Week 8

3/1/10 Monday

Here I am sitting at the desk in our bay waiting to find out what to do next. Wakeup was at 04:00, had to have our gear downstairs by 04:30. Today I know for sure that I am shooting again. They picked 11 soldiers from each platoon to represent the company cause we are competing with some other companies so they picked all the ones who shot expert. We are gonna zero again and then go to the qual range again. Should be pretty exciting.

Now that it is March, it is going to be very hard not counting down the days. At the same time, each day is a day closer to coming home.

***later***
Well I am sitting on my rucksack waiting for our ride to get here to the range. We re-zeroed our weapons earlier and I had to make some changes to my elevation. We shot slick which means no gear on. After zeroing we had MRE’s and then proceeded to the qualification range. The same one we originally qualified on.

We were the last company to go. As the other soldiers were coming back to the bleachers we would ask them their scores. Well, a lot of them weren’t too hot. So we thought we had this in the bag. A lot of the excuses they gave us is that the targets weren’t dropping, which is legit. If the targets are all shot up, they won’t register if it’s hit. But we were chalking it up o the fact that they suck.

Now it’s our turn to shoot and I get up, do everything as before, and sure enough, I start missing a few. Now I know I hit some of the ones that didn’t fall, and yes I am using the same excuse, but when every single soldier in the battalion shoots crappy, something isn’t right. It very well could be the fact that we re-zeroed, plus we were shooting slick while zeroing, but when we were shooting the qual targets, ,we were in full battle rattle, but across the board, the results were poopy. I shot a 31, still a sharpshooter, but not my expert. I still get my expert badge by the way.

After that was done we hopped on a LMTV (I believe that is what it is called) and came to camp. We had chow and then the 11 of us from our platoon set up our tents. We practiced some MOUT drills for a bit, mail was handed out, then bed time. The weather was a little chilly and we were told that tomorrow it is gonna rain all day and snow the next. Oh freaking goody. But then again, I have learned to take everything the DS’s say with a grain of salt.

I had fireguard at 21:00 tonight which in the field we walk back and forth along the tents policing. The other soldiers that was with me, whenever we got to our end of camp we would chuck pine cones at the tents in the next camp, 3rd platoon I think is who they were. Down here in SC the pine cones are freaking huge, so they would travel. I don’t think we hit any tents, but it helped to pass the time.



3/2/10 Tuesday
Well let me start out by saying that today was pretty miserable. Like when I think of basic training or the Army itself, today is what I picture. The day actually started out ok, wasn’t too cold, but as it progressed, freaking cold and rain. It seriously sucked. The only solace I have is knowing that all the other soldiers were going through it as well.

We were at the MOUT (Military Operation of Urban Terrain) site practicing the clearing of houses and also throwing grenades and for most of the time; water was falling from the sky. It would drizzle, stop, drizzle some more, then rain then stop, then it just continuously drizzled. The whole time we were outside. While waiting to go through a scenario on one house by squads, all the rest of the squads were behind the building spooning for warmth I am not even joking either. We weren’t lying down; we were standing and smashed up on everyone. We would rotate around so people who were on the outside could move to the middle. After awhile it got pointless so we would do some pushups or run around. It helped.

Our squad ended up not doing that particular scenario cause time was up and we needed to rotate to the practice grenade toss. That was a little fun, but was over quickly. We weren’t throwing any kind of live ‘nade, just dummy ‘nades.

The time came for us to move back to camp. We had quite a bit till the busses showed up, so DS Lead decided to PT us. We go running all around the complex, with our rucksacks. That sucked too, but at least we were warming up. Then he proceeded to make us do sprints, shuttle runs, lunges, and then high crawl all in our rucksack. It sucked. He wasn’t doing it to punish us, he was killing time and giving us a workout.

Once the busses arrived and we got back to camp, we changed clothes and cleaned weapons in our tent. It was nice to get back to camp and change clothes. After the PT earlier no one was cold anymore. But after we changed and were sitting around, we got cold again. Chow was a joke, all I was looking forward to was getting back to the tent in my sleeping bag. You would think being from the UT/ID area, the cold wouldn’t be that big of a deal. I mean, it rarely snows here all it does is get cold. Well for one the cold gear we are issued is crappy. It is good when it is chilly outside, but cold, and the wind blowing that just eats right through the clothes to the bone.

Anyways, we did go back to our tents and started packing whatever we didn’t need. It really turned into a go to bed early time. This whole time it is drizzling rain, so yes, the sleeping bag was a wonderful blessing. In the middle of the night I woke up needing to urinate really bad. Well, I know it was cold outside, my sleeping bag was warm, I could still hear rain drops on the tent, so I just unzipped the door, rolled over, and tinkled out the tent while still half way in my bag. Stupid weather.


3/3/10 Wednesday
Well holy crap is it good to be back in the bay and a nice hot shower. My feet are shredded from that road march. We marched about 6.7 miles and turns out my feet are not quite acclimated to the boots. The spots where I had blisters at the beginning of the cycle, ya, got ‘em there again. Only this time bigger. I also got one on my small right pinkie toe and on the ball of my right foot. Yes, it sucked. But I didn’t fall out. My legs were cramping, back sore, shoulders aching, but still continued on I was sweating like crazy. I think that rucksack weighted about 100 lbs.: sleeping bag, tent, couple days worth of clothes, PT shoes, wet weather gear, and some other miscellaneous items, yes it was very heavy. Going uphill sucked. But the feeling of the platoon as a whole was joyful we just completed another road march for graduation. Sure we were busted, sure some of us threw up (not me), yes it was tough and our clothes were drenched in sweat, but we made it. We lost a few along the way, but it was the usual people plus one or two more. Of the four platoons, the amount of people who fell out could make another platoon, which is about 35-40 people. Not sure what is going to happen to them, perhaps a counseling statement or they have to do the march again.

The day started out at the grenade qualification range. There were seven different stations we had to run through with a battle buddy and throw grenades to land in a certain radius. If seven out of the seven were achieved, then that person is an expert. The first station is thrown from a fox hole and the target is 35 meters away. A whole lot of people didn’t make it, but throwing a ‘nade that weights two pounds or so, from a foxhole, is a little tricky. I made it though, no problem. It was funny watching some soldiers throw them. They would throw them right in front of their position and it rolls like 3 meters or so and the fuze blows. Pretty funny. It that happens at the live range on Friday they are going to get screamed at.

The weather was actually pretty decent today. The sun would come out for a bit, then hide agai behind the clouds and so forth. It did snow a bit last night as well, but it wasn’t too cold. When we marched home it was nice weather. If it was any warmer it would have sucked cause as it was, I was soaked with sweat. The crappy thig about it being a little o the chily side is whenever we stopped, I would cool down real quick.

Anyways, we rolled into the company area around 19:00. Had to do a couple things before we were released for personal time. The first thing people did was rush the showers. When I finally got a shower it was the best feeling. The only crappy thing is I had fireguard shift tonight. It was the first shift though, so no big deal. Once my shift was over, I had no problem falling asleep.


3/4/10 Thursday
Today is Post Detail. Our company is assigned certain things to do around the base, like cleanup, recycle, and other stuff. The group I am with, we walked across the street to this building where they teach and train people how to give polygraphs. We are the test dummies; they practice on us. So we are sitting in this room, watching movies, waiting till our name is called. Pretty tough day. But it is a nice way to recover from a butt kicked day yesterday.


3/5/10 Friday
Three weeks left! Two weeks of training left, but the total time is tree weeks. We are preparing for the grenade toss today. This is one of three events left that I need to graduate. The other two are the final PT test and Victory Forge. I tell ya what, if the weather for Victory Forge is going to be anything like it was for this three day FTX, it’s gonna be a miserable four days.

It is hard to believe that the end is coming. It really does seem like yesterday I was getting off the plane and arriving at the 120th. Good riddance. I can only imagine what OCS will be like. I have heard lots of different things. Guess I will see when I get there. Ok, time for breakfast chow. One of the best times of the day.

***Later that day***
Well the grenades are tossed. A whole company received a briefing, did the practice toss, waked to the range and threw live ‘nades. All done by 12:00. We are scheduled to be here till 15:30. We just finished chow and now we are just sitting here.

The ‘nade toss was, um, all right. Kind of a letdown actually. We are lined up, get our two ‘nades, run out to the bunker, the cadre member takes the ‘nades and then hands them to us one at a time, we flip the clip, pull the pin, throw the ‘nade, duck, and boom. That’s it. It is a loud explosion though and it will mess you up. I didn’t get to watch it though cause, well, if you did, you would get shrapnel in your face. And that was it. Well I am done for now.

So we ended up hanging out for a couple hours; BS’ing with the DS’s…mostly DS Shortty was telling us stories in his colorful, spastastic manner it was pretty funny.

The busses arrived and back to the company we went. Once there we grounded most of our gear and did a little pugil training. Pugil training is there to reinforce our bayonet training, but since here at basic training we no longer do bayonet, we just pretended. We are told we will still do pugils, which is cool cause beating the crap out of people is always fun.

After chow we ran for PT. my chewed up feet definitely like the PT shoes a lot better. I hope they are healed Friday of next week. That is the day we step out for Victory Forge. It’s gonna be a long week if they are not. It still amazes me how many people walk during the runs. Every time I see someone walking, I think, “new start,” which means that person failed the PT test and they are more than likely going back to the beginning. You are actually given a 2nd chance if you fail the final PT test, they test you on family day and so the families come and watch/support the soldier who failed. If he passes, great! It not, well the family just wasted a lot of time and money cause that soldier is getting “new started.” Pretty poopy.


3/7/10 Sunday
Today is Sunday, probably the best day of the week. It is the day we do nothing but eat, write letters, take naps, and sit around talking about home, sports, things we miss, GF’s, fiancées, pretty much girls in general.

Anyways, yesterday was a very relaxing day. We had PT in the morning, but after that it was blue phase counseling for the rest of the day till 15:00. All blue phase counseling is, is people meeting with one of the DS’s and they tell us how we are doing. I met with our lead DS and he said that I am in the top 10%. That was freaking awesome to hear. He also harassed me a bit about going to the officer side instead of staying enlisted cause he thinks I would make a good NCO. We also talked a bit about OCS and what goes on there. He didn’t know much but said he would talk with the captain and try setting up some kind of meeting to talk with him about it. That will be cool. So yeah, top 10%, that is pretty rad.

The DS’s also let us use our phone for almost an hour. Talked to Amy and my mom. Mostly Amy and while I wastalking to my mother, DS Shortty made us turn them in.

I found some entries I forgot to mail home. They are from back in Feb 15-17th or so. Go back and read them.