Personal Time Ban Lifted

Friday 9/30

We've had our free time taken away for most of the week, so I couldn't write, and I can't remember what I  covered in my last letter. It looks like we will make it to White Phase this weekend. The DS's haven't been as upset with the company the last few days. We started doing Ability Group Runs (AGR) during morning PT. We run every other day during PT, and our run days alternate between sprinting drills and AGR's. I made it into B group, the 2nd fastest run group. I missed A by 15 seconds on my qualification run.

Our days have settled into a fairly regular schedule. It's just the training activity that changes:

04:20 I wake up to get ready, shower, shave, make my bed to Army standards, and figure out which uniform is the least dirty that day.

05:30 1st Formation, overview of the day, personnel count, reciting The Soldier's Creed, more practice at standing at attention.

06:00 PT, running, stretching, pull ups, push ups, sit ups/core building exercises

07:30 Shower again and hand up sweat-soaked PT uniform (Note from the wifey: Am I the only one who thinks its totally gross that they just get hung up and not washed? I think they only do laundry like once a week...)

07:50 Breakfast chow. French toast/pancakes, "eggs," hash browns, breakfast meat, grits/oatmeal/cream o' wheat, fruit, and sometimes yogurt. It's always the same thing pretty much, but it's a solid meal and most people like it best.

08:30 Training starts

12:30 Lunch chow

13:00 Continue training

17:20 Dinner chow

18:00 Clean weapons

19:00 Personal time or "corrective training"

20:30 Final count

21:00 Lights out

This week was all shooting - all day, every day at the range. This is what I was waiting for. In the first two days, we zeroed our rifle to our eyesight. today we practiced on the 25m range shooting silhouettes of varying sizes, simulating targets at ranges from 50m-300m. Fun times. I shot pretty well all week considering they had to "fix" some of my civilian shooting habits. It's definitely easiest for people who've never shot before, oddly enough.

Saturday 10/1

We redid the APFT since it was rained out last time. I rocked sit ups with 3 shy of the max score. I showed an improvement of 14 push ups more than the test last week and my 2-mile time was 15:45. That needs some work, but we haven't run much since we got here - that's changing though.

In the afternoon, we did Pugils (hand-to-hand combat vs. each other). I was one of the first to go. You get to call out any soldier to fight, so the fights are usually heated and fun to watch. The DS asked one soldier who they wanted to fight and they responded, "You pick, I don't care." Next thing I heard was my DS screaming "You're up!" So I was instructed to fight with no mercy until they called the fight. I followed orders and the fight didn't last long. The soldier I fought learned they should probably pick on their own if given the chance so they don't have to fight the biggest guy in the company. (Wifey note: I'm so proud!) Everyone (save one) was entertained and in the end no one sustained any serious injuries. We all wore a lot [read: too much] padding. It was a fun day, but I got really sun burned.

Me, dominating the fight

From a few days ago...

Wednesday 9/28

I don't have long to write, but I'll give a quick update on what's going on. Apparently, our company isn't disciplined enough to progress to White Phase, so they took away our personal time and told us we couldn't write letters. Pretty lame. No sign that we'll be in White Phase any time soon. We'll still continue on the same training schedule- we just don't get any additional "privileges" like personal time and maybe phone calls. We're also still stuck being punished as a group instead of individuals - that's probably the worst part. Morale is low because of all this too. There's just a few people holding the rest of the company back.

We started basic rifle marksmanship on Friday. Monday we went to a simulated range that used replicas of our M16's attached to a pneumatic system to simulate the recoil of the weapon. The back wall of the range was filled with a screen that shows the targets - the rest is like a video game. At the end it shows all kinds of cool stats about each shot.

Practicing at the EST2000 Trainer

(More later...)

Gas Chamber and More

Note: I got 3 letters all at the same time, so instead of doing separate posts, I will write them all into this one and separate them by date.

Tuesday 9/20

The day started on a lousy note. We had our first road march towards our graduation requirements and it was pouring rain. I ate a light breakfast since we were going to the gas chamber. We put on our uniforms, assault gear, helmets, and lots of water [read: weight] and set off in the rain. We only hiked 2 miles, but we were soaked from head to toe. About 10 people from our company fell out - it's sad how completely out of shape some people are.
Our destination was the gas chamber. The range cadre checked our masks to make sure they sealed properly, showed us how to clear them (very similar to clearing a diving mask). We filed into the chamber filled with CS Gas and did drills to gain confidence in our equipment. The we lifted our mask slightly and had to seal and re-clear it. That didn't go so well. I didn't get all the gas out and started hacking for a few seconds until the gas filtered out. My eyes and exposed skin also started burning - like a really bad sunburn. Then we had to take our mask off and hold it over our heads while saying the soldier's creed. I got about 2 lines out before I started coughing, dry heaving, and dripping mucus from my face. It was the most unpleasant thing I've ever done. After 30 seconds without masks, they let us out. We stumbled out flapping our arms (per the instructions) and tried to regain composure. I couldn't see very well and almost blacked out. After about 3 minutes we could report our names clearly enough to have them checked off. A few tissues and a few more minutes later and we were back to normal.
I wasn't scared or apprehensive the entire time through, so I think that helped. It was very unpleasant, but if I was forced to do it again, I would. Another graduation requirement done.
We had hot-A's (Army catering in the field), which are better than MRE's, but worse than the DFAC. (Actually, MRE's are pretty good. Saturday night is MRE night and we can actually talk quietly and eat at a reasonable pace. We can't keep or eat the candy in the pouch though.) Then we marched back to our barracks. It stopped raining for the afternoon hike and all the sand was packed from the rain, so it was easier on the way back. We spent the next 5 hours going over CLS for our test tomorrow. Long day but we knocked out 2 graduation requirements.

Before

After

Wednesday 9/21

We had a PT session in the morning followed by chow and death by Powerpoint. The weather has been rainy recently and apparently we can't do our next training cycle in the rain. We don't have classrooms (no idea if that is intentional or not), so we sit on the bay floor with a projector for the slides. Not really a fan. (Wifey note: he hates sitting on the floor for any length of time. Period.)
We took our CLS test and I thought I got a 100%, but I missed a few questions apparently. They didn't show us the graded test. Only 2 people in the whole company got 100's and they got to make a 5 minute phone call home. I got a 90% so I got 2 days off fire guard so I can sleep through the whole night! (Fire guard is where you and your bunk mate guard the bay and clean for an hour shift at night. Usually you get it every other night.)
After dinner we were each told to grab a sand bag and report to our sleep bay. Then we had to push our bunks to the walls and open all 60 sand bags on the floor. The DS dumped water on it and the fun started. After getting smoked for about 45 minutes he told us to clean up our mess. When the DS walked out a huge yelling match ensued with all the hot headed males stating their grievances with each other. Eventually we level-headed "old guys" brought the situation under control before the fists started flying... And a few hours later our beach was nowhere to be seen. I got to bed around 23:30 only to be woken up at 00:15 to get smoked because our fire guard wasn't wearing his uniform correctly. It was a short night.

In the classroom

Thursday 9/22

It rained all day today so we were stuck in the classroom all day. We went over sexual harassment policies, Army law, rules of engagement, and the basics of shooting a rifle. We go to the range for the first time next Tuesday so we're all excited about that.
I can tell I'm getting stronger - I'm doing better at pushing through the smoke sessions without getting to muscle failure as soon. We haven't run as much as I expected so I'm kind of worried about my 2 mile time on our next APFT. Apparently, we run more in the next two phases.
I got 5 letters at mail call tonight and that was a huge boost to morale - so thanks to all of you who wrote! Overall, I'm in good spirits. The first 2 weeks were hard to adapt to, but I'm starting to get used to the pace. I still don't have a lot of time to read my Bible, but there's plenty of time standing at the position of attention to pray. Friendships are starting to form and there are about 3 guys I talk with most.

I suppose I should say a little about my DS's. First off, NCO's submit applications or are selected to serve as DS's for 2 year terms. All of mine have had extensive combat experience and they range in age from 27-36. Our lead DS was in the 160th Aviation Regiment - a special forces unit that takes the aviation missions too dangerous for regular units. He's been shot down 3 times, in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Our platoon is named the "Night Stalkers" after the 160th. He's cool with us when we do things right and is everyone's favorite. One has an infantry background and has one volume: Loud. He's Irish/Puero Rican and grew up in Miami so understanding his colorful, limited vocabulary is often difficult. He's the most quoted DS in the bay at night. The other two are pretty stereotypical - one has an MP background (our only female DS) and the other has an infantry background.
Everyone is getting sick. Long days, short nights, limited hygiene, and cramming 60 people into bays are a recipe for mass sickness. I've got a bad cough and constant nasal drainage. I usually can't talk until about noon. We can't have medicine and wasting a day at sick call could mean you'll miss important training and restart with the next cycle at Day 1.
That's all I got for today. Happy birthday to my favorite brother!


Friday 9/23
More rain this morning. (Is there a hurricane on the East Coast? If someone wants to highlight some current events in a letter, that'd be cool! We're totally cut off from what's happening outside our company.) (Wifey note: Would someone please do this for him? I, um, don't keep up with world events well enough to know a) what's happening, b) what's important - I did see that Michelle Obama was shopping incognito at Target, but I'm pretty sure that's not the kind of news he's looking for...) So, today is "Admin Day" so we're doing the same things we did yesterday. We keep geting bogus writing assignments that keep us up at night, so we can't use our personal time or get to sleep at a decent hour. We try to write during some of our classes, but if we get caught, the consequences aren't fun, so we try to be sneaky. They only collect about 1/2 of what they assign, but if you don't have what they asked for, they double or triple the original amount. For examply, they made us write "The Soldier's Creed (the whole thing, not just the title) 60 times. It took 10 hours to finish and they never collected it. Needless to say, this will be a short entry. When rain stops, I'll have more to write and when I finish my assignments, I'll write the people back that have sent letters. (Wifey note: If you wrote him and you don't EVER get a reply, please, please, please don't be upset. He just may never have the time - it's not personal. Just know that your writing to and thinking of him is an encouragement.)

Friday 9/23 Afternoon/Evening

Since it was an Admin Day, some people went to exchange bad boots and glasses. So we sat in a classroom for about 2.5 hours while people took care of getting replacements. It was the most "free time" we'd had since we got here. The DS's left one of the NCO's going through BCT with us (He's transferring from the Air Force, and the Army made him go through Basic again even though he is an E-5 with 6 years prior service.) He let us talk so I got a chance to learn more about some of the guys I'm with. We actually got to "rest" for a few hours.
The pendulum has started swinging the other direction on our way to dinner when our platoon was corrected by 2 different DS's from other companies. Then people wouldn't stop talking when the DS was trying to explain something, so the head DS flipped out. Only when he gets angry with us he gets quiet. Well, this was the most upset he's been with us. Our 2 hour smoke session involved sand in the barracks (again), running, and our winter PT uniforms. It wasn't fun. At all.
I got about 5 letters at mail call and they were all extremely encouraging with great Scripture to lift me up.

More fun started when the DS's found 8 people doing laundry outside the bay after lights out. Apparently, the 2 people on fire guard didn't even try to stop them. So we were all woken up at midnight and had to have 12 man fireguard teams wearing full battle gear pulling 2 hour shifts. We'll do this until the DS lets us go back to normal 2 man, 1 hour shifts. I got about 2 hours of sleep that night.
I hope my overall tone hasn't come across as whiny or overly dramatic. What we have to do here is challenging and stressful at times, but nothing a reasonable person can't handle. Red Phase especially is designed to be taxing, but if we get our act together, Red Phase will be done in a week and I'll have more fun and positive stories to share about White Phase.
Keep my health in your prayers. My cold has made a turn for the worse and now I have some kind of infection. Also, pray that the weather will cooperate with our training schedule. The rain this week put us significantly behind. Thanks to everyone who is taking care of my bride while I'm gone - I can't tell you how much that means to me.  (Wifey note: I can't tell you how much it means to me either. I tell him in my letters about all the things people have reached out and done. I do not know if I will ever be able to thank you enough.)

Saturday 9/24

We woke up at 04:00 after our long night in body armor for our first full APFT. We started off doing our push ups and sit ups and I passed both. My form still isn't 100% correct. All the repetitions I do actually get counted. While I was standing in line, I was so tired I actually fell asleep standing up. Fortunately, I woke up before I fell over. I can't say I've ever done that before.
We were then broken off into groups of 8-10 to head out to the track to run the 2 mile. About 2 groups finished before a cold, driving rain started. By the time my group started it was an all-out down pour that flooded the track. When the lightning and thunder picked up, they finally called it off, so I'll have to re-do that event sometime.
The rest of the day was uneventful. We went over more BRM basics, got a long lecture on how we needed to shape up/how we're "pathetic human beings" and our Saturday night MRE dinner. Mine came with spaghetti, blueberry cobbler, Skittles (that I couldn't eat), crackers, and some other random goodies. At least 4/5 people like what they get. I've got CQ "tonight" from 03:00-05:00" which is essentially a 2 hour fire guard in the DS office with the overnight DS. It's usually pretty chill and they let you write letters and do laundry. One more week is done.

News From This Past Week

Saturday, 9/17

Today we did the Teamwork Development Course. It was a lot like other challenge courses that I've done at summer camps. Our platoon did well and worked as a team at the course, but it was back to bickering and individualism when we got back. The people that are just here for the money are really pulling us down. They talk all the time, they don't push themselves, and the complain about everything - they're most of the reason we get smoked and the rest of us are tired of it.

Sunday, 9/18

I went to church and Sunday School this morning. I miss being at church at home, plus it's a little odd that we have rifles in one hand and a Bible in the other. Most people go to chapel on Sunday morning but its more of a sleep time for the majority of the people there.
Right after church I got my head butchered again and we got to take a trip to the PX to pick up a few odds and ends. Instead of a Sunday nap, we had a work detail all afternoon cleaning up after the last session. Apparently, the Army doesn't believe in a day of rest. The lack of freedom (mainly personal time) is getting to me. But that's part of the game. It's only 10 weeks.

Monday, 9/19

It's been a long day. Wake up was at 00:30 and we marched out to the LandNav course. They gave us coordinates and we had to find 5 markers in the woods. We ran the course once in the dark (hence the early wake up time) and again with a 2nd set of points after the sun came up. It was about a 2.5 mile hike to the course wearing our assault gear. With the pace our DS set, we worked up a good sweat. The DS's have been smoking us all day and its been exhausting. They've woken us up in the middle of the night to smoke us several times in the last few nights. It gets old really fast. We got our gas masks for our trip to the gas chamber tomorrow. Looking forward to having that behind me. I'm off to dinner and then we'll do more studying for our Combat Lifesaver (First Aid) test.

Plotting a Course- Land Nav

 

Day Course- Land Nav

Miscellaneous

The DS's are constantly playing Words with Friends against each other on their phones. It's kind of amusing to watch, especially when the boneheaded one complains about losing. Our company of 160 (3 Platoons of about 55) has already lost 9 soldiers. 2 went off the deep end and had mental health discharges and the others were insubordination. One of the crazy kids kept trying to tell the DS how he was wrong and would always say "It's not time yet." whenever he was given an order. That's a sure way to make a DS flip out on you.
The guys here are really cool for the most part and I like working with them. It's cool to see the groundwork being set for the military camaraderie you always hear about. There's a lot to be said for trusting your buddies when the bullets are whizzing past.
We got our first round of mail over the weekend and it did a lot for overall morale. It was just like that country song "Letters From Home."* Quite a few guys cried and got emotional about it but no one made fun of them for it. We all just understand. It's hard to be away from your family. Thanks to everyone who has written me! We're slowly getting more personal time, so I should be able to write you back soon.


*This, obviously, is not the official music video, but I posted it - just in case you weren't familiar with the song. It's a great one, even if you don't like country.

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.