Well, I had a 0400 wake up, so I could try to do this sick call thing again since I was rejected on Saturday. I have been sitting here for over 2 hours waiting to be called, but I was given a face mask so I wouldn't cough into the air, and I have been using hand sanitizer (provided by the Army) at least every 30 minutes. I had enough time to write a couple more letters, so that helped pass the time. When I got checked out, the noticed white spots on my tonsils, so they took a swab of my throat and sent me to TMC #7. There I was able to watch the news on TV, which was nice because I got to catch up on things going on in the world. I was finally called up after about 90 minutes of waiting, where I had to get my blood pressure taken again (did it earlier in the morning), and then I got to see the doctor. He was in a bad mood, but then again, it was a Monday and he sees hundreds of sick trainees a week--not exactly my idea of a fun job. I didn't have strep throat or anything, so I received some Mucinex, a decongestant, some Ibuprofen, and some cough drops to ease my coughing. He also put me on profile for this week (my specific profile says "no" to basically everything: marching, push ups, sit ups, crawling, etc...). On top of that, I have to wear a mask over my mouth and nose. At least I don't have to put my arm to my mouth to cover my cough! Anyway, I got back and joined up with my group in the classroom to learn about land navigation (or land nav. for short). The land navigation stuff is so easy. I don't know why people have so much trouble with it...Oh well. We went to lunch, and then the group spent the day outside cleaning up company gear. Because I was on profile, my job was to stay upstairs and guard the weapons. We had a Major and Captain from the health department come by our barracks to see what we need to clean better to contain and eliminate the sickness that is going around. After they left, the people on profile (including me) had to spend the next two hours scrubbing the showers and bathroom with bleach (that's how long it took us), and completely cleaned it so that not a single germ survived. After we finished cleaning, we went back on weapon detail until dinner. After dinner, we got clean linens to put on the beds, and then the platoon had more things to take care of outside again, so I was on weapon watch again. Finally, we were able to go take showers. We got dressed in summer PTs, headed downstairs for a final formation, then were dismissed and sent off to get ready for bed. I spent my last few minutes before lights out finishing up today's journal entry, and mailing off a couple of letters. Tomorrow's training involves putting today's land navigation lesson into practice in the field! So this will be something I should be good at, and I am looking forward to it!
19 May 2009 (Day 24)
Well, this morning for PT, it was freezing cold (we could see out breath). We were instructed to put on our long sleeve PT shirts. Four of us are on profile, so everyone else went off to do PT, while the four profiles stayed back and guarded weapons. Once the drill sergeants and our platoon left, we took shifts going inside and warming up, and during our first time inside we put on polypro (a brown Army Under Armor material) to keep us warmer. When everyone else got back from PT, we came back upstairs, changed into ACUs, and headed to breakfast. After breakfast, we came back up to the barracks and joined 3rd platoon for another class/practice with a map, and adding compass components to what we learned earlier. We were then assigned to groups of three to complete land navigation courses for today and tomorrow. My roster number is 147 (meaning I am in 1st platoon [1] and the 47th person on the roster alphabetically [47]). So my partners in this are 146 and 148 (who are also the people my bunk is near, and who I line up in formation with). I really got lucky being here, because these two guys are older and are just two good guys. No one really goes by first names in the Army, but 146 is Mateo Salado (or just Salado), and is a 29-year-old personal trainer who lives in, and is a native of, Hawaii. On my other side, 148, is Jared Spence (or just Spence), and he is 26 years old from Boston (he has a heavy accent) who gave up repairing and building boats at a boat yard for active duty Army. I am the young one of the three, but I feel that my maturity matches their ages. It is nice to have people right around me who I can trust and count on, so I was glad when we got paired for land navigation groups in roster number order. Also, I finally figured out when to write. I tried to write at the end of the day during personal time, but that has usually been taken up with shower time, changing, getting ready for bed, getting ready for the next day, and then a final formation downstairs before we go to bed. So what I have found that works is coming and going between meals, classes, or training, taking 5-10 minutes to write up to that point of the day. Like right now it is almost 11:30, and we were supposed to hit the land navigation course at 9:00, but we did more training. I wrote after breakfast to start the journal, and now I have caught up with what I have done since breakfast, as well as added a couple of side thoughts about the closest people to friends that I have here, and when I have made or found time to write. I have found out I like writing because since I don't really know people here, I confide most of what I am thinking into these journals. I know Brittney receives, reads, and types them online for everyone else to read, but these journals are basically the written conversations I would have had if I had my phone and could talk to Brittney daily. So in a sense, this notepad and pen I use are my best friend here...haha! It is not that bad though, because Spence, who is my "official battle buddy," and Salado are nice to sit around and talk to here. Other than that, everyone else is either immature, or just not close enough to my bunk to really talk to. A lot of who we hang out with is dictated y platoon, and then per platoon who is in the bunk above/below you, and to the left and right of you. Anyway, we marched down to the land navigation course, and we got assigned new teams because we had a dozen people gone, so most teams were uneven. So now I have a new team, and we just didn't click as well. We found two of three markers in the woods in the two hour time limit, and when we turned our paper in, the two that were found weren't even correct. Oh well, Spence, Salado, and I decided that we were going to line up later that night so that we would be on the same team together. So third and first platoons marched back together and were told when we got back to clean and reorganize our equipment so that it hung from our wall lockers. After we finished cleaning and reorganizing the barracks, we ate dinner and came back upstairs until it was time to leave. We marched to the land navigation course and arrive at about 1930 (7:30 pm). We were told to get into the same teams as earlier, so again Salado, Spence and I weren't together. Oh well, we then picked up a couple of new people to make a 6 man team. I was confident in my land navigation skills and set out that night to redeem myself from the previous course. Misquitos were biting and there was a chance of being bitten by a snake or attacked by a wild boar, but I plotted our points confidently on the map. They were double checked, then we aimed up our degree, and headed out. After two hours of mushing around in the marshes and fighting our way through the thick underbrush, my team was the only one in the entire company to get all three points (out of 220 people). It was nice to be successful. We got back just before midnight, where I quickly got ready for bed until it was time to wake up!
20 May 2009 (Day 25)
Last night was a new experience. I am still excited that I was a part of the group, the ONLY group, who got all points last night! Wake up was at 0600, which came really early. At least we didn't have PT this morning, but not like that mattered, because I am still on profile for my coughing. So we all woke up, cleaned the barracks, and then had a short class on land navigation until we went to breakfast. After breakfast, I had to get my helmet because I can't march so me and about 7 others rode in the back of the company deuce (large truck with a cover over the back). Everyone else had a 2 mile march to our land navigation training area, but not me, I rode in style! We followed the company in the deuce and the water buffalo (a 500 gallon tank full of water on wheels) so anyone who needed more water could fill up. We pulled in and got our instructions and were placed in our new groups. We now had 5 points to find, and no map to plot points on. We were given a starting point and the coordinates for each point. We had three hours to find all five points and complete the course. Of course, my group was done in about 90 minutes, and when we turned in our information, we had all five points correctly found. The actual land navigation course was way easier than the company course that they have to practice. A lot of people got all 5 points correct, but then there were quite a few who only got two or three. You had to have three of five right to pass. After everyone was done, we ate our MREs, and then just sat around until dinner. A few people tried to sneak candy that was in the MREs, but were caught, so we had a pretty intense smoke session (except me and the others who are on profile). While we were sitting around, the drill sergeant taught us CPR, and we were told that everyone had to stick someone else in the arm for an IV sometime soon. I hate needles, so not only do I not want to stick someone, but to have someone who hasn't had the experience stick me is a terrible thought. After a very boring and uneventful afternoon, we had dinner catered to us (dining services brought out a truck with food trays). So after dinner, we waited around until it got dark, and at 2100 (9:00 pm), my group set out to find our first point, but we failed to locate it. We started over back at our starting point and tried again, and for a second time we could no locate it. I felt horrible reporting empty handed, but had to face the music. So everyone came back from their course and we went back to the barrack. I rode in the deuce (looked and saw that it was an Interstate 4200 truck). I slept on the way back, which must have taken over 45 minutes. Everyone else outside had to walk, so I felt bad I had just been napping, so I didn't tell anyone. We then came back upstairs, were told of a few things I will explain tomorrow, and I pulled the first fire guard from 0000-0100 (midnight to one in the morning). It is currently about 1:20 am, so I am out for the night!
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