everyone else. I think this sergeant was just a little jealous, because he went through each of the rooms earlier in the day and made sure to find something wrong with all of them. I’m sure if you spend enough time you’ll find something wrong with even the most squared away soldier here. 

So when we got back to our barracks we had to wait outside our rooms until the sergeant came and told us our deficiencies. If we had a problem we were not allowed to leave anywhere tonight. My hospital corners were not 45 degrees. What’s funny is that since I don’t sleep in my bed it has been this way since I’ve moved in, but no other inspections have turned this up. I didn’t really care though because I wasn’t planning on going anywhere anyways. There will be a re-inspection tomorrow to make sure everyone has fixed their “problems”.

NCOs wonder why the moral is so low here and it’s because of stupid stuff like this. There was a guy who had family fly in from California and he wasn’t allowed to leave to visit with them. Oh well...tomorrow will bring me one day closer to the 4 day weekend and I’ll be off base hanging out with my wife!