This morning, the fireguard turned on the lights, but didn't yell or say anything, making sure people woke up and got out of their bunks. The drill sergeant came in at 0502, and over half of us were still asleep (including myself), so we were told to go downstairs and wait for him. By 0530, he hadn't shown up, so our PG made the decision for us to go upstairs for first formation and go to PT. PT was easy, being only warmup workouts and 20 pushups. We were back inside taking showers by 0630, and we got dressed and packed our rucks. I folded my laundry and then helped clean the bay before taking our rucks and full battle rattle downstairs and stacking it in our formation area. We then headed to breakfast at 0730, quickly ate, put our gear on, and got transportation at 0800 to the live fire range for today's training. The best way to describe today's training is as an old town, with rusted cars and "random" walls. We had targets that popped up that we had to shoot, while covering the team next to us (just like we were in a real fire fight). It took nearly for hours for everyone to get through with the first time through with blanks, so the first people who shot ate MREs while the last groups finished up. We then picked up the brass from the blank rounds, and then put on our IBAs and got live ammo from the ammo point. During the live fire, it was well over 100 degrees, which made for a fun time running from point to point...NOT! When I got to one of my walls, I accidentally hit my magazine release, and my magazine fell out. I went to put it back in and our First Lieutenant came up behind me to watch. Well, apparently he saw me breathing heavy and my magazine out, and so he thought I was having a panic attack and took my weapon away. I waited for him at the beginning of the range, and he told me what he saw, and I was very calm (and confused about what I had done so wrong to get kicked off the range) when he told me that he didn't want me to be a hazard on the range. I told him I was still fat and out of shape, but I was fine, and so he told me to get in line and do it again. As people finished, we sat in the shaded bleachers and waited for about five and a half hours for everyone to finish. While waiting, I made sure to stay hydrated and cool, because the word from the drill sergeants is that we have a ten mile ruck march tomorrow morning, and we're stepping off at 0300! Again, more fun seems to be on its way. Once everyone was finished firing, we ate dinner. Thunder was heard in the distance, so the last people in line (including me) picked up brass on the range while everyone else ate, and as people finished eating, they came and relieved us. The nice thing about being last was we got to pick and choose what we wanted to eat! It was nice :)! By this time, the thunder was more frequent and louder, and we even had lightening hit close by. We got shaken down to make sure we didn't have any live rounds, and then we put everything back on. Including our rucks. Someone overheard the First Lieutenant talk about getting emergency trans out, but we started rucking the half mile to the bivouac site anyway. We got to the bivouac site, and set up small areas for each platoon right in the parking lot/formation area, and didn't even bother sleeping in the woods. The emergency trans was only a rumor, because we set up camp and dug in for the night. The rain clouds moved on and it looked like we were going to get lucky! Robbins and I were battle buddies for the night, so I quickly got to work on making a shelter using our rain ponchos. I was basically done by the time people saw what I was doing, and so they came over to study the design and went back to work on their own. We were then told that we had a 0145 wake up and we would be stepping off at 0300. The rest of the platoon decided to stop working on their shelters and just get some sleep. At about 0930, we had another sprinkle come through, and Robbins and I started laughing as we heard the rest of the platoon scrambling around to stay dry! It only lasted about 10 minutes and didn't even get things wet, but nonetheless, I learned a slogan awhile ago, and that is to be prepared! Throughout the night, I kept waking up because of the ants biting me, but they only leave small bumps compared to getting bit by mosquitos. I may have gotten bit, but at least I would have stayed dry if it had poured!
17 July 2009 (Day 83 - 28 days to go)
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The drill sergeants threw three flash bang grenades at 0130 (fifteen minutes earlier than we were told). We broke camp, tore down shelters, filled up on water, and got our rucks on by 0230. We waited around until 0315 before stepping off on our morning "walk in the park." Four miles into the ruck, we went back to the bay to drop off our ACHs and IBAs (an extra 25-30 lbs). After that, our 45 lb. rucks felt like a bag of pillows! We topped off on water and continued on rucking. We finished all 10 miles a little after 0700, and took our gear up to our bay and then ate breakfast at 0730. After breakfast, we went upstairs to hang up our nasty clothes, put away our rucks, take showers, and change into clean PTs. I was one of the last people to shower, and by the time I came out, about 4/5 of the platoon was lying on their bunks asleep! I changed and cleaned my weapon, posting as our guard to yell at ease or attention if someone was to come into the bay. The platoon continued to sleep until it was time for lunch, which was MREs. After lunch, I had a funeral detail practice. I will be one of the seven soldiers to fire a shot at the end of the funeral (21 gun salute - each person shoots three times). After the two hour practice, I came upstairs, found a nice "comfortable" position on the floor, and slept for about two hours. At 1615, we were woken up for mail call downstairs. I got a letter from my mom, dad, and Brittney, as well as baby powder from my mom! Enclosed in my mom's letter were also small letters for Spence and Salado, and a letter from Devon! My dad's had pictures from the weekend, which are nice to have! I read everything before it was time for dinner at 1700, except the wrong time was given, so we came back up to the bay and relaxed until our real dinner time of 1800. As we were marching to our fake chow, we passed a group of drill sergeants. They were from D Company 1-50th, which turned blue yesterday and graduated today. That makes A Co. 1-50, the company I'm in, as the senior company in our battalion (Treadwell barracks)! We are the next company to graduate from 1-50, so that's a great feeling!!! Anyway, we formed up for chow and ate, and then came back up to the bay. Our PG led a small review class on things we need to know for the upcoming couple of weeks. I then spent time writing until our final formation at 2030. After formation, I got ready for bed and then went to sleep, letting my body enjoy a mattress and get a much needed rest.
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