9/23/07

For the most part this week has been brm (basic rifle mechanics). Pointing and shooting for the most part. ON Fridays we went the range to work on pop-up targets. I did alright considering my sights aren't' aligned and I had to aim to the right of each target. The DS didn't' stop on me this time for the once. I got a magazine to the helmet.



Saturday, we practiced more brm in the morning and when the confidence courses. I wouldn't describe the obstacles as scary at all, just painful. Highlights included sliding down a rope about 60 feet and webbing though the winder. The winder consists of a numbers of wooden beams set about 7 feet (parallel) apart. on an incline and then a decline. kind of like the cross beams on a house. The object is to go over one and then under the next. You're basically repeating the same effort over and over but it really start to hurt after a while. Speaking of pain, the trial obstacle was the German wall which consists of a series of walls that just got taller and taller until you get to find the 12 ft wall. The mission is to get your squad over all of the wall. getting up can be difficult, getting down is plain painful. The bruising on my arms can prove it. After the of our success at brm that week and completion of the obstacle course, the DS decided to reward the platoon with a fifteen minute phone call and a movie in lieu of the concert we were missing. In fact, they gave us and opportunity to go the the concert. So I could get some ore training int he PT test on Monday and BRm education on Tuesday. I decided to stay at the barracks. a time schedule was made and starting 1830 we call start making phone calls. the queue put me at either 2030 or 2045. Granted, this put me right in the middle of "the O'Reilly factor" but Mom should still answer the phone. Again, phone calls began at 1830, At 1836... Well back story first. Among the many training devices we've been using is the Super Nintendo with an M18 trainer game. It's kind of like duck hunt but more complicated and boring. Anyway at 1836, because somebody cut in line or something like that, a few privates began fighting within view of a drill sergeant. The end result. Getting smoked for an hour by running up and down a hill. At the bottom, you do sit-ups. At the top, push-ups. When the DS blows the whistle you start running down or up or turnaround. Prior to this, unknown to us, the DS had trashed any locker that wasn't locked. When we got back we had to clean up the mess. And yes I did lock mine. My bunkie didn't though. Did I mention we had to do this in full battle rattle. The DS also noticed that a lot of the open lockers had dirty laundry in them so we all had to clean all of the laundry and no one could go to bed until everyone was done. This included people who went to the concert. Basically we had to train in full gear until 0030. At that point we had to sit through a sermon by the platoon's chaplain assistant. And finally sleep, which is good because I started seeing things. And no we didn't get phone calls. Today was a little better since the PT test is tomorrow the threat of smoking was low, but still there. The CQ DS gave the entire company seven minutes phone calls. I tried Mom again, but no luck. Called dad again. I actually had a hard time composing myself given the events of last night. Mental stability is only now returning to me. To ensure that everyone stayed to the time limit, the PG (platoon guide) chose a trustworthy soldier to time them. So basically, I spent the entire morning watching other people make phone calls. Now you may be asking yourself, "I see that they trust you with the phone job, but why no mention of a leadership position?" Because leadership positions are solely based on PT scores. This of course results in a series of 17-18 year-olds, who can run, constantly being fired and rehired. We slowly have been making our way to a competent leadership, but we still have a long way to go. In the afternoon, we went to the Px and I was finally able to buy soap. I bought a book of marching cadences. It disappeared before we even got back to the barracks. There be thieves among us. Tomorrow we do the PT test and Tuesday quality on the Malb. Two events that could make or break basic training.