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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.