Journal Entry: "Welcome to Basic Combat Training"
I haven’t been afforded the time to write entries since we shipped to BCT 2 days ago. A lot has a happened since then. Basically stated: everything here beats the hell out of the 120th Reception Battalion. There are plenty of supplies, pillows, a decent locker, and short meal lines. It takes less than 20 minutes to get in, eat and get out versus up to 2hrs at the 120th. The drill sergeants are a sight more professional and although they’re constantly yelling at us I can tell that most of the have our best interests in mind. Sure, there is a sadistic bastard or two peppered among them, getting off on having a small amount of power over some of their fellow human beings, but in general, this is a good group and I have already developed and affection for my Platoon DS, Sergeant Allen. She is a stand-up human being who clearly puts the interest of others ahead of her. She is an inspiration to me already.
I generally was a little disappointed with the first two days of BCT. I was expecting battle-level stresses and instead a kinder gentler Army greeted us off the bus. I was aware that they weren’t “supposed” to curse and touch you, but I was kind of hoping that was one of those things that was ignored, but it’s not. Instead, they have to use words like “dang” which is just way too distracting from the experience. Something about a big, bad-ass DS using second-tier curse words that my mother uses in real life just ain’t right.
Most of the time I’m feeling good and strong and have maintained my ‘invisibility’ pretty well. You don’t want to stand out here. It’s generally a bad thing.
I did well on my PT test. I finished third in my platoon in the initial run and should be on track for 100% PT score by the end. After the first few days of almost nothing but classroom, I am already dreading the mention of the word ‘classroom.’ You’d think it would be a haven, but we’re all so tired and the DS’s march the aisles looking for closed eyelids and the back of the room become a torture chamber for punitive PT. This afternoon, I had a pretty serious headache; and that combined with muscle and mental fatigue resulted in a pretty bad mood. I got a little sloppy with of course resulted in a great deal more of punitive PT. It’s not a big deal to me-I’ve already figured out the game, but I have to say that if you treated a dog this way the ASPCA would be on your ass! The game is simple: give you too many tasks and not enough time to do them; too much info and not a fair chance to process it all; several different conflicting orders or instructions; tell you have one hour to shave and get ready for evening formation, then up in 10 minutes and tell you to be down in 5! Combine all that with interrupted sleep patterns and you’ve got a recipe for some very discombobulated minds.
I am finding time now and again for a few quiet moments where I can collect my thought and enjoy my surroundings. It sounds bad, but it’s really a pretty interesting and novel experience. I know I’ve made the right choice. I’ve just got to do my time here to get to the good stuff.
I generally was a little disappointed with the first two days of BCT. I was expecting battle-level stresses and instead a kinder gentler Army greeted us off the bus. I was aware that they weren’t “supposed” to curse and touch you, but I was kind of hoping that was one of those things that was ignored, but it’s not. Instead, they have to use words like “dang” which is just way too distracting from the experience. Something about a big, bad-ass DS using second-tier curse words that my mother uses in real life just ain’t right.
Most of the time I’m feeling good and strong and have maintained my ‘invisibility’ pretty well. You don’t want to stand out here. It’s generally a bad thing.
I did well on my PT test. I finished third in my platoon in the initial run and should be on track for 100% PT score by the end. After the first few days of almost nothing but classroom, I am already dreading the mention of the word ‘classroom.’ You’d think it would be a haven, but we’re all so tired and the DS’s march the aisles looking for closed eyelids and the back of the room become a torture chamber for punitive PT. This afternoon, I had a pretty serious headache; and that combined with muscle and mental fatigue resulted in a pretty bad mood. I got a little sloppy with of course resulted in a great deal more of punitive PT. It’s not a big deal to me-I’ve already figured out the game, but I have to say that if you treated a dog this way the ASPCA would be on your ass! The game is simple: give you too many tasks and not enough time to do them; too much info and not a fair chance to process it all; several different conflicting orders or instructions; tell you have one hour to shave and get ready for evening formation, then up in 10 minutes and tell you to be down in 5! Combine all that with interrupted sleep patterns and you’ve got a recipe for some very discombobulated minds.
I am finding time now and again for a few quiet moments where I can collect my thought and enjoy my surroundings. It sounds bad, but it’s really a pretty interesting and novel experience. I know I’ve made the right choice. I’ve just got to do my time here to get to the good stuff.
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