Finally sitting at home! It’s so great to be away from everything now. This morning we had to get up at 0300, and at 0315 we had the fire alarm go off. We sat outside in our t shirts, shorts and flip flops for about 20 min or so. Then we got to go back inside and get ready. We figured that the DS probably pulled the alarm as a sort of going away present. Then around 0430 we had to go downstairs and we marched out to a big soccer field. We did a battalion run this morning, which means there were over 1,000 soldiers there. So it took us about 40 minutes to get everyone situated right, and then we just stood there. 10 minutes went by, 15, 20, 30… we had to huddle close together just to try to keep warm. At 0600 the flag goes up and we all salute it, so apparently that’s what we were waiting for. Right after we saluted the flag, we started off. I think we ran about 2 miles, but it took like 40 min since there were so many people. It wasn’t that bad once we started running since we warmed up. After we got back, the POVs had their lockers banded and we went to breakfast. After breakfast all of the POVs were put in a room to wait to get picked up. I was there from about 0830 until 1300. Thankfully I had my phone, and they had the news on for a while, then put in Transformers 2, and then ESPN. When my dad got there, I was very ready to leave. The 5 hours it took to get home weren’t bad, and then I finally pulled up to the house, and I was home. Now I have roughly two weeks to chill and get lazy until I have to go back and get destroyed for not doing anything over break.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Dec 15 (Tues) – Day 41 – 2000
Crazy day. I still didn’t have my military ID this afternoon, despite telling the DSs multiple times. So today I finally went to get it. It took a few hours, but I finally have my ID. The reason it’s so important is I can’t leave for exodus if I don’t have it.
Anyway, when I got back we were handing in our weapons. That took a while. Then after dinner, we went to a safety briefing about why we shouldn’t drink and drive, or text and drive. It was stupid.
Also, since I’m going home POV (privately owned vehicle) supposedly I need to have my locker locked up tonight, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Either way, I’m going home tomorrow so I don’t really care.
Dec 14 (Mon) – Day 40 (Week 6) – 2030
Today I had an interview for my top secret security clearance. It was kind of annoying because I had to fix a lot of info about jobs I’ve had and where I’ve lived. So because of the interview, I missed the next EST session. I heard it wasn’t that cool though so oh well. The rest of the day went really slow. We sat around and cleaned weapons the whole time. From what I can tell, I’ll be doing even more of that tomorrow… then the next day I go home! I’ll be so glad to finally get out of here.
Dec 13 (Sun) – Day 39 – 2000
Well, it’s around the halfway point now, or a little after. Things are going well, and should only get better from here. Today we got our haircut for Christmas exodus. We also had to inventory everything we are leaving here. I still don’t have my ID card though, from a mixup at the start of basic. I need to get that worked out tomorrow or I can’t go home. I’m sure it will work out though.
Dec 12 (Sat) – Day 38 - 1630
Pt test this morning. I wasn’t really feeling that great so I only got 44 pushups and 52 situps. That’s about 65 points each though, so I was ok with that. My run though… let’s just say I struggled with that. I ended up running my 2 miles in about 17:20 or so. I’m not really sure of my score, but it’s close to that, which totals to about 180. I really need to take off at least 2 min from my run time, but that will be tough.
In other news, extra duty ended tonight! I’m so glad that’s finally over. Now there’s just 3 days and a wake up left. And those few days should be pretty easy and fun. I just can’t wait to go home now and just relax.
Dec 11 (Fri) – Day 37 - 1930
Freezing cold. I think the DS said this morning that it was 35 degrees outside. I know that doesn’t seem too bad, but try just sitting outside for 7+ hours and not wearing all kinds of clothes. We have an undershirt, and light jacket and a thin sweatshirt thing. Then light sweatpants, and ACU bottoms. No scarf, we do have gloves, but they’re not that good… Either way, it’s freaking cold.
Because of the cold, most people struggled with shooting today, including me. I only ht 29 targets today, but I don’t really know why. I blame the cold. Christmas exodus is close now and I can’t wait to go home… 4 ½ more days…
Tomorrow we have our first full pt test in the morning. I’m feeling confident in my pushups and situps, but not my run. Plus the ridiculous cold, I think I might fail that part. Later on, we’re supposed to start ARM (advanced rifle marksmanship) but hopefully it won’t be too much. I want a break!
Dec 10 (Thurs) – Day 36 - 2100
Today was awful. I woke up exhausted from fireguard, then the DS flipped out about our bay being dirty, so he made us wait for a few minutes, then by the time we got down to formation, we were late. For some reason, the universe decided to hate me today, and those of us who were late got put on extra duty for 3 days. That means during our personal time, we get to do whatever the DS says. Usually it’s cleaning stuff. So I’m really pissed off about that right now.
On to today’s real event – qualifying. I shot extremely well for the first 20 rounds, only missing 2. Then for my next magazine, I was having problems with it loading the bullets. After each bullet was fired, I had to slap the magazine to kick the bullet into the chamber. I still only missed 1 target on the prone unsupported, but then on kneeling I missed 3 more. I think I started getting frustrated, so I lost my focus. I hit 34 out of 40 targets. Just 2 off expert… so close. Oh well, I have one more chance at it, and plus, it’s the second highest score in my platoon so far.
Anyway, I’m going to bed. Let’s see if I can reach expert tomorrow…
Dec 9 (Wed) – Day 35 – 1830
Today is stupid. I shot well today, probably over 30, but everyone screwed it up so I don’t think the scores count. Then I got yelled at for having bad timing and not knowing what was going on. Everything was going good until I got back from the range and now I’m just pissed off.
Another side note, I have fireguard from 2300 – 0100, that means I get about 2 hours of sleep, then 2 hours of fireguard, then about 2 ½ hours of sleep again until our 0330 wake up. Lame.
Dec 8 (Tues) – Day 34 – 1830
Today was the practice for the practice for qualification. I hit 29 out of 40, and I thought I did pretty bad. So I’m feeling pretty confident. Also, a small incentive is that if we shoot 30 or better, we get our phones for an hour on Sunday. If we shoot expert (36) we get our phones for 2 hours. That’s about all we’re doing this week, so I won’t have much to say.
Dec 7 (Mon) – Day 33 (Week 5) - 1900
60/120s again this morning. A much as I hate running, it wasn’t that bad. The first half sucked, but I warmed up after that, so the second half wasn’t that bad.
Later on, we went to EST again (the big video game place where we shoot) and did a virtual qualification. I did really well, and shot 34 out of 40. Expert is 36, so I was close. I hope I can shoot expert, but we’ll see. I know it will be tough, but I have the next 4 days to keep shooting, so I should keep getting better.
Dec 6 (Sun) – Day 32 – 2100
Well today at church I went to move some chairs and somehow I pulled a muscle in my back and it really hurts. I can still move fine, it just hurts. Nothing really happened today, but I did finish another screenplay for when I come home so I can make a movie with my brother and sister. It should be good, lol.
Dec 5 (Sat) – Day 31 – 2000
Ok so by 0430 my day already sucked. Last night I tried to do laundry but the washers and driers here suck. There are a total of 8 of them for all 250 of us, and at least 1/3 don’t work. The washer I picked just got my clothes wet and covered with detergent. So I had to rinse them off in the sink and hang them to dry in my locker. Well this morning I left my locker open to air dry the clothes and try to get the smell out. While I was shaving and brushing my teeth, someone decided to take my pt pants. So now I have none, and no way to get any until I go home.
Anyway, on to the fun stuff. Apparently, there aren’t any lasers or whatever, but this range was still really cool. What we did was shoot from the prone supported – 5 rounds at 75m, 10 rounds at 175m, and 5 rounds at 300m. Then we shot from kneeling - 5 rounds at 75m, and 5 rounds at 175m. then prone unsupported – 5 rounds at 175, and 5 rounds at 300m. I hit 37 out of 40 targets. I missed two of the 300m targets in prone supported and one 300m in the prone unsupported. I’m very happy with that. And the best news of today? Tomorrow is Sunday. That means sleep and not much going on. Finally…
Dec 4 (Fri) – Day 30 – 1900
Today we went to the range to shoot singles and multiples. There were 3 targets, at about 50, 150, and 300m. We all got to shoot 80 rounds (16 prone supported, 10 prone unsupported, and 10 kneeling single targets, then 20 prone supported, 12 prone unsupported, and 12 kneeling with multiple targets). It was pretty fun, but I’m not all that happy with how I did. I think I passed from what the DS said, but I don’t think I hit a single 300m target, and I didn’t focus on my fundamentals for shooting. Still, I hit (I think) over half of my targets, so as long as I keep that percentage up I’ll be ok. Tomorrow we’re doing something different where we shoot with lasers attached to the M16 or something, and a computer reads where we’re shooting to see how far off we are. Hopefully that will help me get better.
Dec 3 (Thurs) – Day 29 – 1220
Got up and had breakfast at 0530 for some reason. Some people went back to the range for one more chance to zero. Our DS even said that if everyone can zero today, we’ll get out white phase flag unrolled, and all the white phase privileges. I don’t think a few of them can do it, but hopefully they’ll prove me wrong. A little later we did 60/120s for pt. They’re the same thing as 30/60s only twice as long obviously. When we got back and changed and showered, we cleaned our weapons and got them inspected. I thought mine was clean until I got up there and she pointed out all kinds of areas that were still dirty. Now in a few minutes we have to go downstairs in full battle rattle (our IBA, LBV, and ACH) for who knows what reason.
1900 – Ok so we needed all of our equipment so we could practice switching targets in the prone position (supported and unsupported) and kneeling position. We did that because starting tomorrow we’re going to a different BRM range with pop up targets. Se we need to be able to aim left, right, and center. It should be a lot of fun. Also, they said that sometimes two targets will come up at the same time, so we’ll see how that goes.
Dec 2 (Wed) – Day 28 – 2000
Mostly a nothing day today. The other two platoons went to group and zero today, so we just sat around and worked on more BRM stuff. Then later on, we found out that one guy brought food back to the bay from his MRE, which we have a direct order not to do. I think it’s a big deal, especially because he already got in big trouble last week. I don’t expect him to be around for long, but around here it seems to take forever for people to go home.
I’m tired though, so hopefully the rest of the week isn’t too bad. We were told that we aren’t going back to the range to shoot tomorrow, but the word is that everyone is going back to shoot. I guess I’ll just do whatever I’m told…
Dec 1 (Tues) – Day 27 – 0200
Yes, I’m writing this while on fireguard. Today was pretty busy. First we marched out about 3-4 miles to the range, then almost froze to death. I swear it was in the 20s. And no one brought cold weather gear because we didn’t know it would be that cold. Anyway, I ended up standing around for about 6 hours waiting for my turn to shoot. I didn’t go until after lunch, but I was glad for that because it warmed up by then.
The point of today was to group and zero our weapons. We got magazines with 5 rounds each time, and it took me 6 magazines to finish. That was about average I think. It was pretty fun though.
Nov 30 (Mon) – Day 26 (Week 4) - 1930
So today we got up to do pt. we were going for like 10 min when they stopped up and brought us back to the company. We then started running down the road, all the way back to where we had reception, which I later found out was about 4 miles. That was crazy and my legs still hurt. Anyway, we went there to get our berets so I’m excited to have it finally! After that we went and did EST. I’m not sure what that stands for, but it’s basically a big video game where we shoot M16s that are wired up to a computer. We had to group 6 out of 6 shots together, and I got it on my 3rd round. That was really good, since each round only had 3 shots each. I almost got it on my first 2 rounds, but I got nervous on the first one and forgot to control my breathing and the trigger squeeze. Tomorrow we shoot live rounds to group and zero our weapons. I’m not sure when we qualify, but I thought I heard that it’s this Saturday. If that’s true, that’s crazy. I also don’t know what we would do next week.
Anyway, I got my first letter today. Actually, two. My family decided to each write one and send them in the same envelope, and then my grandparents sent me a card too. It’s nice to hear from everyone again.
