Sunday... Day of Rest - Reception Day 5 (Basic Training) Day 5

 It seemed like any down time we had, people would use to catch a cat nap.

We are never allowed on the beds (unless it's time to sleep for the night)

so people just went down anywhere.

These entries are from the letters that Brandon has mailed to me. 

It’s Sunday and we were told to report to formation at 6:00am in our winter PT uniforms. These are some comfortable clothes! Long sweat pants with active wear type jacket. One of the things everyone likes is that we can wear our tennis shoes with it. So much more comfortable then the army issued boots we have to wear. 

We were told that while in reception, Sundays are pretty laid back. We woke up at 5:00am and then after formation went to chow. After chow we can either go to a church service or just chill in the barracks. Right now I’m doing laundry. It’s too early to call my wife which is a real bummer, it’s only 4:47am there, so I’ll have to wait a least 4 hours or so. I did get to talk to her for a while last night which was awesome. There has been a few times when I was talking to her and had to hang-up and jump to attention because the DS came in.

We’re doing absolutely nothing today. After breakfast I took the other bay leader with me to the DS to ask a few questions, like are we allowed to sit on our bunks, lay, what shouldn’t we be doing? The DS said do anything you want, you can even sleep. (Usually during the day we can’t sit or lay on the bunks.) This was good news for everyone. A number of people took a nap and just chilled. All of a sudden at 10:45 the DS came, swung open the door and screamed “Get your asses outta bed!” It was pretty crazy. People trying to jump out of bed straight outta dreamland. Once everyone was up he just started laughing, then just talked about cooking & fishing and stuff. After that he said to get in formation at 10:45 for chow (it was already past that time). Once everyone got down there he had us all line up and we marched to the D-Fac. It was actually pretty cool because the DS was doing cadence, (he would shout out a line and the soldiers would shout it back) I was in the back, so I couldn't hear what he was saying, but it sounded cool when everyone would shout it back.

Now I'm back in barracks, doing nothing again. It’s funny how everything has changed since I was appointed Bay Leader. One minute I’m a private, the next I’m “bay leader”. The second I became bay leader everyone just assumes I know everything. People have been coming up to me asking all kinds of stuff. I’m thinking I was just next to you and knew the same stuff you know a minute ago, how am I supposed to know everything? Me and the other bay leader have tried to scrounge up as much info as possible. We talk with the other bay leader and try and spread the word. A lot of it is just common sense though. I was woke up from a nap today and the kid asked “what do I do when I plug up the toilet bay leader?” I said, “you go plunge it.” Lots of stuff like that. 

DS came up and I had to quietly hang-up on my wife and jump to parade rest. We had 5 minutes to get ready and get in formation. We found out that we were going to do question and answer with some soldiers from “down range” (that’s what they call the real basic training). They evidently weren’t able to come the other day so lots of people asked questions and we got answers from guys who are in it now. The one I found interesting was a question “what’s the food like up there?” Their answer was that there is not a lot of selection and chicken seems to be the staple. We have a lot of selection each day and it’s all good here in reception. I’ll be missing this. The meeting was cool just for the fact that it broke up the monotony of the day. Before the meeting and after, we just hung out at our barracks.

I thought there would be more nicknames but the only one right now is “Midnight”. That’s what everyone calls a dude who’s obviously black. We were looking at graffiti under the top bunks wasn’t much until we checked Pvt. Home Schools bunk it read “Don’t kill yourself.”

Bay Leader - Reception Day 4 (Basic Training) Day 4

These entries are from the letters that Brandon has mailed to me. 

Just as I was about to finish up my journal last night all hell broke loose. First let me say that the DS comes at 20:30 every night and we are suppose to be at our bunks. The DS came up last night and 5 people were in the shower. The shit hit the fan! The DS freaked out and had us all start doing push-ups. Not just normal push-ups, he would make us pause in the middle of the push-up. Finally he left us get up and fired our bay leader. The he walked around looked at me and asked how old I was. I said “36 Drill Sergeant”. DS said you are the new Bay Leader. FML that is the last thing I wanted. It was already past lights out and I had to get the fire guard duty ready and I had to get the entire roster done since we are in a new bay. I also had to escort the shower people who got us in trouble to the DS office. Those guys ended up having to sweep, strip, wax the floor in on of the big classrooms. They didn’t get back til after midnight. I had to finish up with the fire guard paper work and laid down after 22:00, but didn’t sleep til after 23:00. Then at 24:00 I had to do my fire guard for an hour, luckily we woke up at 5:00am this morning so I a got a little sleep.

With all the "excitement" last night DS didn’t tell us where to go in the morning. I had to go down at 5:00am to DS’s office because a guy lost his keys. DS gave me a bolt cutter to chop off the lock.

So someone decided to have everyone line up outside. After I returned the bolt cutters me and my battle buddy joined them. You always have to travel with a battle buddy (any other soldier), wherever you go. DS came out screaming “Who all told you to line up out here?” Eventually one guy said it was him and we all ended up coming inside and doing a bunch more push-ups and holding mid way at times. It’s no fun doing that at 6:00am. Finally we all lined up, then out of the blue DS changes gears and just starts BS’ing with everyone until we left for breakfast. Crazy morning so far.

Today all of us were in “Classroom 1”. This is a big open room (where the drill sergeants office is as well). This problem is there are no chairs, so we either stand or sit on the hard floor. We were watching a power point on Army courtesies and customs and people started falling asleep. (We’re not allowed to touch our face and rest our head aka kickstand) The DS kept saying if you’re tired stand up. Finally he stopped the presentation and we all had to start doing push-ups (with the pauses). People just don’t listen. A guy at lunch got in trouble for talking which we are repeatedly told not to do. After we got back to classroom 1, the dude who was talking at lunch was smoked in front of everyone. Push-ups and then squats, the dude's legs were shaking! Just listen and do what you're told...it's not that hard!

After our lectures everyone went back except all the bay leaders…lucky me. All the other bay leaders have two; one leader and one assistant. The DS asked where my assistant was. I told him I don’t have one. He says, how did you become the bay leader and I told him that the previous bay leader was fired. So he told me to find a specialist and promote them to bay leader assistant. Yeah I get help. He also gave us a bunch more responsibility to do which sucks – now we are going to be held responsible for making sure everything is spotless. When I got back to the barracks I held a short meeting. I asked “who’s an E-4?” The first one to speak up I promoted. Then I had to let them all know what’s coming. I can’t babysit almost 90 people even with help. Everyone has to look out for their bunk mate and neighbors, as long as we work as a team it should go OK. We were suppose to be getting “mentored” right now.  Guys that are in the real basic came back and answered any questions we have. There were too many of us so now we're just hanging in the barracks. 

We had dinner and then were released for the night. Everyone broke out their cell phones (including me) and just hung loose. It was nice to just relax. I got the fire guard list done and I think we are good to go. Checked in with the other bay leaders and found out they are actually both older than me. One is 41 and the other 39. WOW!

One other note: my stomach finally felt normal today. I don’t know if I was catching something or if it was the fast pace that we’ve been forced to eat. My head felt good too!


Hew


bay leader mcguire...bwulpbwulp...awesome!
 

Saturday, May 1, 2010 - 11:08 PM 

Private Home School - Reception Day 3 (Basic Training) Day 3

Pvt Home School trying to do push-ups with the help of

a battle buddy and the encouragement of everyone else

These entries are from the letters that Brandon has mailed to me. 

Not much has happen yet today, just a shot and breakfast. There was a guy at my table who drew all the DS’s attention, he was shaking and not looking to good. The DS asked him what was wrong and why he has a medical bracelet on. He said the bracelet was because he wasn’t thinking very good thoughts and he had to visit medical. The DS asked what was wrong now and he said he couldn’t finish his food. The DS said well get up and get out of here. Having four DS’s around your table while trying to eat isn’t comfortable!

Now onto a guy I’m going to call Private Home School. He seems to have lived a very sheltered life. He is the guy who I think is going to break. Today after breakfast right outside of the D-Fac he threw up! I know my stomach hasn’t been right, but I hope that doesn’t happen to me.

While in formation, a guy walked in with a DS. The DS said this guy loves ice cream. That got my attention. The DS started yelling at him. He ended saying “Ice cream is like sex for the first time. Once you start enjoying it, it’s over!”

Right now we’re in our barracks learning how to make our beds. Everyone was done and shooting the poop (I was writing today’s note). The DS came in and saw two people on their phones and took them away. Wonder what kind of trouble we’ll be in? The DS was like a ninja, came in and nobody saw him until it was too late. 

So just as I was about to write another update… DS comes in again all pissed off. He “heard” someone whistle at a female sergeant. No one did. I think he was still pissed off from the phone incident earlier. We got our first official smoking. Everyone had to get in the starting push-up position (the up position) and hold it while the DS walked around asking who did it. No one fessed up, so the DS flipped a few bunks then left.

Back to Pvt.Home School...today is his 20th birthday. A bunch of guys wanted him to do 20 push-ups. He was really struggling after 5. He’s gonna be in some deep shit soon! I can’t believe he didn’t try to get in shape before coming.

So it's a bit later in the day and I’m pretty sore and tired. We had to pack up everything and move our stuff to another barracks. I had my huge bag, my laundry bag and my personal backpack all at the same time and upstairs. It got a little warm. LOL! We also got our second smoking. This time we started in the up position for pushup then DS said down, everyone laid down and he screamed “Do not lay on the ground”. We had to hold ourselves up about an inch off the ground. We only had to do a few. Lots of grunts and groans, just a little taste of what’s to come.

Later on…what a day. We have be on our feet so much today everyone was complaining. Blisters and sore feet because of these new boots. “Number One” nickname for this huge guy in our company, (number one is his roster number and it just stuck) had to guard a guy in another company most of the day. The guy went AWOL, just tried to run off the base! We haven’t even started basic yet and this guy flipped out! With “runners” I found out they take their shoelaces and they have a medical bracelet on, Pretty crazy!

A clip from a DVD I purchased near the end of basic training.

This shows the process we went through to get our hair cuts at Fort Benning.

 

Pain in the Butt - Reception Day 2 (Basic Training) Day 2

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Some guys doing PT on their own 

(A good idea in reception, so you can try and stay in shape)

These entries are from the letters that Brandon has mailed to me. 

Last night really sucked. Fire Guard had started. Fire Guard is where two people have to stay up for an hour in rotating shifts throughout the night. It wasn’t even my turn, but everyone doing it was so noisy I only slept about 15-30 minutes at a time. Woke up with a headache that has stuck with me all day. To top it off my stomach is acting up too. For breakfast all I could eat was a bunch of fruit. I’m hoping I start feeling better before we actually start basic. I can’t imagine doing any physical fitness right now feeling like crap.

We started the day after breakfast with all our shots and filling out medical forms. One shot in the butt – still feels like a charlie horse. Two shots in the right arm and one in the left, then four little tubes were filled with my blood (my DNA kit). Next came the hearing test. 8 guys stuck in a very small box. Everyone was sweating and tired. It seemed to take forever. One dude had to stay behind because on the plane flight from MEPS he lost all hearing in his right ear. Not sure what’s going to happen with him.

Lunch was lasagna, which i ate, but nothing else, my stomach is still not 100%. After lunch we filled out our DEERS paperwork and all other financial paperwork. DEERS is for all the benefits for dependents. Then there was a lot of sitting around listening to briefings (Red Cross etc.) trying very hard not to fall asleep.

We also took photos of our company and I had to put on my soldier face (no smiling).

We finally have another break, I tried to call my wife and she didn’t answer…damn.

*side note: I heard a rumor that the sergeants can’t swear. It’s pretty funny to listen to because everything is “doggone”, “where’s the doggone thing”, “you better straighten up your doggone collar” etc. You still hear a four letter word every now and then, I can’t imagine the Drill Sergeants hold back. In fact, he walked in last night and saw we were on our phones and started screaming “Get the fuck off the phone!!!!”

*another side note: The D-Fac (aka Dining Facility) has a fascination with only using spoons no matter what you are eating. Have you ever tried to eat a salad with a spoon?

We had chow tonight, my stomach is still a bit of a mess. I basically only ate veggies. As I sat down and realized they have soft serve ice cream machine. What a temptation, but I’ll be staying away from that. Right now everyone is just hanging out in the barracks. Nobody is sure how long we have, or if we’re here for the night. Rumor is we may be shipping out to basic on Thursday. There are a lot of different personalities here. There are a group of guys that just can’t stop talking and joking. I hope I don’t end up with them in basic. I see a lot of "smoking" (this is what they call a physical punishment like push-ups etc.) in their future. There is this one guy I can see totally breaking down and quitting. He already gets picked on a lot by the recruits, I fear a drill sergeant is going to tear him apart. There are also 3 foreigners  who are joining to get their American citizenship. Pretty cool, I didn’t even know there was such a thing.

A clip from a DVD I purchased near the end of basic training.
This shows the process we went through to get all our shots at Fort Benning.

Reception (Basic Training) Day 1

These entries are from the letters that Brandon has mailed to me. 

Hey Guy. Hey Guy. Hey Guy… this is constantly being said from all the staff at Ft. Benning. When I was in the bathroom I even saw some graffiti with a DS saying “Hey Guy”. I forgot to write that last night during showers, there was a loud thud! It was so loud that it woke up some of the people who went to sleep early. A dude was walking into the showers and his feet went right out from under him... thud! 

We woke up at 6:00am (2 hours sleep). Today we got a whole crapload of clothes, my locker is full of new stuff. We also got our dental X-rays and vision check… yes I will be getting some of those awesome BCGs (birth control glasses). Let me tell you about the staff here. There are all kinds of sergeants running all around. In reception we don’t see much of the DS’s. Our sergeant who is in change of us is pretty cool. Professional and instructional, but he can yell when he needs to. There are also other sergeants just looking for someone to yell at. What really got me today was the civilian x-ray tech. She was a royal bitch. Yelling at everyone from the start. When I was in line I heard her ask a recruit his name, he said it and then started spelling it out loud because it was an uncommon name, she freaked out and started yelling at this poor guy. Saying he was an idiot and if captured, he would give up everyone including his mother. She went on and on very unprofessional, especially since she was a civilian. This is the kind of person that has a very low self esteem and because of this, she has to go out of her way to put others down. She has this little tiny piece of power in her sad little world and must flaunt it around as much as possible to make her miserable life seem a little better.

We shopped at the PX and bought a number of items that were required. Contrary to everything I read... if a person had running shoes less than six months old they were not required to get new ones.I guess it all depends on the sergeant you go with. 

The food here is pretty good. Most of the time there are sergeants telling us to hurry up, hurry up. I feel like I’m getting a little lazy though. We are not allowed to do anything except walk. Everyone’s going to be in for a shock I think when we finally go to basic. One guy is already talking about quitting, but most others just want to get on to the real thing, Right now all we do is stand in lines and wait. 

That does remind me of an interesting side note – while standing in line a little civilian midget walked by me with an oversized coffee cup in her hand so it looked ginormous. That brought a smile to my day.

A clip from a DVD I purchased near the end of basic training.

This shows the process we went through to get all our clothing at Fort Benning. 

 

Rainne

Already with the midgets? Do you have a dwarf magnet, or something??

 
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - 12:38 AM




Christina (CC)

 
Hey Guy!  I'm laughing reading these posts.  I'm living my "dream" through you and it's pretty funny!  Keep up the positive thinking and it will be over before you know it.  JT has told me some goofy stuff about basic training and it's stuff you can laugh at later on.  

Thank you Leandra for keeping us all updated!

 
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - 06:05 AM




Carlita

 
Only you, my dear friend, would find a midget in your current situation.  I am glad to know that you are still smiling though.

 
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - 08:33 AM




Brown Bear

 
Being a midget in the military would probably be awesome.  You'd be so low to the ground, pushups would be easy peasy.

Miss you buddy.

 
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - 08:49 AM


 
Hew

 
i just spit beer all over the monitor! you and  midgets LOL!!!!!

 
Saturday, May 1, 2010 - 10:57 PM

04-07-2010 Continued (Basic Training)

The group of future soldiers hanging around at the Atlanta airport....

waiting...and waiting

These entries are from the letters that Brandon has mailed to me.

So the airplane arrived at the airport at 5:30pm. I followed the instructions on where to meet and found a number of guys just sitting around waiting. So just in case the bus was coming soon, I got some ice cream right away with my government meal check. LOL!  Then I waited. And waited. At 7:30pm there was a pre-mature bus loadage (they only brought on bus so only 1/3 of the people got to load). The rest of us waited until 9:45pm for two more buses to come. I slept most of the bus ride and we finally arrived around midnight.

A Drill Sergeant (DS) came on the bus and gave us some instructions. We all got out and ended up heading to a big open room with a lot of benches (almost 150 of us). Watched a video on contraband and then we were allowed to get rid of any. I found out cough drops are not allowed to be brought in so I tossed mine.

More lectures, more paperwork, then we were given all our clothes. What’s funny is that all the DS call everyone “guy” because we don’t have uniforms with names yet. Also, when going to the bathroom, I saw some graffiti “Get out while you still can”. We were assigned bunks, showered and shaved. It’s now 4:00am I gotta try and nap a little.
 

Shipping Out (Basic Training)

These entries are from the letters that Brandon has mailed to me. 

After a really crappy nights sleep, I woke up feeling sick to my stomach and had a really bad headache. I was able to eat a bowl of raisin brand and a glass of OJ. Shortly after breakfast the hotel shuttle took four of us to the airport at 5:30am. Once we arrived at the airport I quickly went to the drug store and bought some Excedrin and Dramamine. Once we boarded the flight, I think I fell asleep as soon as I sat down on my seat. When I woke up, I felt much better. The flight was from Spokane to Denver. Once in Denver, we used our government meal checks to grab some lunch. After that we all had to split up because we we’re all heading to different bases for basic. I was able to call my wife while waiting to board. So nice to hear her voice. I’m going to miss her!

Right now it’s 13:52 and I’m flying towards Atlanta. I should’ve brought a magazine to read. I know they are not allowed at basic, but it would have been nice to read something. I’m bored as hell right now. I was able to take another small nap and I feel great now. Nervous and excited at the same time to arrive at Ft. Benning,

I’m going to tell you about a little story I heard while at dinner last night. At the hotel they stuck all the MEPS folks at a romantic table for ten in the corner. I joined two other guys and shortly after, two more came in and sat down. The talks were all about why we joined, what branch, what job etc. It then moved to basic training and how we have to repel down a 60’ tower. One of the guys (trying out for special forces) said he used to repel all the time and even around the world. He said, while in Greece him and his buddies decided to repel down a building. They ended up on the roof of an Israeli official and a few seconds later a big metal door flew open and guards with machine guns came running out yelling at them. They were all arrested and then interrogated for about 10 hours. Finally, they convinced the authorities that they were just a bunch of stupid Americans and they were released. He said he can laugh about it now, but it was pretty scary at the time. His recruiter told him to definitely not mention this at MEPS since it was in another country and it was just plain stupid. LOL

Stupid and crazy indeed.