Welcome to F Co., 3-60th Infantry Regiment

Reception 9/6-9/9

I had a few extra minutes so I thought I'd start letting you know what I've been up to. Reception is like a party you have to go to, but no one wants to be there. I arrived at the Columbia, SC airport and waited for a few hours at the USO for the bus to take us to Ft. Jackson. We arrived at the base around 20:30 and immediately started processing. They had us up and checking things off our to-do list until 01:30, then we made our bunks and "slept" until 03:00. It sounded like metal lunch boxes were falling every 5 seconds or so with all the noise people were making. So I got about 30 minutes of sleep. Reception is a lot of standing around in lines - hours of time in silence, on your feet, in new boots. Far from pleasant. There are drill sergeants (DS) there but they can't really make you do anything, but you start to get a sense of how your peers respond to authority. I'm not surprised at all, but there are a lot of kids here with no respect for authority and they make the rest of our lives miserable.
We were assigned platoons so we could figure out how to march as a group and make formations. Thanks to RSP, all the NG and AR (Army Reserve) soldiers know a lot more thank our active duty counterparts at this stage.
The food at reception is low-quality cafeteria food and they make you wolf it down in less time than in takes to microwave a hot dog. We all got sick and felt constant pain from the food.
We got hair cuts/scalp butchering down, 6+ shots (I lost track), uniforms, boots, and lots of gear. I got measured for my dress uniform and I can't wait to get it. I felt like a real soldier trying that on. They told me I'm the tallest recruit to come through Jackson this year.
We finished early Friday morning at reception and were ready for the real fun to begin.

BCT - The First Days
Basic started just how I pictured it. We loaded up on to white buses with a bag full of gear and rode in silence until we got to our new company area. The buses stopped and they started yelling for us to get off the bus, get into formation, and get our bags over our heads. We spent the next two hours (literally) with the bags over our heads. If anyone put their bag down, they were immediately attacked by one or more DS's. Our new DS's yelled all day long that day. Somehow, I managed to escape a personal attack that day. I've been praying for strength a lot and God has blessed me with what I needed.

I've been assigned to 4th Platoon, Fox Company, 3-60th Infantry Regiment (known as the River Raiders).

The next couple of days we've rotated between paperwork/processing and PT - heavy on the PT. We get smoked all the time for mistakes anyone makes. Everyone pays. I've tried to keep a good attitude about it and think of it as working out rather than getting smoked. The physicality of this week has been a challenge, but I'm doing everything I'm told and the DS's have left me alone. Those who don't follow orders get a lot of extra attention.

Photo Credit: Facebook, 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment" RIVER RAIDERS" Page

Sunday I went to chapel. It was good to have 2 hours to worship and have some away time fromt he DS's, but the chaplain was pretty weak. He did say though that last cycle, privates had their own Bible studies in their bays at night. I'll probably start one when they actually give us free time in a week or two.
Monday we went to Victory Tower. It's a rope course with all sorts of obstacles. I had a blast. We got to repel down a 40 ft. tower, commando crawl on ropes, climb, etc.

We also got issued a M-16A2 Rifle (not gun). It's just like my rifle at home minus the "burst" option on the rate of fire selector.  We carry it everywhere and its usually used as an 8 lb. weight to hold for extended periods of time.
Wednesday we did our initial PT test I did alright considering how sore I was. We also started studying for our Combat Lifesaver (first aid) test next Monday. If we get 100% on the test we can make a 5 minute phone call.
The food here is much better and doesn't make us sick. We're also getting 5-6 hours of sleep, so we're more rested than at reception.

Well, those are my random thoughts for now. Tired and sore, but doing pretty well. Thanks for your prayers.