So Tired (AIT - Fort Gordon) Day 96

The beginning of the week kind of started off pretty crappy. I had hall guard shift at 23:30 and because of the new roommates moving in and getting situated, I wasn’t able to sleep. Once I thought I was just about to sleep the sergeant comes in turns on the light and checks for accountability. WTF? The sergeants rotate through and most of them just open the door and let the light from the hall come in, then make sure everyone is accounted for. This sergeant is just an inconsiderate jerk. 

I got up with PFC Metal for our hall guard shift and we went to check in. We couldn’t find the sergeant anywhere. Turns out he was actually in his office, he just had the door closed and the lights off ... Was he sleeping? Was he watching porn? Was he having phone sex? Who knows???

I was able to take a nap after hall guard for a few hours, but it definitely was not enough sleep to get me through the day. PT came way too early. We did ability group runs this morning and I went to C group as usual, this time I was not promoted to B group...nice! We still had a decent run. C group may run at a slower pace, but we run for a longer time period because it takes us longer to do the route.

During class today we had a funny incident. We had a soldier that was eating chips in class (only hard candy is allowed in the classroom). So he had to do some “corrective action” (aka push-ups, sit-ups etc.). The assistant instructor who is an NCO sat in the soldier’s chair and was watching him do the exercises...class went on. The instructor then pauses and looks at the soldier who is just looking at him while squatting on the floor. The instructor then looks up and sees the assistant instructor asleep in the student’s chair. It was pretty funny. I guess NCOs don’t get enough sleep either.

On the way to lunch while in formation there were a number of folks who just would not stop talking to each other instead of sounding off with the cadence. SGT Cujo didn’t take kindly to this and he ended up smoking the entire formation once we reached the DFAC. We had to do a number of push-ups all the while listening to him go on and on. It just sucks the entire formation has to pay for a few people’s infractions.

I was tired all day, a Mountain Dew after lunch helped get me through until after dinner. Study hall was rough, I know I fell asleep a few times during this period....the Dew wore off.

FTX Cancelled (Basic Training) Day 27

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.

Today was a pretty crappy day. It started off with the senior DS yelling at and then firing “the cop” (He is the one who locks and unlocks the rifles each day). Evidently a lock got put on backwards and had to be cut off. The DS was screaming just a few inches from the guys face. The poor guy had to stand there very still at parade rest the whole time while the DS is screaming inches from his face with spit flying and everything. Started the day off wrong and it went down hill from there.

We were all prepared to go camping army style. A “Field Training Exercise”. We were supposed to grab our rucksacks full of all our gear and go for a 5K march to the site. Problem is that a big storm rolled in. Thunder, lightning, and a ton of rain. So the FTX was cancelled. Instead we ended up just attending a bunch of classes... “death by power point”.

We came back to our bay and it was tossed. One of the Junior DS (I think I’ll start calling him DS A-Hole from now on, he’s always just an ass).  DS A-Hole tossed all the bunks and also all our shoes and boots from the lockers. There were one or two that had their lockers tossed as well because they didn’t lock them.

We then had MREs for lunch. We are not suppose to eat any commercial candy (aka skittles, m&ms and such) but we are allowed to eat anything that comes in the generic army baggies. PFC Metal got some chocolate nuggets and shared a few with me. Closest thing to candy I’ve had in a long time. Cool guy!

Back in class we had to go over evaluating a casualty again. (We do this almost daily so it become second nature). The DS called a few guys from different platoons up on stage. One guy was a “ casualty” the other was suppose to evaluate. The guy knelt down to him and just froze. He didn’t say anything… he didn’t move. If he was bronze we would have thought he was a statue! After a long silence the DS finally asked him what he was doing. The guy said he forgot. So he had to stand there and watch about 3 or 4 other people go through the process. As a class we did it too.  It got to be so boring that a few people started writing letters and were caught. Let me tell you that in those classrooms, the DSs are just circling like vultures waiting for someone to do something wrong. Keep your heels together, hands on your lap, don’t fall asleep…and so on. Lots of people end up doing push-ups. 

We had another guy get pink eye yesterday. They are now quarantining them for 24 hours. So he got to come back and enjoy this day of hell with us. 

My battle buddy is getting very home sick and depressed. He wants to go home really bad. We’ve all had that feeling at some point I think. He saw the Chaplin a few days ago and saw him again today. The Chaplin isn’t going to help him get out, but he tries to help him out spiritually and emotionally. I just hope he doesn’t do anything drastic. I talked to him a bit, let him know we all feel the same and we’re all here for him. When we got back to our bay it was really messed up. About 6 people didn’t lock their lockers. How hard is it that? There was a message on our door that read “Doo Doo” all in shaving cream. Once we came in there were clothes everywhere, beds tossed again, shoes tossed again, a couple of people's drawers were out, and another message (in shaving cream) on the floor “Good Job Guys!” Oh yeah, the garbage was dumped and the bathroom…excuse me the "latrine" was trashed. Fun times!

We then had to do the “Gladiator 500”, some call it “iron mikes”. We had to do a forward lunge one step after another bringing our knees 4-6” off the floor. We ended up doing 7 laps. I was sweating all over like crazy. To top it off they said no showers tonight. I got to try out my new field cleansing kits (aka big baby wipes).

Now with fire guard duties we have to wear our helmets and our body armor as well as our full ACU uniforms…that sucks!

Random 1^st Sergeant Quote: “Bravo Company you sound like a bag of dicks” (Made after sounding off in the morning. We all ended up doing push-ups as a company)

Virtual Training (Basic Training) Day 23

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.

Oh the joys of CQ duty...our platoon has CQ duty anytime one of our DSs pulls duty for the night. This seems to happen about once a week or so. So me and PFC Metal will hang out for an hour from 1:00am to 2:00am sitting at a big desk located in the CTA outside. It's cold and I have no army issued jacket. The CTA (Company Training Area) is a big open area which includes the area under our bays where we line up for formation. We sit at a desk and a member of the fire guard from each platoon will bring us a head count of their personnel and a weapons count. We log this information and then sit and watch the empty CTA bay for the rest of the hour to make sure nothing out of the ordinary happens. PFC Metal received a crap load of mail last night, complete with pictures and even a chart showing how the contestants are doing in "The Ultimate Fighter" TV show (Yes, he is a big UFC fan too). 

We have a new addition to our platoon. Last night he moved in. He has already been farther in basic than any of us, but he was recycled because he got pneumonia and missed too many days during the last cycle. That would really suck!! Basic training sucks enough by itself, but it would be worse having to do it even longer.

From after breakfast until lunch time we practiced aiming our weapons, site alignment, and trigger squeeze. Some of the most boring stuff I've ever done. Very slow and monotonous. Lunch time was delayed because there were a number of Vietnam vets visiting and they were very slow getting through the line. It was strange hearing folks talk instead of the DSs yelling during lunch. Of course, nothing has changed with us. No talking, no looking up, heels together and if you're not using a hand it has to be on your lap flat with your fingers extended. Today, instead of yelling, the DSs would quietly come up to people that were screwing up and whisper not-so-sweet nothings into their ear. 

I swear, if our senior DS was a woman he would be PMSing right now. He is freaking out over every little thing, yelling and screaming and smoking us as well. Of course there are a couple of people in our platoon that just keep screwing up. Pvt. Douche is one of them and the other is one of the foreign guys. I'm guessing it gets lost in translation. Like today we were told to take a piece out of our gun and stick it in our pockets. The DS found one on the ground and asked who it was. Nobody would answer. Everyone got smoked and then he made everyone reach in their pockets and show their piece. The foreign guy, of course, didn't have his.

Pvt. Douche on the other hand, was suppose to check his stack of weapons to see if the sites were down and they were on safe.  As we were standing in formation the DS asked if the stack men checked these things, they all sounded off "yes drill sergeant." (including Pvt. Douche) The DS then asked just Pvt. Douche if he checked them (he could see of course he didn't). Pvt. Douche answered yes again. The DS started yelling at him and then had him watch while the rest of us did push-ups.

After lunch we got to fire "virtual" rifles. There is a huge screen showing targets and you lay down and fire at them. The rifle gives recoil and feels like the real thing when firing. You get instant feedback on your shots. Today the goal was to group 3 shots within 4 cm. I did it on my second try. So did PFC Metal. Pvt. Douche was finally able to do it, but not after several attempts. He was off the map completely for almost every round he did. After almost three hours he finally grouped his shots. This is significant because we were the only platoon to do so.

Later on the entire company got to together on a grass field and watched some DSs demonstrate modern army combat moves. Now, instead of the bayonet and older fighting styles for hand to hand combat, the army is now using more MMA type moves.  They went over some positions and chokes. We then lightly practiced each one on our partner.

During our uniform issue, we were issued knee pads that actually fit inside the normal ACU uniform. I stuck mine in today for the first time after seeing PFC Metal doing it. What a difference it makes! We are asked to take a knee a lot and that little pad makes it so much easier on my knees. I should've put them in a long time ago.  After dinner we went to a shooting range to do a test run of what we will be doing there soon. It was kind of silly, but I guess you can't be too safe with weapons. 

Mail call again tonight. Let me say that I have a very awesome wife!!! I got nine letters! The DS just started throwing them anywhere but towards me after about the third one. I'm so excited I'm going to end this now. :D

Random DS Quote: "Breath in now through the nose out through the mouth. EVERYONE DO IT NOW…AGAIN…DEEPER" (this was said after someone farted during mail call)

Anonymous
 

My bf is currently at ft benning he says its like hell, maybe even worse than jail lol atleast in jail u get to communicate and take visits daily from the outside world!!
 

Monday, August 16, 2010 - 10:48 AM
 

Brandon
 

Yes...I often thought while I was in basic there are a lot of similarities between jail and basic training. In fact people in jail are probably better off as you mentioned in some ways. At least basic only lasts 9 weeks, you just have to push through it.
 

Monday, August 16, 2010 - 08:20 PM
 

Anonymous
 

Hey quick questions! Since my bf is currently in ft benning, last week he said he's still stuck in red phase since he got shipped out early august (a month in red phase)..how long does it take to move into white phase? I heard there's more contact and communication? I have got letters but no supposid "sunday" calls in weeks?
 

Friday, September 3, 2010 - 01:56 PM
 

Brandon
 

It really all depends on the drill sergeants and the platoon. Phasing up is not a guarantee. I've heard of platoons even graduating in red phase because they kept getting in trouble. The normal phase up period if all goes well is usually 3 weeks in red phase, 3 weeks in white phase, then the rest in blue phase.

It is true that once a platoon phases up to white phase they get more privileges, but that too all depends on the drill sergeants. We usually were able to use our cell phones on Sundays after we hit white phase. Another platoon in our company only got a few calls the entire time we were in basic, while a different one seemed to get their phones all the time.
 

Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - 08:17 PM