Friday, December 25, 2009

Nov 29 (Sun) – Day 25 – 1700

Overall a pretty boring day. I went to church this morning, then after lunch we got haircuts again. I was glad for that because it had been like 3 weeks since the last haircut, and my hair was getting too long! After that we had to rake leaves and pine needles for a few hours. The past few days have been going pretty slow, so hopefully time will go faster once we start doing stuff again.

Nov 28 (Sat) – Day 24 – 0900

The weather here has been surprisingly pretty warm for most of the time I’ve been here. For the past 2 or 3 days though, it’ been freaking cold, especially in the mornings. I would guess this morning that it was probably down in the 30’s. Whatever it was, it should warm up to a nice temperature this afternoon.
This morning for pt, we had to run on a track. The faster group (which included me) ran 4 laps but also ran up and down the bleachers, which sucked. The slower group ran 8 laps but skipped the bleachers. I was one of the last few to finish, and those bleachers really killed my legs. I know I would be a lot faster and have way more endurance, but my legs are weak right now. I can tell I’m getting stronger but it still sucks right now. I think our first real pt test is next Saturday, so I’ll find out how good my running is then.
The rest of the day has been personal time, which has been really boring. I read my Bible for most of the time, then tonight I started writing the screenplay for Parlor Games 2. I don’t think I’ll ever get the chance to make it, but it helps get my mind off of everything army.

Nov 27 (Fri) – Day 23 - 1730

And the drama unfolds… we had a lot of down time today, so there was a lot of time that we had to deal with each other. The females have stated going after each other, and our bay is all on edge half of the time. The funny thing is, it’s always over something stupid and it escalates way too fast. I’m trying to stay out of all of it, and I’ve done well so far.

It’s been a nice few days though, because of Thanksgiving. We haven’t done much since we got back from the 1 day FTX (field training exercise). Since we start BRM (basic rifle marksmanship) on Monday, I don’t expect too much else to be going on. Being in white phase is nice though, we have a little more freedom, and the DSs are backing off just a little.

Just a quick side note, I really want to play poker right now. I have to wait until exodus though, because gambling is against the rules and I really want to avoid trouble.

Nov 26 (Thurs) – Day 22 - 1800

Thanksgiving. We got to sleep in today until 0500! Then we didn’t really do anything all day. Our platoon did some combatives this morning, and I got pwn3d by the guy I went against. We could have watched the Green Bay football game after lunch (lunch was awesome by the way) but we got our cell phones, so I took my phone instead of football. I called my family again and a bunch of my friends. It really made me miss them a lot, but 3 more weeks and I’ll be able to talk to them again for as long as I want. I had my cell phone for almost 4 hours today, which was a huge surprise, because usually we only get to talk for a few minutes. Hopefully it will be more like that from now on. After dinner, I watched some of the Dallas football game, but I left at halftime because I’m tired and Dallas was crushing Oakland. The Giants play later on, but I don’t think we’ll be able to watch that game. That’s annoying, but the fun has to end sometime. I really hope tomorrow’s pt isn’t too bad to make us pay for today…

Nov 25 (Wed) – Day 21 - 1800

I had no problem with inspection today, the first sergeant ran out of time and skipped over me. Before that, however, most of my platoon showed their complete stupidity and incompetence, and could not answer most of his questions. The DSs were pissed so they held us back in red phase. We got to phase change to white phase with the rest of the company, but 2nd platoon and us (3rd platoon) both have our flags furled still, and we still have red phase privileges. It’s annoying, but the morons in my platoon deserve it, the rest of us don’t. Thanksgiving is tomorrow though, so we’re about done for the week. Just a few little times for training I think. And then next week we start shooting! That should be awesome. I hope I can pick it up quickly, because our first qualification is the week after. My goal is to shoot expert, which means hitting 36 out of 40 targets. We’ll see how that goes though.

Ok, so we just got to use our cell phones for about 15 min. That was highly unexpected. I got to talk to most of my family again, and that was really nice. Tomorrow we might even get another call if we’re lucky. We also just found out that we get a nice meal for lunch tomorrow because of Thanksgiving, then we get to go into a big classroom and watch football! It’s been almost a month without football, and I think I’m on withdrawal. I’m definitely on withdrawal from music… 3 weeks from today and I should be on my way home though.

Nov 24 (Tues) – Day 20 - 1930

We came back today around 1100. Not a bad little camping trip. Oh, but this morning we had to do the low crawl stuff again. Our whole platoon was pissed. Anyway, once we got back, we just cleaned everything. Tents, LBVs (vest things), and our weapons. Tomorrow we phase change to white phase, but first we need to pass inspection. I don’t really know what that involves, but I’ll find out. I’m pretty confident with everything so far.

Nov 23 (Mon) – Day 19 (Week 3) - 1900

Today we got up at 0330, and marched 2 to 3 miles before dawn again. Then we ser up our tents and everything. We spent all day learning different movement tactics and the basics of MOUT. I don’t know what that stands for, but it’s just entering and clearing a room. That was pretty cool. We also had to low crawl and high crawl through wet sand and mud. That was cold and really sucked. After dinner, we just went back to our tents, and could do whatever. I was asleep by 1930 (7:30). It was great.

Nov 22 (Sun) – Day 18 - 1900

Church again this morning, which was pretty good. All day we jus got ready for our 1-day trip tomorrow. We’re marching out early in the morning and spending a night out in the field. I also got appointed Bravo team leader. That is pretty cool, but I’m super low on the pole. If a DS isn’t there, the platoon guide (PG) takes over. Then the assistant platoon guide (APG), then the squad leader (SL) then the team leader (TL). For team leaders, there is alpha and bravo (A and B). So all that to say that I have some responsibility, but not too much. We’ll see how it goes.

Nov 21 (Sat) – Day 17 – 2030

I’m still coughing a lot, but I don’t think I’m sick anymore. That dumb gas is still affecting me. Today we did the confidence course, and it was kind of fun. We only got through 4 of the 5 events because one guy refused to do a 30 ft tall zipline. He’s terrified of heights, and even when the first sergeant came over, he still wouldn’t go. So then the command sergeant major and the captain came over, and I think he’s gong home now. Anyway, the scariest part of today was climbing up a 30 – 40 ft tower with 4 platforms in groups of 4. We had to reach each platform with no help but each other, then go back down the other side. I really had to trust my teammates to not le me fall when they pulled me up! I’m starting to get excited for Christmas exodus now, which is bad, because it’s still 3 weeks away. Oh well, we should start doing more stuff pretty soon, which should pass the time even faster. Before I know it, I’ll be at home typing this up!

Nov 20 (Fri) – Day 16 – 1630

So much worse than I expected. My eyes were on fire, my nose was dripping snot a foot down and an inch think my throat was burning and I couldn’t breathe. The more I coughed, the less I could breathe. The 15 seconds without my gas mask seemed like 10 minutes, then when I got outside, it took another 15 minutes until I could bear it, overall, that was probably the worst experience of my life.

ACTUAL ACCOUNT

We put our masks on before we went in, and were all checked by a cadre member. When it was our turn to go in, we went in two lines and lined up against opposite walls then they closed the doors. At first I thought it wasn’t that bad. In the center of the room, there was a small table with two big coffee cans and a small fan. One of the DS’s started stirring up one of the cans and some smoke began to fill the room. The DS filed down the line and made us lift our masks one by one and say our name, rank, and social security number. When it was my turn, I got half of it out then choked through the rest of it. By the time I went to put my mask back on, the room was filling with more and more of this weird smoke, and somehow I didn’t seal it right, so I was choking and my eyes were burning for several minutes while I adjusted it and cleared it. Finally I got it working. Then the DS’s swirled around those cans again, and soon the room was covered in a fog. They counted 10 people off and lined them up at the door. They then had them take off their masks completely and sing the national anthem. This is about what it sounded like: Oh say can, COUGH COUGH COUGH HACK HACK CHOKE PUKE COUGH COUGH… you get the picture. This went on for 15 slow, slow seconds, and then they were let out. Next it was my turn. Once I took my mask off, I immediately started choking, I just sat there hoping - no praying for the suffering to end, then finally, the doors opened! We went out, and I thought I would never recover, I could barely open my eyes, and I still couldn’t breathe. Snot was hanging way down off my face. About 10 minutes later, I could finally breathe normally again, and the pain had mostly faded. About 8 hours later though, I’m still coughing, and I think that crap is still in my lungs…

Nov 19 (Thurs) – Day 15 – 2100

Well today I was up, and did a 2 mile march with 40 lbs of equipment before any of you were even awake. And before the sun came up. We started around 5 am. Today was fun though, we did the land nav course. We had 5 points to find, and we were in groups of 3. My group messed up on the first point, but we didn’t realize it until point 3, when we found the real first point. Then I took over, and gave up on all the calculations, and just found the general direction and distance and we started going. We found the last 3 points my way, and I was glad that it worked out. Not much else happened today, but I did laundry, only all of the dryers were broken or full, so my clothes are now still damp. Most of them are hanging in my locker now, so they better be dry by morning. One quick note about tomorrow, we have the gas chamber at 1330. I’m not exactly looking forward to it, but it will be a good story after the fact. Get ready for my awesome story tomorrow!

Nov 18 (Wed) – Day 14 - 2100

Lights are about to go out so I’ll be quick. We did 30/60’s for pt today, which is just running fast for 30 seconds, then walking for 60 seconds. It wasn’t that bad though, for being my second time running since I got here. Again we sat around for a while, and then this afternoon we had a land nav class for like 4 hours. Tomorrow’s wake up is about 0330, and then a 2 mile march to the land nav course. That should be fun, and way better than sitting in a classroom. I also learned today that red phase should end next Wednesday and we should go to white phase. That means a little less yelling and craziness, and later wake ups. Of course if my platoon keeps screwing up, we’ll go right back to red phase…

On a positive note, I got me 10 min phone call home today, and mom finally answered! It was great to actually talk to someone from home, even just for a few min. time is going really fast, so here pretty soon I’ll be on my way home for Christmas exodus.

Nov 17 (Tues) – Day 13 – 2000

Pretty boring day today. PT this morning was good, but after that we pretty much just sat around. We did get our gas masks though, and learned how to use them for Friday. Oh, and last week sometime our DS said that if we could clear, disassemble, reassemble and functions check out rifles in under 15 min, we would get a 10 min phone call. I actually did it, and the thing that most people messed up was the function check at the very end I think about 6 people got it right, so we should get to call tomorrow. Maybe I’ll actually get to talk to someone this time.

Nov 16 (Mon) – Day 12 (Week 2) – 2000

Today was fit to win and the team development course. Fit to win is just an obstacle course, it was kind of fun. After the whole company went through, there was a competition between the platoons – our platoon won by 2 pts. So now we get a little streamer thing on our flag. Heck yes. The team development course (TDC) was ok, but as usual, there were too many leaders and not enough followers. My team finished 2 out of 4 of the events we did.

So I’m still feeling pretty sick, my throat is sore and I think I have a slight fever. I’m waiting it out, but it’s really annoying right now. Up for tomorrow is some land nav classes, so that should be fun. I think on Friday we go to the gas chamber too, so it should be an exciting week!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Nov 15 (Sun) – Day 11 – 2000

Pretty boring day overall. I went to church and bible study today, and it was great. I’m glad I got to get away from all the craziness and crap of the army for an hour or two. I’m going to try to read my Bible more too, but it’s tough with about 45 min in the morning and 45 min in the evening. That’s all I get for personal time. So that kind of sucks, but I think it should get better. One week down today, and 4 more until Christmas exodus. Lolz, some people are already counting down the days… I just take each day as it comes. I’m still feeling sick, but we went to the px and got haircuts yesterday so I got some cough drops. Oh, we also got to all home today for 7 min, but since I didn’t think to buy a phone card, I had to borrow one. The family was still at church though, of course, so I was forced to leave a message again. Hopefully the mail will go out quickly and I’ll get a letter back this week even. I guess I’ll see.

Nov 14 (Sat) – Day 10 – 2100

PT test today. It was just the 1-1-1 assessment though (1 min of pushups, 1 min of situps, and a 1 mile run) so that was fine. I got 35 pushups, 34 situps, and ran the mile in 8:02. I am pretty happy with that. Then for the next hour or two we learned combatives, or something like UFC stuff. That was pretty cool, but I don’t remember half of the stuff, and I need a lot more practice with it. We also made a trip to the PX (store) and I got another haircut. Not much else happened today, and tomorrow should have even less.

Nov 13 (Fri) – Day 9 – 2030

Best/worst day so far. I’m not feeling great as I write this, and I’m a little upset. First, the good. Victory tower. Awesome. I pwn3d the rope course, and did well on the rappelling. It was definitely the most fun I’ve had in a while, and I wish we could go back every few days! Now the bad part of today that just keeps going. My platoon just does not learn, so we got smoked tonight after dinner, and it had to have lasted over an hour. I don’t even remember what we did to deserve it, but I know we did over 150 4-count jumping jacks, which is really 300 jumping jacks. Starting this morning my throat has been a little sore, and I feel like I’m starting to get sick. That doesn’t help anything. Now I’ve just learned that I have fireguard from 0100 – 0300, and the PT test is sometime in the morning. So now you know why I’m not in a great mood right now. There are other things too, but I think you understand. I’m praying this weekend is easier so I can take a break and recover a little bit. I wrote a letter to my family with my address, so I should be getting all of your letters soon! (you did write to me, didn’t you?)

Nov 12 (Thurs) – Day 8 – 2000

We got smoked about 5 times today for a total of probably 2 ½ hours. I’ve decided to really push myself through these things until they don’t bother me anymore. Tomorrow is our first road march, and it’s only about a mile. Then we have victory tower – a 60 ft tower we have to rappel down, among other things. It should be fun, especially after the march. Not a whole lot else going on for now, we still have random classes every day though. Hopefully things will pick up soon.

Nov 11 (Wed) – Day 7 – 2030

We got our rifles today! They’re pretty freaking sweet. We had to relearn everything about marching and saluting because now we add the weapon to it. It’s king of annoying since we have to bring it everywhere. But once we start shooting (in a few weeks) it should be worth it. Our DS warned us today that about 10 to 14 of the 60 in our platoon would not graduate. I was worried for a second because I have been struggling with some of the endurance stuff, but then I realized that if I do my best and don’t quit, they won’t let me fail. I will never accept defeat, I will never quit. (that’s part of the warrior ethos, something I had to memorize.) Oh, and for PT this morning we ran. But since it was pouring outside, we ran in the barracks. For like 25 minutes… I think we did about 50 laps around the room, and I got really tired by the end. It was good though, and I pushed myself during it. If this is really the worst part of basic, mentally and physically, then basic should be no problem. I just hope it doesn’t get too much worse.

Nov 10 (Tues) – Day 6 – 2100

We had pt in the morning, which was pretty rough. For some reason I’m struggling with pushups the most. I think it’s from the shots I got, and then holding my bags over my head, so now my shoulders are sore. It should get better soon, but overall basic is not really that bad. I like my DS’s, one of them is pretty cool, and I think we are his last cycle until he’s done training recruits. The other two aren’t bad either, but one can go a bit overboard with smoking us. We had to do 50 4-count pushups today (I only got to 13 without stopping) but he said by the time we got done with basic, we would do 500. Yes, 500. That’s absurd. Unfortunately, I don’t stay in the bay with our DS’s because that bay is for the females (3rd bay). Instead, I’m with about 14 other guys from 3rd platoon staying in 2nd bay. Their DS is crazy. He’s super strict and seems to be on a power trip, which is what a DS is, so I guess he’s good then. I wish I wasn’t with him though. We also had a few classes about random crap, mostly pretty boring though. Ok, well I guess I’m going to bed now, since they just turned off the lights and I had to write these last few sentences by flashlight.

Nov 09 (Mon) – Day 5 (Red Phase – Week 1) – 2140

Crazy day. It all started with the Drill Sergeants screaming as soon as we got off the bus. That wasn’t as bad as I expected yet *crosses fingers* but once we got our bags we had to hold them above our heads for a few minutes at a time. That I should have expected, but it was still awful. My arms are still sore from the shots we just got, and once again I find myself questioning if I can make it. Then I think about how I can’t quit, for one because I signed a contract, but two because that would be lame. It will only get easier… after tomorrow.

Nov 08 (Sun) – Day 4 – 0840

Again nothing to do. I didn’t go to church because I had to do laundry and I didn’t really know what was gong on. I have to get changed now, so I can eat lunch. We’ll see if anything else will happen today…

0100 – We got stencils and put our names on our bags, then came back to the barracks to pack. We just found out that we are going to basic tomorrow around 3. I’m assuming he meant 3 in the afternoon, not 0300… so we’ll see. I got almost everything packed in my duffel bag, so I won’t have to carry much else, thankfully.

Nov 07 (Sat) – Day 3 – 2100

Kind of a waste of a day. We didn’t do anything all day, but every few hours, we had a formation. All day long was personal time and cleaning time, then later on we had a formation and learned about at ease, and attention, saluting and that stuff. I’m still a little confused about some of it, but I’m catching on quick. No fireguard tonight!!

Nov 06 (Fri) – Day 2 – 2000

Up at 3 for fireguard, then formation at 4, so it was an early morning. After standing at ease for about 20 min, we went to get our ACU’s. We got in around 0700, and didn’t get out until 1300. We were supposed to be somewhere else at 1030, so… I think the problem is our platoon has 60 people in it, when most of the others have around 20. I got to talk to some guys who are already in BCT, I think in week 6, and that was pretty cool. Thy made me feel better about it by saying the insanity doesn’t last for long. I’m still worried about those first few days though… I have fireguard again tonight, this time from 0200 to 0300 so that sucks, I’m going to bed.

Nov 05 (Thurs) – Day 1 (Reception) - 2100

Up at 4 and standing in line all day, Lots of waiting, but not all that bad. I got my head shaved too, and it’s weird – I am not used to this short of hair! I was really questioning if I should be here last night, it was rough. Today was pretty good though, I felt much better about this. I have fireguard from 0300 – 0400 tonight so I’m going to bed.

I'm back!

Hello again. I'm home for my Christmas exodus, which lasts about 2 weeks. I have to be back by Jan 3. Anyway, basic so far hasn't been too bad, but in case you don't believe me I wrote down a journal of everything we did, and what it was like for me. So the next bunch of posts will be my daily entries.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Ready to go

Well the countdown on the side of the page says 0 days left, and since I don't know when it's counting down till, I'll just say it's time to go now! Here's a quick update from my PT test yesterday, I had to do 13 pushups in 1 min, 17 situps in 1 min, and run a mile in 8:30. Easy, I know. Anyway, I did my 13 pushups in a grand total of... 11 seconds. So I got 42 pushups in 1 min, I did 20 situps and then stopped becauase I didn't want to kill myself over this. Then came the run, my weakest part. I felt like death, and it hurt a lot but I ran my best time yet coming in at right about 7:28. Overall, I was very happy with my results.

Now to what's happening from here on. At 4, I will go sit in a hotel until tomorrow, when I will go to the MEPS station (military entrance processing station) and swear in again and sign my contract again. Then I will sit around for a while until they decide i should get going. After that, I'll be on my way to reception and basic training. You'll have to wait until I come back (hopefully for Christmas) to get more updates.

One last thing, I won't have access to the internet at all or a phone very much at all, so the only way we can stay in contact is through writing letters. So write to me. Again, my home address is:

DJ Johnson
216 Tolley Drive
Beckley, WV 25801

Keep the envelopes simple, no extra writing or drawings or anything. Otherwise I'll have to do extra pushups for them. Oh, and if you're thinking about doing that just to make me push... remember, I'm joining the army, and I will be a beast the next time you see me. I will also have learned some jiu jitsu. So go ahead, if you really want me to have to retaliate... lolzor, I hope to hear from you guys, and it won't be long before I'm updating my blog again as a soldier.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

change in location

I just got a call from my recruiter today, and he said that i was not going to basic at Ft Leonard Wood anymore, I am now going to Ft Jackson. That's in South Carolina. So I don't have to worry about the running anymore, it should be warm for the most part.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

address - you better write!

Well, the countdown on my page now says about 8 days left, so I figure I should give you my address. Here's what I'm going to do. I'll give you my home address, so send it there, then my parents will send your letters to me, then when I write back, I'll give you my address at basic. So here's where you should send your first letter:

DJ Johnson
216 Tolley Dr
Beckley, WV 25801

Also, I don't know when I will get your first letter so it could be a while for me to write back. So don't expect anything for a few weeks at least. Don't worry though, if you write to me, I will write back. So you better write!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

2 weeks

So now I have 2 weeks until i leave for basic. 2 weeks from today or tomorrow, I'm not sure. I think I will go to MEPS on the 3rd, and then ship out to basic on the 4th, but i could be wrong. This past week has been interesting for me. I started feeling really excited about going, and that turned to feeling anxious, and then when i struggled with running in the cold so much, I was feeling really nervous and worried. I won't be able to improve my running by much in just 2 weeks, but any little bit will help. Today though, I don't feel worried or (that) nervous or anxious. I just feel excitement. My life, since i graduated high school, has been pretty much spur of the moment decisions, even the big ones. I almost joined the Navy right after high school because i had no idea what i wanted to do. Then I decided to go to Word of Life Bible Institute instead. Since it was a full year program, i was working there that summer in the skatepark and i decided that I wanted to go to Bryan College in June, just a few months before school started. Now that I've graduated college, I found myself in the same situation, with no direction whatesoever. So I joined the army. Not that I didn't think about it, because I did. I spent about 2 months looking up information and finding out a lot about it, but when it came down to my recruiter asking if I wanted this job, I thought, "what the heck, I have nothing better to do, and this could be fun." I hope you all are laughing at how ridiculous I am now, but that's ok, my life is turning out ok so far! All of that to say, joining the army is something i never would have seen myself doing a few months ago, and it's nothing like anything else I've ever done. So I'm really excited to see what I will do, and what I will go through. My PT will come in time, when the Drill Sergeants are screaming at me and calling me names. Maybe that's what I need to get motivated though...

One more thing, I was recently asked if I have my address for basic yet, and the answer to that is, I won't have it until I get there. So my question to all of you, is would it be better to get my address on here, or facebook, or somewhere else? Give me your suggestions and comments.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Update on the PT test

If you haven't heard yet, my PT test last week was cancelled because of the weather. I know it sounds weird, and I thought the army didn't care about the weather at all, but my recruiter said that the risk assessment was too high. The only thing I can think of is right now I am a future soldier, and not really in the army yet so if I get hurt, the insurance won't cover it or something. Anyway, I'm supposed to take the PT test this saturday, but there is supposed to me more rain and maybe some snow, so we'll see what happens. One thing that is a little bit worrying is that I have a hard time running when it's below 50 or so outside. since most of my basic the temps will average below 30 I think, that will suck. So what that means is I have a little less than 3 weeks to get used to running in the cold on my own time, or else I leave it up to the drill sergeants to get me in shape....

EDIT: It was cancelled again. Today it is right at 35 degrees with rain and snow coming down. But the reason that the PT test was cancelled this time is my recruiter is going to Bridge Day. If you don't know, Bridge Day is kind of a big deal here, we have the New River Gorge Bridge, which is something like the biggest or highest bridge in the country. I'm not sure exactly, but there's a big party thing out there today. So now the plan is to do the test by myself on Oct 30. Which, if you've been paying attention, is like 5 days before I ship. So now i get a little more time to get in shape! Hmm, so there is some good news here.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

1 mile pre-basic test

So I just got a call from my recruiter today, and he told me that he was setting up a flag football game for the army guys on Oct 10th, and he wanted to see if the marines were interested too, so we could get a army vs marines game going. I told him that sounded fun, and I would be there. Then he said that i would also do my 1 mile run as part of my PT test to make sure I'm fit enough to go to basic right now. When I talked to him last week, i thought the PT test was going to be the week after that. So now I have 2 weeks to get ready for this, and this thursday I'm going down to TN for homecoming until next monday. So that leaves me with like 3 more days of running before this thing. I'm a little worried, because running is my weakest area right now, but i only have to run 1 mile in 8 minutes, so it should be fine.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Running is all about sucking

That's how my brother put it when he told me to keep running even when my legs felt completely dead. Keep running even when you don't think you can take another step. Keep running, even though it sucks. Probably you have never tried to run like this before, but if you want to be a better, faster runner then this is very important. This blog is going to be about my PT, and how much I have progressed. There is a 5k (roughly 3 mile) outdoor track a few minutes from my house that I have been running on for about 2 weeks now. The first time I ran it, it took my 50 minutes. Yes, I know, that's awful. The reason it took me so long though, is I kept stopping when it was uncomfortable to run. As soon as I got back, started talking to my brother about it, and he told me that I need to keep running, even though it hurts. I thought he was crazy, but I did it anyway two days later. When I finished the run and looked at my watch, I was shocked, it said just over 36 minutes! ...He was right. Since then, I've been trying to push myself when I'm running and I've seen some improvement every time I've run except today.

The reason I was a little slower today, was I tried to imitate the format of the PT tests I will have to take. So before I went running, I did as many pushups and situps as I could in 2 minutes each. Now, if you haven't tried to do any situps for a few years, get out of the chair or off the couch, and do 5 or 6. You'll probably realize that you're using a lot of leg muscles as well as your abs. Now try to do situps for 2 minutes straight and you'll see why I had so much trouble running today. Overall, I was happy with my run, since I finished in about 35 min, which is my second fasted time yet, only by about 20 secs. Not too bad. For the PT test, I only have to run 2 miles, and for my age group, to pass with the bare minimum, i need to finish in about 16 1/2 minutes. Obviously I have a long way to go, but one thing to note is I don't really know how far I'm running on this track. the signs are not exactly reliable, so my guess is that I'm running somewhere around 3 1/2 miles. So I think I'm pretty close to being able to pass the test.

Today was the first time in a week or two that I tested myself on pushups or situps too, and i was surprised when I looked at the number I needed to pass. 40 pushups in 2 minutes, and 50 situps in 2 minutes. I thought for sure it would be more than that. So i did my exercises, and after about a minute, my arms were pretty much dead, so i quit doing pushups at 35. Not that great, but better than I had done before. Recently I've hit a plateau in my pushups, so it was nice to see some improvement. My situps started great, I pounded out 20 in the first 25 seconds or so, and then I slowed down significantly. I still finished with 45 though, which again isn't anything great, but it's close. So with just over a month until I go to basic, I feel very confident that my pushups and situps will be up to par, especially since I'm going to get smoked (when the Drill Sergeants make us do pushups or just stay in the pushup position for a while) a ton during basic, and I don't have to pass the PT test until close to the end of basic. My running should also be good enough by then. I mean, it has to be, because I don't plan on failing anything.

One thing that I keep telling myself is that the more I do it, the easier it will get. So when i feel like quitting because it hurts to take another step, I just tell myself that today is an anomaly, and it won't usually hurt this bad, so just keep going. I also know that if I quit, it doesn't help me at all, I may as well have slept in and done nothing all day if I'm not going to push my limits each time.

So that's what I'm putting myself through before I even get to basic! I'm sure most of you reading think I'm crazy, and that's probably true, but that's what makes it fun!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

40 days

So i've now been a future soldier for something like 4 months now, and the time has gone by really fast. i only have 40 days until i leave for basic, and i wish it would just get here already! i haven't been doing much this summer until now, i had a job for a few weeks (yes, washing dishes... again) but now i mainly sit around all day. I have been working out and running a lot. So far i'm running 3 miles every other day, working up to running it every day. My times for the running aren't great at all, but i can definitely see improvement each time. I should be up to speed by the time i get to basic, but i still expect to get pwn3d by the drill sergeants! Anyway, that's what's going on for now. I'll be sure to post anything else that happens, and keep updating my PT attempts. Well right now my brother Eric is on the phone, and since he is in Iraq right now, I'm going to get off here, and talk to him. So, i'm out.

Why I joined the Army

I'm sure most of you have already seen this, but if not, here is my thinking behind joining the army.

Well, as most of you know by know, i have joined the army. I swore in yesterday, and signed my contract, and will be going in for 3 years and 34 weeks (the 34 weeks is for training) and my job will be human intelligence collector. I will be doing things like interrogations and talking to people to find out information. Other than that, I really don't know what i will be doing. I will be leaving for basic training on November 4th, and that will last 12 weeks. I will also get 2 weeks off for Christmas. After basic, I will go to AIT, which is basically my job training for another 18 weeks. I'm not sure exactly what happens after that, but i'll probably get assigned to my unit then.

Some people have asked my why i am joining the army, especially because i just graduated from college. There are many reasons I believe, that answer, of such, of that, question. First of all, since i graduated from college, i had the option to go in as an officer. I did not, and others of you think i made a bad choice there. Either way, I think the army will be good for

me. If you would have asked me if i would ever join the military on the day of my college graduation, I would have laughed and said no way. That weekend though, my family went from my graduation to go see my brother Eric (who was in basic training for the army at the time, and had the weekend off). After seeing him and talking to him a little that weekend, on top of having no idea of what to do with my life, i starting thinking about the army. I did a lot of research about the different branches and different jobs each had to offer. I had a lot of crazy ideas at first, but finally settled on the intelligence field.

If you're looking for specific reasons that I joined, here you go. After I graduated, I had no idea what to do with my life. I had always thought I would get a job in film, until my last semester of college, when i decided that i would like to keep film as more of a hobby. So i had no path or career in mind at all, and that can be scary. The army guaranteed a job for at least 3 years, which would give me time to figure out what to do with myself. On top of the bad economy, that seemed like a pretty good idea. Then I also realized that since i stopped playing sports in high school, i was not in the shape i used to be. The army would challenge me to get in shape, and get stronger. After reading about some of the jobs I could have, and talking to a few people, it sounded like the army would be a fun and exciting job to have. Obviously I am not expecting that every day, as I'm sure i'll have my share of desk work and boring days, but I'm ok with that. You'll have that with any job, but I'll also get the chance to go to other countries and serve my country with everything I'll be doing. Oh, and they'll pay off my student loans from college. I'll also be going in as an E-4, which is a specialist, instead of an E-1 or E-2 like most people.

Anyway, I've been going through the process of enlisting for a few weeks now, not really knowing what I was getting myself into. I kind of has the attitude that I was still a civilian and not committed to anything, so I *could* back out at anytime. Then when i went to MEPS yesterday for my physical and to sign my contract and swear in. I didn't think anything of it for most of the day. I spent a few hours getting the physical and waiting. (got up at 5:45, walked into MEPS at 7:00, finished the physical around 10:30 or so) Finally, around 2:45 they called all 5 of us who were waiting to swear in to go to a room and wait for someone to come tell us what to do. He came in and showed us how to stand at attention and parade rest, then told us what we would be doing, and how this was serious, and the punishments for deserting and going AWOL and stuff like that. Then we all lined up and an officer came in and lead us through the swear in process. We had to stand at attention and recite the oath after him. Up until this point, I had been pretty laid back about the whole thing, but after about the second line, I realized- this is for real. I can't back out now. I just committed myself to the army. I hesitated for about a tenth of a second on the third line of the oath, but I composed myself and continued to repeat after the officer as confidently as I could (which was only about semi confident).

I think that will be the defining moment for me for a while, at least until boot camp, to make myself continue forward. I really have no idea what I'm getting myself into, and at times I get nervous, anxious, and even scared about it. But I know in the end, it will make me better, and I can get through it. I'm committed now, and I will not quit.

If you've read this far, I'm very impressed. Thanks, and let me know what you're thinking now. lolzor, hopefully you don't think i've lost my mind even more after reading this!