Virtual Sanity

2004-04-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

Done.

I guess its obvious by now that I will not be writing on here regularly any more. The time required for my classes, physical training, and other military training is just too much for me to put in the time and research required to post the type of quality comments that I prefer.

I invite you to go over to my online basic training journal. I will be adding comments there every once in a while.

This site will remain up, however, and when the day comes that I am deployed, I will most likely use it as a way to keep in touch with people back home.

Thank you for reading, and especially to all of those who have helped me out. The email address here will remain active so feel free also to drop a line.

- TJ

2004-03-01T12:39:00.000-08:00

Dear Sean Penn,

Congratulations. I saw Mystic River and your performance was definately deserving of the Oscar you won last night.

However, you may wish to stick to acting and skip all of your pseudo-politico-wannabe-oh-please-take-me-seriously-as-an-intellectual-I-really-can-be-witty statements in your acceptance speech next time. There is really nothing quite like fulfilling Lincoln's prophecy and removing all doubt to a billion-plus member television audience and revealing to what extent you really are a mental giant, is there?

You really should remember that you were given your Oscar for acting because you are absolutely brilliant at saying what other people write for you.

So tell me? Any more trips planned to Iraq? Im sure 35 million people would love to show you just how great life was living under Saddam's genocidal/maniacal/terroristic regime, which you seemed to oh-so-admire; I think you may not have been exposed to that point of view for some reason last year.

PS - If you decide to join Johnny Depp in Paris after the November elections, please take Alec Baldwin with you. He seems to have forgotten about a certain promise he made in 2000.

2004-02-20T18:35:00.000-08:00

This is kind of interesting: http://www.presidentmatch.com asks you questions about your opinions on various issues as well as how you rank the importance of each category for you.

No surprise for me in my returned rankings:

100% - Bush
67% - Kerry
65% - Edwards
61% - Dean
49% - Sharpton
32% - Kucinich

If personality were an issue, I think "I have a scream" Dean, the race-baiting Sharpton, and Kucinich of the Tin-foil Hat Brigade would rank in the single digits...

2004-01-12T20:43:00.000-08:00

This just in! It seems that Saddam Hussein had plans for that $750,000 on him when he was captured:

2004-01-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

Who says Hollywood isn't biased?

Anyone see The Practice last night? My God! What a rant at the end during court that was straight out of the anti-Bush/Ashcroft "taking our civil liberties" mantra. I am not a lawyer, but is slinging rhetoric with no proof something that is encouraged in our courtrooms today?

The writers, producers, and actors of The Practice ought to be ashamed of themselves, but Im sure they're probably walking with heads high today, thinking they did something noble.

Ignorance is indeed bliss...

2004-01-12T12:40:00.000-08:00

Joe Lieberman probably lost my vote yesterday. During a FoxNews interview, when asked about if he would run as the VP candidate this year of offered the chance, he mentioned how he had already won an election while being the VP candidate.

The left likes to say that there should be some sort of requirement to "take a test to be allowed to vote" as if only the educated matter. The idea is really to weed out those people who would not vote they way they want them to vote. However, I think that candidates should at least have some rudimentary understanding of how an election in this country works before being allowed to run. Mr Lieberman, repeat after me: In the United States of America, the winner of the Presidential election is the winner of the electoral college vote, not the popular vote.

Write that on the board 100 times and I will consider voting for you again in the NH primary (and yes, you really did have my vote).

2004-01-09T13:29:00.000-08:00

Victor Davis Hanson's always brilliant Friday analyses at NRO is a must-read: The Same Old Thing - Our Augean stables are 30 years old.

We must continue hacking away the terrorist Hydra in the Sunni Triangle, and hope that the ongoing cultural, economic, and military fallout from Iraq begins to erode fascism and theocracy in Syria and Iran faster than such nearby pathologies can ruin us in Iraq. We are in a race for civilization like none other since World War II. And yet, due solely to the courage and skill of an amazing generation of American professional soldiers battling in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are winning — as this difficult war is beginning to resemble 1944 far more than 1939.

As the Europeans talk, the Palestinians explode, and the Arab dictatorships threaten, the fence creeps on in Israel — the most radical old idea in a half-century. It is not a perfect solution, but a forced solution of sorts nonetheless, prompting hysterical reactions from the terrorists, but strange silence from most capitals of the Arab world. Many outside of Ramallah secretly won't be unhappy to see the situation gradually quiet down into a de facto settlement — along the lines of readjusted borders in a present-day postwar Germany or Japan, whose citizens are not blowing up Poles or Russians a half century later for occupying home soil lost after failed wars of aggression.

The Palestinians, who get their state and will see lots of settlers leave, hate the barrier not because it slices off some security slivers from the West Bank, but rather because it simply promises an end to their entire parasitic relationship with Israel. Suicide bombing was predicated on weakening Israeli will, ruining the economy, discouraging immigration to Israel, encouraging Jewish flight, tapping into latent anti-Semitism in Europe, and thus hoping that terror and demography would one day win what arms never could. In contrast, early indicators suggest the fence will make it very hard for suicide bombers to continue to traffic in death — apparently the sole bargaining chip left to a corrupt Palestinian Authority.

2004-01-09T12:41:00.000-08:00

This can't be good for Howard Dean:

Officials in the popular ski resort area of Killington want the town to secede from Vermont and join neighboring New Hampshire in a dispute over taxes.

Apparently, the town and its businesses pay about $10 Million per year in taxes yet only receive $1 M in any benefits from the state. Says a town official:

It kind of reminds us of Colonial days," Town Manager David Lewis said Thursday. "The Colonies were being faced with the Stamp Act, the Tea Act, the Sugar Act. England wasn't giving them any rights. They were treating the Colonies as just a revenue source."

A state official counters with:

absent an armed insurrection type of thing. ... A town is a construction of the state and exists at the pleasure of the Legislature.

Well, Vermont does have some of the most liberal gun-control laws in the nation, so if push really came to shove... :) but all kidding aside, this could be very bad for Howard Dean if it gets the media attention it deserves (which it probably won't because it would be bad for Howard Dean). It calls directly into issue those taxing and spending policies that he wants to bring to the federal government. Sure, he isn't governor now, but the legacy is his.

I have no legal background, so I've emailed the godfather and Jacob Levy over at The Volokh Conspiracy to see if anyone over there has any state law insight here.

UPDATE: Whoop! It's already up at Volokh so I didn't send that mail.

2004-01-07T18:10:00.000-08:00

The new WTC design is out. Here it is: (from http://www.vodkapundit.com)

I hate it. We have become obsessed with stone walls with engraved names as if the simplicity is supposed to make us ponder some deep significance about the accompanying empty space.

me·mo·ri·al n. Something, such as a monument or holiday, intended to celebrate or honor the memory of a person or an event.

The only memorial I have wanted to see at the WTC site is this simple, classic design:

What else could possibly make us better remember what was there and what happened?

2004-01-06T12:35:00.000-08:00

So I'm home in NH over Christmas exodus and there are presidential election signs everywhere. While driving through Dublin, NH, I see the only Bush sign that I see my entire time there. It is probably 5 feet high by 8 feet wide, and in bright gold, someone has spraypainted "SUCKS!" on it.

Can anyone remind me again which party is supposed to be the one tolerant of differing opinions?

That's what I thought...

2003-12-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

Well, as you all know, we indeed got him. I have nothing to add personally, except as I staggered down the hall to the bathroom yesterday morning, I saw a sign on the door saying "Saddam Hussein Captured by 4th ID Last Night". Ran back to my room, turned on the computer, and was pretty much wide awake for the rest of the day.

2003-12-15T17:46:00.000-08:00

I saw a poll on CNN today the other day from the Opinion Dynamics Corporation which asked, "Based on what you’ve heard so far, do you think Jackson is guilty or not guilty of child molestation?". The results they published then showed that differences between the answers of black and white respondants. My eyebrows raise a bit whenever race is involved in a poll, and the result that CNN chose to highlight was that 38% of whites vs. 15% of blacks think he is guilty while 58% of blacks vs. 17% of whites think he is not guilty. They way I thought it was being presented was CNN telling me that since whites are more likely to consider him guilty than blacks, then they are more racist. There is another interpretation of the results, however: 74% of blacks and 56% of whites have already made up their mindd one why or another. Both numbers are alarmingly high because we have not been able to examine all the evidence that is out there.

I couldnt find the poll on CNN's website, but was able to find it on Fox news

2003-12-15T17:45:00.000-08:00

OK, now that my basic training blog is pretty much complete as far as my input, I am back and will be posting more and more here once again. I do not know what direction my mind will go, but I do not plan to focus only military matters. As before it will probably be a meandering list of thoughts with links and hopefully, some of you will once again become regular readers.

2003-10-29T20:38:00.000-08:00

I dont know if this is true or not, but it definately is cool.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istelf, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Amzanig huh?

2003-10-26T21:44:00.000-08:00

YES! Although it wasn't the Sox, it was sure nice to see another team celebrating in Yankee Stadium.

2003-10-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

My basic training blog is now up on its own site! Visit http://www.basictrainingblog.com.

Note that the link currently goes to a staging site. I will update the link once I get a DNS issue cleared up for the new name.

UPDATE: DNS resolved. Link updated.

2003-09-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

Finally! My basic training journal is completely online. To get to the first post, click here.

At the moment, you have to navigate the archives list to the right to get through them all and note that they are in reverse order. The first entry is in the 04/01/2003 - 04/30/2003 range. Scroll down to Monday, January 27, 2003 for the first post. Ignore the dates in gray - the dates in red are the dates that things happened.

I will be putting this on its own site with much easier navigation, with additional comments from others who were in my platoon as well. Enjoy!

2003-09-27T14:19:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 11, 2003

0100 came pretty fast with the drill sergeant yelling over the intercom to "get your asses up!!!" for the last time (Thank God). Dressed, packed my last remining items, and headed downstairs for my bus to the airport in St Louis.

At 0230, the bus pulled away from the curb and a very difficult and challenging, but rewarding and fulfilling episode of my life was finally over.

2003-09-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 10, 2003

The day weve been waiting for since arriving at reception some 70 days ago. Graduation Day. Wakeup 0400 and finish packing everything except what we need for the day. 0900 we head over in formation to the theater. Unlike our rehersals, we really sound off great when we have to. The ceremony starts with the music video for Darryl Worleys's "Have You Forgotten?" - a song I have come to love about people who have already forgotten about what happened to us on 9/11 and why. Then a drill sergeant called to us and we marched onto stage and out to our seats in cadence:

Remember JFK. He tried to lead the way.
He tried to make a better world. For every boy and girl.
But he was shot one day. In the early morning.
It's allright, it's allright. It's all-right. It's OK.
[Remember MLK... , Remember WWI... , Remember Arlington...]

After taking our seats, the colorguard posts the colors and the chaplain says a few words. Then a slide show is presented of photos of where US Army soldiers are currently, and what they are doing. The show is backed by Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)" The slide shown during the line "A mighty sucker punch came flying in from somewhere in the back" is a photo of the 2nd plane about to strike the WTC with the north tower in flame in the background. Since I witnessed that moment first-hand from my elevated subway in Queens 18+ months ago, it affects me greatly; and even after all the rehersals and knowing it was comming, it still gets to me.

All the drill sergeants then went on stage and my platoon's head drill sergeant recited the drill sergeant creed. They all marched off except for 1st platoon's. One called that platoon to their feet and marched them onstage. There, they each took a step forward and sounded off with their rank, last name, and home state. When they were done, the same happened for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th platoons. I did not go up with 2nd.

We then watched another slide show, this time with photos of our experiences during our 9 weeks of training. This was backed by Bon Jovi's "It's My Life". Remembering some things, such as BRM qualification in 20-degree weather, actually brought a smile to my face.

Then it was my turn. Six of us were receiving individual awards and we lined up in front of the stage. The emcee dscribed my award, the Commanding General's Award for Military Excellence, awarded to the best all-around soldier in discipline, BRM, physical training, fundamentals, and general knowledge. I walked across the stage where the Company Commander presented me with the certificate. The 1st sergeant was also there to congratulate me. When I left the stage, I was met by the Batallion Commander (with an impressive black eye and stitches from a soccer game) and Command Sergeant Major. I then returned to my seat.

After the other special awards were presented, the Battalion Commander, a Lieutennant Colonel, gave his address. Following him was the Company Commander who presented the graduating class to the Batallion Commander and declared us fit to join the ranks of the US Army. He commanded us to stand and we again recited the oath of enlistment. We remained standing for the retiring of the colors and signing of the army song.

Everyone then was commanded to file outside and form up to march back to the barracks, except for the 6 special award winners. We filed in front of the stage to receive VIPs from the audience and to be awarded unit coins from the Brigade Commander. After a few colonels, sergeans major, and captains congratulated us, we went out and fell in at the tail-end of the marching company.

After returning to the barracks, we had to be inspected by our platoon sergeant before we could go on pass for the rest of the day. It took about 30-45 minutes but we passed, and out we went. I went again with my father and stepmother to lunch, this time right off post and had a huge chicken parmesean dinner - more chicken than pasta. Then we drove to their hotel where I had my first nap in 3 months - almost 3 hours. Made a few phone calls, checked my email, and headed back to post to check in.

I arrived around 1945, we had to be back by 2000. People were already forming up for accountability. Some, of course, were late, and the drill sergeant in charge had us drop - in our Class A's - into the front-leaning rest. After about 20 minutes and he figured out who was late, he let us get up and dismissed us for the night.

Finished packing, broke down linens from our bunks, said last goodbyes, exchanged some email addresses and phone numbers, and got to bed for a 0100 wakeup.

2003-09-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, April 9, 2003

Family Day.

Final graduation rehersal, then we returned to the barracks and put on our Class A's. We had to wait for the drill sergeant to inspect our (now empty) wall lockers and bunks as our families gathered outside and waited for us. After being released, we went outside where I met my father and stepmother, who came out from New Hampshire. It was a sight for sore eyes just to see someone I knew who was not associated with Ft Leonard Wood and I had a little lump in my throat when I finally found them in the crowd. We hadnt bought tickets to eat at the banquet because I wanted some real food, but we still had to sit and wait while others did eat. Almost 50% of the people ate at the banquet, while the rest would go out later. The Company Commader and Execute Officer gave some speeches, introduced the drill sergeant cadre, and recognized the PT, BRM, and EOCT high qualifiers.

When we were dismissed, I had to go sign out and my drill sergeant said, "Buttrick, go eat some real food - you're getting too skinny!" This after she PTed me to death for the past 9 weeks! I did get some real food, though. I slept in the car about 20 minutes on the way to my father's hotel (every minute counts), and we went to a steak house which had an all-you-can-eat buffet. A 12 oz steak, 2 full plates from the buffet, and 2 ice cream sundaes later, the 3 of us went to the hotel room to relax. Watched my first real news of the last 10 weeks and got to see Saddam Hussein's head being dragged through the streets and Iraqis showering thanks on American troops. I cant describe the feeling it gave me. Also got online and checked my email. Of course, most of the 880 messages in my box was spam...

The t-shirt guy finally showed up - just in time to try and get parents to buy his wares. I picked up my t-shirt and sweats. I swear both were of inferior quality to the samples he had shown us before, and the medium t-shirt I received seemed a lot smaller than the one I had held up. Oh well, they werent that expensive anyway.

2003-09-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, April 8, 2003

Wakeup 0400 for our last PT session, a company run. We were transported out to the starting point and formed up - actually was 2 groups of 2 platoons - all 4 together would have been too spread out for everyone to hear the cadance calls. Fun run, only about 2 miles and very slow, but it wasnt a conditioning run as much as it was a fun run to all be together. Almost died a few times as the girl ahead of me had problems keeping her shoelaces tied. She went down 3 times, each time almost taking me with her. All I need would be to hurt myself just before gradation and not be able to go (if you are on code for graduation, you do not graduate and you do not leave for your next training station).

After breakfast, we had another graduation rehersal. Then we turned in the T50 equipment we had inspected yesterday and went to chow. Then we had yet another rehersal - getting better at it, but somehow, incredibly, getting sick of it.

For dinner, we had Pizza Hut, Papa John's or Domino's delivered! We had to pay for it ourselves, but it was a great feast. A buddy and I split a medium Pizza Hut meat lover's pan pizza and a 2-liter of Sierra Mist. As we were eating, we all watched Full Metal Jacket. At 2000, we got back the personal bags that we had checked in on day 0, and started to pack up our stuff.

2003-09-27T13:26:00.000-07:00

Monday, April 7, 2003

Wakeup 0400. Set up our T-50s on our bunks. As the rest of the platoon went to draw their weapons, three of us stayed back and made sure everyone's equipment was up to standards. When they got back, we broke down our M16s and placed them on our bunks, as they were supposed to be, changed into our Class A's, and waited for the Batallion Commander.

It took a while as he inspected other platoons first, but he finally arrived after a hour or so. Walked into our bay, trailed by our Company commander and our drill sergeant. He came up to me first, had me perform a couple of about-faces. He had everyone lift their jackets so he could see our belt buckles were all straight. Then he got back to me. Asked me everything from where I went to school and what I studied to what the 5 colors on a military map were, all the while inspecting the equipment laid out on my bunk. I answered all his questions and got a "Good job, Buttrick," and he moved on to the next soldier.

Every one of the 7 others in my bay screwed up an easy question or two. More importantly, though, all of our gear and uniforms passed the inspection. We packed up the gear into a laundry bag to turn in tomorrow, and headed to our first graduation rehersal (HUZZAH!!!).

2003-09-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

Sunday, April 6, 2003

We re-set up our bunks and help others do the same. We return to 1st and get more specific details down that we had missed; then fix all the bunks in our platoon. The drill sergeant goes through and does a quick inspection and everyone seems ok. We put our gear back in our lockers in preparation for tomorrow's inspection by the Batallion Commander and all work on the final cleaning of our weapons.

2003-09-25T22:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 5, 2003

We get our equipment back from the various cleaning groups - not the exact same, but the same sizes we had been issued. Everything needs to be placed on our bunks in a very specific location for our inspection on Monday. I and another in my bay are assigned the task of going to 1st platoon and copying their layout on our bunks (1st is the duty platoon and thus sets the standard).

2003-09-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 4, 2003

Finish up the kevlar - scrub and wash the chin straps and netting. Reassemble everything and match the covers with the helmets.

2003-09-25T21:58:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 3, 2003

I am on the kevlar helmet cleaning group. We disassemble the helmets: take off the chin straps, camouflage covering, the netting inside. Covers get washed twice. Chin straps and netting gets soaked in a cleaning solution for 24 hours. Helmets themseselves get scrubbed three times.

2003-09-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, April 2, 2003

The longest and hardest day of basic training.

Woke up at 0300 to put on our full MOPP suits (chemical suits). The drill sergeants were supposed to attack shortly after 3. It didnt come right away, so I lay down in my tent and waited. Fell asleep.

Noises woke me around 0400 with people telling us to get into our positions. It had started. Again, they could not use gas or pyro, so something was lost in the experience. We were, nonetheless, given the alert for gas and donned our masks and gloves. I should explain what this was like. The suit itself has a charcoal liner in it and is very heavy. We wore that over our BDUs and I also had on my polypropelene long underwear shirt, which I had forgotten to remove. The mask is all rubber and you start to sweat in minutes. The gloves are also rubber and do not breathe. We were in these suits for 4 hours as we guarded our perimeter, then tore down our tents, packed up our things, then filled in our hasty positions. I was drenched with sweat when I removed that suit.

We continued to break down our camps. The drill sergeant walked around and found some soldiers napping while they were supposed to be working, so he smoked us all. This was, by far, the toughest smoking we have taken. I had muscle failure in my arms, shoulders and chest and was very close to crying. The combination of 4 nights of little sleep, aches and pain from all the activities, and the dread of a 15K road march later today after this, made it all that much harder.

We finally ate lunch and got to rest. Actually, the rest of the platoon got to rest; I was in front of a board of our 4 platoon sergeants and the first sergeant being tested for the Commanding General's award to be presented at graduation. I was asked a series of questions covering every area of our training and I had to maintain strict military presence the entire time. Not to blow by own horn, but I answered every question correct and won the award. A certificate from a 2-star general should look good in the future.

We then had a short briefing on what to expect during the night infiltration course we would be doing at the end of our road march. M60 machine guns would be firing live rounds about 6 feet above our heads as we low crawl, slide under concertina wire, and have explosions going off within feet of us. The idea is to simulate the experience of a real battlefield.

We head out on our 15K foot march around 1600. It is somewhere in the high 70s or low 80s and start to feel the heat quickly. I get through the first 10K easily but then my feet start to hurt. Although painful, the last 5K is easy at it is really the last 5K. To tease us, however, we march a click or so past our final objective and turn around to approach it again. The drill sergeants really enjoy their mind games...

The NIC is not what I expected. It didnt seem real at all. The most painful part was the sand that got up my sleeves and turned the inside of my BDUs into sandpaper against my skin. I think the M60 live ammo is actually blank because of wartime ammo shortages - it doesnt seem loud enough to be real. There were also no tracer rounds mixed in as there usually are, so we couldnt see anything. Sure, the explosions were loud and the concertina wire was real, but there was no imminent sense of danger. Though I dont know if that was due to me, or the training.

Immediately after is our Rights of Passage ceremony to mark the end of our basic training and signify the official transformation from civilian to soldier. Basic isnt really over, but all of our requirements are complete. The company and batallion commanders welcome us, and our drill sergeant presents us with our unit coins and actually tells me I did a good job.

We head out in our cattle car back to the barracks and it promptly breaks down. As we wait for another to pick up up, a parachute flare from Delta company's NIC (they did it right after us) lands nearby and starts a fire. What a day.

Weapons are turned in and we hit the barracks, where we begin to separate our equipment and prepare for cleaning. All helmets are accounted for and put together, all ruck sacks, all chemical suits, etc...

We finally get to bed around 0200. A gruelling 23-hour marathon to finish it all up. We got to sleep until 0600, but I had fireguard from 0300-0400, so the extra sleep really makes no difference.

2003-09-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, April 1, 2003

Wakeup 0430 or so. Land navigation scheduled all day. Morning we got 2 lists of points to find and walked about 4K through all kinds of terrain to get them all. There was actually 1 that we didnt get because it was so far out and we wouldnt have been able to get back for lunch. We were so early to the point before it, though, we sat and rested - most of us fell asleep for 20 minutes or so until another group woke us. Very hot day and some much-needed rest.

At night, the drill sergeants attacked again. It was supposed to be big, with CS gas and flares, but due to forest fire restrictions, they could not use them. After 3 days, it was hard not to fall asleep and I caught myself nodding out a few times. At one point, I heard a "HEY!!!" a few positions to my right, followed by the sounds of duct tape unrolling. Someone was caught asleep and a drill sergeant jumped him. Shortly after, the guy in the position to my left was hog-tied and left face-down in his hasty because his battle buddy had left him alone. It took over a half hour to find something strong enough to cut the zip-tie they used to bind his hands behind his back.

2003-09-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 31, 2003

Wakeup 0430 or so. 0500-0600 is 100% security on the perimeter. We actually only do 0500-0530 at 100% and then take shifts to chow at 50%.

Main training today is STX lanes - not sure what it stands for. Morning we went over how to react to incomming fire from a fixed position. In the afternoon, we put in MILES gear, which basically turns our M16s and body armor into a laser tag set, using blank ammunition. We practiced scouting a position, reacting to a sniper, and reacting to fire from an enemy we could see - and ended up defeating them.

At night, the drill sergeants had their turn trying to infiltrate us. They would sneak up to our defenses and get in if noone saw them. Our area held up well, although some were a bit overenthusastic: "POW! POW! Halt! Who goes there!?"

2003-09-23T20:32:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 30, 2003

Field Training Exercise.

Wakeup 0400. Weapons draw, 20-25 pound rucksack on our backs. Start marching around 0530. The ruck plus about 7 lbs of M16 doesn't sound like much weight, but for 10 kilometers... It wasnt bad. No pain, no blisters. Fatigue and some soreness in my back and shoulders. We arrive at the destination after about 2 hours; we will stay for 3 1/2 days.

Our mission is to set up a defense perimeter. Each of the 4 platoons is set up over 90 degrees of a circle: 12-3 o'click, 3-6, etc. Along our arc, we set up hasty cover positions, basically a V-shape dug about 18 inches deep where you lie and cover a small sector. The left side of your V overlaps with the right sides of the 2 or 3 positions to your left, setting up 100% fire coverage around the entire company. Then we set up our tents.

When the sun set, our drill sergeant called us all in to his tent. He split us up into 3 groups and had us each attack one of the other platoons. My squad swent after 3rd platoon. We went outside the perimeter about 100 meters in a file, turned right, went another hundred meters or so and headed into their area. For some reason, their drill sergeant told them that not much happens the first night, so they were all asleep. We collected 6 weapons, 2 gas masks, 2 kevlar helmets, and a duffel bag that 1 private had left outside her tent!?!?!? We were not supposed to take a rifle off a person who was awake, but it was done. The idea is to take unsecured vital equipment. For example, we took a rifle out of a tent that was next to a sleeping private. Our drill sergeant taught us to have our rifle in our sleeping bag, with the sling wrapped around one of our legs - impossibly to take without waking the soldier.

What I learned from this was that even minimal preparation and initiative makes all the difference. There is basically no difference between the training we received and that which 3rd platoon received over the past 8 weeks. The only difference was that we took an hour to make a plan, and they expected nothing. 3rd was in absolute chaos that first night. The next morning, we could hear their head drill sergeant screaming like a madman at them. Needless to say, the next night, they wer ethe only ones where were not successfully infiltrated.

Fireguard was tough in the field. We had to be in our hasty position in the prone unsupported position (lying on our stomaches) for an hour. Then we wake up our battle buddy for his hour, then rotate through the hasty to our right. 1 out of the 4 soldiers in adjacent positions was always on guard (25%). Staying awake wasnt very hard that first night as we had a full night's sleep the night before and it was around 35-40 degrees. I slept 1 hour, had an hour of fireguard, then 2 hours more sleep. It would be the most sleep I got for the next 3 nights...

2003-09-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 29, 2003

Finally EOCT day. I get 18/18 first-time-go's, but the platoon crashes and burns. Not only do we not win an unprecedented 4th championship in our company, we fail to get the required percentage to get honor platoon for the cycle.

At night, we get our Field Training Exercise (FTX) packing list and pack.

2003-09-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

Friday, March 28, 2003

Started the day with our final PT test. Did 57 pushups, 80 situps, and 11:16 2-mile run for a total score of 277 (79, 98, 100). Disappointed in my pushups but overall good. We won the highest average platoon PT score with 269, which was a company record, and also (we were told by our drill sergeants) a BCT record for a coed platoon.

Some EOCT review again, then we did the PECS course one final time. I really hate this course by now, but Im not sure why. I think it is just because it breaks me off bigtime, of course that is the whole point of a conditioning and endurance course.

2003-09-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Thursday, March 27, 2003

These days are quite slow. After morning PT, we spend all day reviewing for our End of Cycle Test (EOCT). They broke the company into 8 groups and rotated us through 8 stations: First Aid - choking victim, rescue breathing, frostbite; First Aid - evaluate casualty, buddy aid for nerve agent, treat for shock; Put on gas mask in under 9 seconds, treat self for nerve agent; Proper technique in firing AT-4 anti-tank missile, fix a weapons malfunction on an M16; Proper technique in setting up and firing a claymore mine; Map reading - determine straight-line and curved-line distances, determine and azimuth from a compass; Chemical Warfare - react to a chemical environment, decontaminate skin (self); Zero and M15 rifle, prepare a SALUTE report (intelligence reconnaissance report). 18 tests total. It got boring at some stations going over and over and over the same stuff...

2003-09-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 24, 2003

Wakeup 0400. AGR run. PECS 2, the same endurance conditioning course we did before, but this time we did more stations since the weather was better. The only one I was unable to complete was a robe climb. If it had been possible to grip the rope and assist my climb with my legs, it would have been ok, but I do not yet have the upper body strength to pull myself up with my arms alone.

I am proud to say that I was able to do the one rope bridge this time. I guess the easier one at the confidence course gave me the uh...confidence *ahem* I needed to do this one.

After all the practice, we finally had the D&C 8 competition (drill and ceremony). It started with the platoon at attention and going to open ranks - basically spacing the 4 rows farther apart so an inspecting officer can easily walk between them. The company Command Sergeant Major stopped in front of each soldier, we executed inspection arms with our rifles, and gave them to him. He inspected the rifle, asked a question from our training and moved on. It took about 15 minutes to do the entire platoon. Then we did the marching and arms drill routine we had been practicing. Somehow, we won.

We went back to the barracks and the company commander did the same thing to us as did the CSM at D&C8. However, he asked more and tougher questions. Im not sure how we did because once the drill sergeant was about to tell us, we had to go out to formation.

2003-09-16T20:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 23, 2003

Church, Drill and Ceremony practice.

Something has me really pissed off today. There was a blood drive. The red cross runs a blood drive for army soldiers with blood donated given priority to other soldiers. It is not required for us to give. Out of 180 or so trainees in our company, 50 or so volunteered to donate. Over half of those were from our platoon of 40. Some of the others did not want to give because they felt it would adversely affect their final PT test we have on Friday. While this is probably true (removing efficient blood that can carry more Oxygen than the new blood that would replace it), there is a FREAKING WAR GOING ON RIGHT NOW! It admit, I was not planning to donate, but once the war started, it was a no-brainer. I certainly never want to explain to a fellow soldier comming back from a year in Iraq that I couldnt donate the blood that this buddy may have needed because I needed to score a few more points on my PT test.

Full disclosure: I was disqualified from giving because I lived for a term of longer than 6 months in a European country since 1980 (France). Apparently, the Mad Cow thing... I know, go figure. I was told they are working on a test, and once it is approved, I will be back in line.

2003-09-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 22, 2003

4 days behind now. Im glad I at least jotted notes about what we did because normally, I cant remember what we did even just yesterday - and its not just me. Most people here have that problem. We have been here so long and the days are so long that everything just blends into one single experience. Without this journal, there is no way I would be able to remember everything I did. In fact, I am looking forward to putting it online so I can find out how much I have already forgotten.

Today may have been the busiest Ive had here. Wakeup 0400 and started out with an AGR run. After breakfast, we did another makeup activity: the bayonette assault course. To avoid breaking rifles, we used dummy M16s, but attached real bayonettes. The obstacle course had walls to jump over, logs to balance across, streams to jump, and, of course, targets to stab, slash, and bash. Its amazing how fast you get winded while screaming at full sprint. The best was when we had a 10 meter or so crawl under barbed wire - that obstacle had about a foot of ice cold water and mud under from recent rains.

After this, I and another private from my platoon were called to make up Warrior Tower. The 40-foot rappel is a graduation requirement - and am I glad! It was so much fun, I will be looking into doing it as a hobby. We first had a 12-foot slanted wall, at about a 60 degree angle, to learn the proper technique. Since I had never done it before, my first couple jumps out were tentative but the third I did well. The full tower seemed higher and it was straight down. The first step is backward onto a 4x4 attached about 2 feet down the wall. There, you lean back so that your body creates an "L" shape. I took a couple short hobs, then let loose. I probably jumped 20 feet in the third hop. Covered the remaining distance in the 4th. Couple of "ooh"s and "whoa"s as I came down, that was fun to listen to as well.

When I returned to the barracks, the company had already drawn weapons and were working on drill and ceremony.

At night, a guy came and sold t-shirts customized to our company and platoons. I got a t-shirt and some sweat pants.

2003-09-16T13:05:00.000-07:00

Friday, March 21, 2003

OK, forget writing 3 entries at the same time - I didnt make it. Today was fun. Slow, but fun. We learned about the AT-4 anti-tank weapon - basically a 1-shot bazooka. We didnt get to fire a real one, but did learn how they work and went through the procedures on ones modified to shoot 9mm rounds... There was one real one, however, shot off as a demonstration.

Also, they demonstrated a claymore mine and we learned how to set them up and fire them. VERY loud.

M203 grenade launcher attachment for the M16. We got to shoot orange smoke grenades at old rusted-out tanks and trucks on a range.

Finally, we got to each shoot off 50 rounds from the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). 50 just went too fast...

When we got back to the barracks, we did more drill and ceremony practice.

2003-09-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

Thursday, March 20, 2003

Been so busy, Im writing this and the next 2 entries on my fireguard shift Saturday. They are starting to squeeze in the things we missed earlier due to inclimate weather. Started the day with another platoon run. Not a great running workout for the legs, but great for the lungs.

Went to the land navigation course for the 3rd time and finally got to do it. The first thing we did was get our pace counts. 2 posts were set up 100 meters across and we walked at our normal pace between them twice, counting each time our left foot struck the ground. Average the 2 numbers and that is how you measure distance in the field. We had previously determined distances and directions for 5 points, so we started on our way. It took about 90 minutes to cover the 3-4Km and get all our points. We were off on one because the marker we needed was mostly hidden due to recent road grading and we stumbled across another nearby instead. The drill sergeant said it was amazing we got the 2nd one wrong but still managed to get back on track with the 3rd.

In the afternoon, we did BRM 12-14: the fun part. We finally got to shoot our M-16s on burst - 3 shots per trigger pull. After we shot off about 40 rounds, the drill sergeant in the bunker with us shouted "GAS!" and we had to get on our gas masks and chemical gloves and shoot another 20 rounds. It was tough to aim, but I got the hang of it.

We then waited for darkness so we could do night-fire. While waiting, some privates got up and did drill sergeant imitations - for the drill sergeants. A couple also had the guts to do our 1st sergeant and captain.

Night-fire was very cool. We got 28 rounds in each of 2 magazines, with every 4th being a tracer round. 28 shots on semi, firing as fast as we could squeeze the trigger. Then reload the other magazine and fire on burst as a parachute flare lit up the range. It was almost better to watch from the sidelines rather than fire. 10 positions shooting tracers looked great. We got back to the barracks late - around 2200 or so, showered, cleaned up a bit, and it was a short night. At least I didnt have fireguard and managed to get 5 1/2 hours of sleep.

2003-09-11T22:41:00.000-07:00

My thanks to http://www.coxandforkum.com for allowing me to use the WTC tribute image to the right. I took their cartoon entitled That Day, and Photoshopped it a bit to fit my template. Since it is not the actual image they produced, I want to thank to Mr Forkum for his quick reply to my request and for allowing me to run with it.

UPDATE: Apparently, the image isn't always loading. I will work on it. If you get a blank spot with a red "X" on it, try right-clicking on the X and selecting show image.

UPDATE II: Working now.

2003-09-07T16:57:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Wakeup 0345 to prepare for the 10k road march. Its raining with the possibility of thunderstorms, so our 3rd of 4 road marches so far is cancelled. Only ones left are the 10k to our 4-day field training exercise next Sunday, and the 10k on the way back.

We got transportation out to the fire and manoever range instead. We had our wet weather gear on and it kept us dry for about 30 minutes. I guess I should get used to this weather - Im told that it rains alot here in March, and the mud is thick.

The morning was dry fire (no ammo). We do 3-5 second rushes to cover (logs), drop and roll into a prone firing position, then provide covering fire for a buddy as they do their own rush.

***This just in*** As I'm writing this, the CQ drill sergeant just announced over the intercom that we just started bombing Baghdad and the President will be addressing the nation at 2115. He will play the address for us over the intercom. Tomorrow should be interesting...

OK, back to the rushes. 3-5 seconds each, about half a dozen per person, then we simulate throwing a hand grenade into a bunker. The rain made it both fun and uncomfortable.

After breakfast, we did it for real. I would run while another guy fired real bullets literally less than 20 feet to my side. Pretty uncomfortable especially since I didnt know the other guy. We ran either the right or left side of the range, and our targets were on our respective sides, but that didnt make me any less nervous. However, after we started, it was gone - no trace of concern in my mind. Just get to the logs, drop and fire my covering fire.

We hauled though the exercise because of the rain and got back to the barracks before lunch (we were scheduled to be out there until 1600 or so). Afternoon we spent on more drill & ceremony. We are starting to get good - not good enough yet to win any competition, but good enough to probably not embarass ourselves.

After dinner, we got into our PTs and did some pushups and situps: 20 close-hand pushups, then 20 situps. Then 19 of each, 18, down to 10. Tough. Thats it for today. 2110 - getting ready to listen to the President.

2003-09-07T14:31:00.000-07:00

We are comming up on the 2nd anniversary of Sept 11. LGF has a thread exclusively devoted to stories from that day. I wanted to post this last year but for some reason did not get it up (dont remember why exactly). This is an email, slightly edited, additions in italics, that I sent to my sister on the 12th.

Thanks for writing. I knew you would contact dad for information about me.

Im staying home today. Both the mayor and governor said non-critical services should remain closed for another day. I dont think I could do it anyway. I just woke up and feel worse than yesterday. It just hasnt fully sunk in.

I saw the 2nd tower's explosion. I did not see the plane hit. When I got on the subway, a guy was talking about a plane hitting the WTC. I didnt really believe him (I dont think anyone did), and if it were true, I figured it was a tourst or someone with a small plane that got too close...[Just a few days before, a paraglider hung from the Statue of Liberty's torch for a while after getting too close] The train is elevated where I am, and at one point much higher than all the surrounding buildings. A great view of Manhattan. There was pretty much a collective gasp and utter of "oh my God..." Everyone was looking around at each other. I had to sit back down, when someone yelled "an explosion!" I jumped up and saw the 2nd fireball. I probably should have gone home then, but continued in to work.

When I got out of the subway, I called Mom, then Dad. Mom has no Internet at work and I dont think at that time, she really had any idea how bad it was. From the subway to work, I walked down 5th Ave and people had come out of buildings (you can see the towers from a couple miles away). They were both smoking like nothing Ive ever seen - youve seen the pictures. At this point, I realized the Empire State Building was right behind me. I glanced back and decided to put some distance and buildings between me and it. While on the phone with Dad, I just stood staring at it, 2 miles away, but still able to see more than the top half of the buildings.

When I arrived at work, some people were in a panic, others were calm. After we heard of the 1st collapse, most lost it. The walk home was eerie. Youve probably heard how people were calm; they were. Very calm and orderly for the most part. I had to walk from 28th to 60th St (about 1 3/4 miles) to get to a bridge to get into Queens. All the Manhattan-bound lanes were full of people. Cars in the Queens-bound lanes were actually stopping and taking passengers over the bridge. I jumped in the back of a pickup truck with about 20 others. There was a U-haul type truck ahead of us with the back open and another 10 people within. Taxis were taking people for free (some were gouging though). Many bus drivers took passengers without pay before the Metropolitan Transit Authority told them all to do so.

Even though I saw part of the attack, it still doesnt seem real. When people say it was like a movie, it was...

It is going to be a tough few days. I was able to get intouch with all my closest friends. However, I got news last night that a friend that left work a few weeks ago, was working there. The person I spoke with had not been able to get in touch with him. Im also afraid I am going to know a lot of people from Columbia and Exeter, that I did not know worked there. [Thankfully, everyone I was concerned about was OK]

I think Giuliani was right when he said that the toll will be too high for anyone to handle. Anyone can relate to an airplane disaster, because we've all sat on a crowded plane and looked around and had thoughts pass through our mind about "what if". Nobody can sit in a packed baseball stadium and really know what it would be like if everyone there suddenly disappeared. I dont think the numbers will every truly sink in. 10,000 people is simply unfathomable.

My person feelings: I feel the same as Brad [Sgt First Class, US Army. First thing he said: "People must die."]. If they discover a foreign government is behind this in some way, I will probably enlist. [Didnt turn out to be the case, but I did anyway.] I have spoken with others who feel the same way. Whoever did this made a mistake, they misjudged us. This IS just like Pearl Harbor in the sense that we realize that we have to stick together and do something that needs to be done.

Thats pretty much all Ive seen. The bloodbanks are flooded with people. I was turned away yesterday. They are turning away people today who have never given before because the paperwork slows them down too much, but I will try anyway.

Good luck with your kids. [At the time, my sister was a 10th grade English teacher] I wouldnt want to have to explain anything. As for the ones that "think its great," dont worry about them yet, but you may want to talk to them personally. CNN and the others have overplayed those videos, and they DO really look like movie footage. If it dosent seem real, some dont think it is. I hope the video that they see today will bring them back to reality. I know it has me.

2003-08-25T21:23:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the break in the basic training blog. I know most of you current readers are here for that, but this is something that has enraged me to the point that I need to write something. So for this post, I am going back to my days as a political blogger.

This is continuation of a story that started back in January. I was reading Little Green Footballs and learned about a certain film festival that Columbia was hosting. As an alum, I emailed the school to voice my displeasure at their decision and posted my letter here. Unfortuantely, I was about to leave for basic training and although I received an initial response before I left, the "dialogue" had not ended until I had left. I was not going to post it because it was about 3 months after the original post. I figured it would all be too much in the past to worry about it. Well, today, Im on LGF again and read this:

At the New York Post, Jonathan Calt Harris examines the appointment of anti-American, antisemitic professor Rashid Khalidi to the “Edward Said” chair at Columbia University: Anti-Israel U.

Screw them. Immediately below is my original post followed by the response I received.

SLOPDEYDOPE "FILM FESTIVAL"

I was reading Little Green Footballs earlier today and was dismayed to learn that there is a Palestinian "film festival" about to take place at Columbia University, my alma mater. I put "film festival" in quotes, because judging from the poster of the event and the short descriptions of each film, "propaganda festival" or even "victims of Israel on film festival" would have been more appropriate. Here is a copy of the letter I am sending to the university president, Lee Bollinger:

President Bollinger,

I have recently come across some deeply troubling information that the Department of Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures is hosting a Palistinian film festival entitled "Dreams of a Nation". While some may see this as a chance for the Palistinians to get their side of the debate heard, one only has to take a cursory look at the group's web page to see that it is simply going to be a vehicle for the usual propaganda. As an alum, I feel it my duty to express my disappointment and outrage.

Take, for example, the poster of the event. It shows what the organizers of this event think of the "Two-State Solution" to the problems in the Middle East: it is merely a first step toward total victory. The image is what they see when they look at a map of the area: a single combined entity made up of the country of Israel and the territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Add to this the fact that the color they chose for this "nation" is blood red and one does not have to be a student of art to know that they are advocating turning the ground red with the blood of "martyrs", and whoever stands in the way of a single Palistian state stretching from the banks of the Jordan to the shores of the Mediterranean. Finally, the doves on the poster do not represent peace, as they would in the West; they symbolize the souls of those so-called "martyrs" ascending to heaven.

As for the content of the festival, one example of a film being promoted is, "Jenin, Jenin":

A few days after the April 2001 invasion of the Jenin refugee camp by the Israeli military, a camera crew shoots at the site: it captures the camp at a time when the people still have not fully understood what happened. The film is not an informational report about these events, but a description of the traces left by the events on the inhabitants. It depicts resistance, heroism and victory despite death, disasters, and destruction."

Even the description of this film admits that it is pure propaganda: "The film is not an informational report about these events". There is no way this could be an informational report because even the United Nations now admits that there was no massacre. In fact, an interview with a Palestinian engineer who was there shows which side really committed the war crimes. I will admit that I have not seen this film, and thus cannot truly make an informed critique, but I highly doubt they will mention how the Palistinians dug up their own municipal water supplies for the pipes needed to make the bombs with which they boobytrapped everything they possibly could. Nor have I much faith that they will discuss the strategy of using women and children to tell IDF soldiers that the coast was clear, only to have these men ambushed when their guard was down.

There is also a biographical film about Hanan Ashrawi. This is a woman who feels that America's actions are to blame for the attacks of 9/11. I will not even begin to discuss the moral depravity of this viewpoint, but it should not be lost upon anyone capable of critial reasoning, especially those in the employ of a center of "higher learning" whose official name includes the phrase "in the City of New York".

One final curiosity I wish to question is why this event is not listed on Columbia's calendar of events? Nor have I heard about it from any other alumni outlet. Is this because the school knows what the content of most of these films is, and does not want to publicize something that would bring it bad publicity? If showing a differing viewpoint than convention is something to be proud of, why does Columbia seem to want to hide the fact that it is doing so?

President Bollinger, I believe in every American's freedom of speech and expression. However, I also understand that the 1st ammendment states that "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech." There is nothing there about requiring private institutions to provide a forum for lies, deception, and outright incitement to murder. Fortunately, however, Columbia relies upon donations from its alumni to survive, and I am one of the few who can actually have his point heard by you in more ways than writing this letter. I have been demonstrating my displeasure with the school's continued employment of America haters such as Edward Said, Hamid Dabashi and Joseph Massad and since the day I graduated. This "film festival" will simply be added to the garbage heap of reasons for which I will continue to abstain from giving any of my personal financial resources to the school. I will consider changing my mind in the future if Columbia shows that it is actively trying to become a true center of critical thinking, logic, and reason, rather than a cesspool of Politically Correct equivocation and a tool for those who would destroy Western culture and thought.

Well, here is the response I got from Mr Bollinger. Apparently, he knew that I was in a low enough tax bracket that he could afford to alienate me:

I have been asked by President Bollinger to respond to your recent e-mail that questions whether a Palestinian Film Festival ought to be presented at the University.

It is Columbia's policy to encourage free and open debate and discussion of every kind of issue that is part of our society, whether it relates to the contemporary sciences (e.g. stem cell research, human cloning), arts (i.e., issues of censorship of exhibitions), humanities, social sciences, or historical events. The preparation of seminars, symposia, invited talks, public lectures, and even film festivals, is almost always left to our faculty and students. The central administration of the University only intervenes in these matters on the very rare occasion when public safety cannot be assured. Otherwise, we simply do not prohibit programs whose content may be offensive to some people or groups. We would not do this in the case of a Palestinian film festival or one sponsored by our many other student or faculty groups that represents other perspectives and points of view. Diversity of perspectives is part of university life and with it comes differences of opinion that may be offensive to some.

We would far prefer it, of course, if you were able to understand and accept our reasons for maintaining this open and tolerant policy as a critical part of a community that must value the presentation of ideas from many perspectives (even those that some of us will find opprobrious). This is part of the value system of great universities.

We hope to hear from you in the future praising events that you understand are being sponsored by Columbia that you find more congenial to your own point of view.

With best regards,

Jonathan R. Cole
Provost and Dean of Faculties
John Mitchell Mason Professor of the University
Columbia University

Sure enough, he pretty much said exactly what I predicted in my original letter. However, here is the incredibly arrogant and insulting part. The email address from which the mail was sent?

po_temp@xchange.ais.columbia.edu

An anonymous address. Reply to this and you get a bounceback saying that the address is not valid (I was curious to see if it would actually go anywhere). Apparently, they think I am so stupid as to simply hit reply when anyone can go to the university web site, click on directories, and look up Provost Jonathan R Cole's direct email address. So here is the response I sent back to both Provost Cole and University President Lee Bollinger:

Mr Cole,

I am saddened by your response to my email. Since you do not respond to any of the points I made, and the only response you did make was one I addressed in my email (in exactly the same way I predicted you would) I have to assume that you did not read past the first few words of my email.

Free and open debate does not include incitement to murder. I think hope in your position at a major university would hold a less cliche understanding of the 1st ammendment.

-TJ Buttrick
CC 95

PS: If you decide to respond to this email and engage in some constructive dialogue, please do not hide behind an anonymous temporary address.

That email was sent Wed, 29 Jan 2003 19:24:51 -0800 (PST)

I have yet to receive a response.

2003-08-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, March 18, 2003

I hate pulling fireguard on consecutive nights. We used to have it all the time, but I guess I am getting spoiled with the every other night routine. 2100-2200 last night, 0300-0430 tonight.

Hand grenades today. We learned how to throw them from a prone position behind a low wall and from a squatting position over a high wall. After a few practices with dummy grenades and some armed with only fuses, we did a qualification course (with dummies). We were in various situations and had to get the grenade within the kill radius of the various targets. First was a quiz to identify various types of grenades (fragmentation, gas, smoke, thermal, etc). The first target was a simple 35 meter throw. One was a foxhole 20 meters away, and the grenade had to enter the hole. Another was a vehicle and 3 people. Another was with a buddy who covered me as I charged a bunker and dropped the grenade in. I qualified with 7/7. Missed expert on rifle, but got it here.

After lunch, we got to throw a live grenade. A spotter sergeant walked us through a test before the real thing. It made me a bit nervous to hold the grenade after pulling the ring, but the cadre had put on a demonstration earlier on how if you hold the lever down, it will not go off. It was loud, but the concussion was much more impressive, even behind a railroad tie and cement bunker. We didn't get to see our own grenade explode, but we were able to watch others' through a bunker with bullet-proof glass windows.

We returned to the barracks, had our dinner, then went outside to begin preparing for D&C 8 [Drill & Ceremony], where we are judged and compete against the other platoons in marching and manual-of-arms. Let's say we need a lot of work. After jacking things up royally, the drill sergeant assigned new squad and team leaders. I am once again in a leadership position, a team leader. At least it's not one where I have to deal with a lot of people like before. I lead a team of 5 (including me). The bad part is my place in the formation means I am a running road guard. As the platoon marches, I run ahead to upcomming intersections to stop traffic. Someone from the rear runs up and takes my place, and I have to run back to my original position to await the next intersection. Normally, this isn't such a bad thing, but we have a 10K road march tomorrow. So I am now going to bed; I will need as much rest as possible.

2003-08-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 17, 2003

Got drafted for post detail today. Basically, another private and I rode around with one of our drill sergeants and picked up trash on the side of the roads around the base. A nice fringe benefit: we were able to listen to the radio. Lots of country, not my thing, but I did recognize a few songs. We also heard some news and wow! Bush's ultimatum to Saddam Hussein was huge. It's about time, really. I am very disappointed with some of our "allies" in NATO. It will be interesting to see what comes out - any secret dealings that may have been made illegal by the 1991 sanctions, etc. I think we may be seeing the end of NATO. Then again, this isn't a political blog right now, so I digress.

Arrived back at the barracks around 1430 - just in time to get our asses smoked with the rest of the company because they weren't sounding off loud enough while marching in cadence. Week 6 and still some people do not get it.

2003-08-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 16, 2003

Free day away. Normal Sunday AM routine - wakeup 0500, clean, chow, clean barracks, church, continue to clean barracks, chow. Then our company and another (8 platoons, about 350-400 soldiers) got on busses to get away for the afternoon. No drill sergeants, and 40 miles distance between us and FLW. This is the 32nd year that the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lebanon, MO has done this program. Almost every week, they bring a group of soldiers to their church to give them a little break.

There was a convenience store where were able to get all kinds of food that we can't get on base. My list: 1 liter of Sprite, 4-pack Reeces Peanut Butter Cups, a Butterfinger, 2 small packs of Smarties, 99-cent bag of Doritos, an ice-cream Snickers, and a newspaper. And my bag was one of the smaller ones... some people were giving away candy by the end of the day because we couldn't take it back with us.

Reading the newspaper, it was great to read the news about Elizabeth Smart. It is amazing they found her alive.

Across the street was the bowling alley, open Sundays only to soldiers from this program. The alleys were all taken by the time I got there, but they had music and video games - original Zaxxon and Asteroids included, believe it or not.

After about 1 1/2 hours, we had to go back to the church property for the remainder of our time there. We could play basketball, soccer and football. I was able to make a phone call home and find out that my father and stepmother will be comming to graduation - it will be really nice to have someone there.

Finally, there was a church service. It was very nice... until the end. The pastor got to a point and the message became something along the lines of "be saved now or go to hell." His technique would have made a time-share salesman proud. I was quite insulted and even regretted putting $10 in the collection plate, no matter how good the program. It made me believe the free day away program was more of a high-pressure recruiting station for the Tabernacle Baptist Church than a service to give some mental relief to some very weary soldiers. If there were another day away there during our BCT, I would choose to stay away and remain at FLW. I am currently not very religious, pretty much taking Einstein's theory of God, but if I ever do change, it will be on my own terms, at the time of my choosing, and certainly not under the threats of eternal torture and suffering.

2003-08-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 15, 2003

Wakeup 0400. First thing is Phase 2 PT test - the last one before the one that really counts. Pusups, I improved by 11 again and did 50. Situps, I lucked out. The drill sergeant scoring me was mine - the same one that let me drop down a running group that first run after the injury. He asked if my ribs were good to go and I said I would try. They didn't hurt much and I got 47 in the first 70 sec when he ordered me to stop. That is 60% for my age group and would pass me for the Army standard. He told me he wanted to make sure I could pass but he didn't want me to risk me hurting myself by pushing for more. The difference, I think, was that someone holds our feet during the tests. This results in us using our hip flexor muscles more as we do the exercise. When we PT and noone holds our feet, it is all abs. The run was an out-and-back instead of on a track. Not having to run in lose dirt, around corners, and dodging slower people helped me take a whole minute off my time. I ran 12:58 - 20 sec faster than the max. Total score: 234 - 13 better than last time. I am happy with that because I feel I could have done at least another 20 situps. I should be able to max all 3 events next time, but I need to work on my pushups.

Next, we had some testing on everything else we have learned. I was more of a review for our real testing at the end of the cycle, but there were a few things I have forgotten. I also discovered I need to practice putting on my gas mask as the requirement is 9 seconds or less.

We were supposed to do our land navigation course today that had been cancelled 2 weeks ago. We got out there and find out that the course is messed up somehow, and the guy that was supposed to brief us didn't show up. Good waste of a couple hours...

Come back to the barracks and did PT. We got killed. First, we ran laps up and down a 45-degree sloped hill - sprint up, jog down. A total lap was about 100 yards. If the drill sergeant blew his whistle once, we did pushups (feet pointed uphill); 2 whistles was flutterkicks, feet uphill; 3 whistles was lunge walking with our hands on our heads (each step is a squat to touch the back knee to the ground); 4 whistles was situps, feet uphill. I was unable to do the situps at all due to pain - on that slope, I literally could not do a single one, so I did flutterkicks. Except for situps, my ribs felt ok, except when changing positions from one exercise to another - that was hell. We did these laps for 80 minutes. Then we went to "The Pit": a several-inch deep expanse of shredded tires. Very tough to get a grip on the ground to do pushups, etc. Up-down-go's for 20 minutes, then a lowcrawl, backcrawl, highcrawl through the stuff. The looks we got from other platoons after they saw us was priceless: we were covered in sweat, water, mud, and little pieces of rubber. It actually felt like a badge of honor. I think I'm getting to like this stuff...

Tomorrow is free day away - a local church takes us and gives us an entire day away from our drill sergeants, Ft Leonard Wood, and all our training. I hear there is a gas station nearby where we can buy candy, soda, and newspapers. Phone calls, a bowling alley, and the church ladies cook us a dinner. I plan on calling in a pizza delivery, getting some Recess Peanut Butter Cups, Sprite, and a paper - I know nothing of what is going on in the world. I'm always wondering what is going on at LGF and Instapundit.[ed-Glenn and Charles, I actually wrote this in my longhand journal, it's not a not a troll for links :) ]

2003-08-24T19:32:00.000-07:00

Friday, March 14, 2003

PT today was a platoon run. The entire platoon, despite running ability group, ran together in formation. It was a slow pace for me, but what made it interesting is that we called cadence while running. The result was an easy run made moderately tough by winding us more.

The morning was spent preparing for a wall locker inspection. It turned out to only be a warmup - our drill sergeants took a look and told us what was wrong without destroying them. Mine was fine. In fact, the drill sergeant told me to show my neighbor how to do his socks. To date, I have never had my bunk or locker tossed - only one time were my boots pulled. The rest of the morning was spent on general barracks maintenance.

The afternoon we had a sensing session with the company commander and 1st sergeant. For some reason, only half of our platoon was supposed to be there and I was pulled out. Didn't do much otherwise. We were going to get killed (this is how drill sergeants refer to smoking us) for some reason, but it was postponed until tomorrow.

After dinner, we got haircuts and went to the PX.

Got to bed early, where I write now, to rest up for our last preparatory PT test before the final. I am concerned about my situps - they still hurt my ribs alot. I hope the extra Ibuprofin I got at the PX helps...

2003-08-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

Thursday, March 13, 2003

Started the day with code PT - all the injured PT together, doing the stretches and exercises that you are allowed to do. For me, pushups are ok and feel fine. Situps are allowed for me, but they hurt so much, I switched to flutterkicks - they use the lower abs more than the upper. Tomorrow, I am off code, but I'm still in a lot of pain. I hope it improves as much tonight as it did last night. Our second PT test is on Saturday and I will have to do the minimum possible situps to not get a councelling statement. I should be able to tough that many out by then - it's only 35 or so.

We were fitted for our Class A uniforms today! Now it really feels like the end is approaching - thank God! Got back to the barracks for maintenance as the females were fitted for theirs. That's pretty much it.

2003-08-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Not much today. Since I was on code, I was assigned to KP and missed warrior tower. Don't know yet if I will be credited, or I will do it with another company later. The most exciting thing to happen was when the floor drains backed up and flooded the kitchen.

2003-08-24T19:13:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, March 11, 2003

AGR run this morning. I am still experiencing significant pain when I breathe, so I asked permission to run with a slower ability group (bravo, one lower than my usual, alpha). I was surprised when my drill sergeant said OK; normally, when you are with a group, you can only move up. However, he was aware of my condition. It was a surprisingly easy run, despite the fact that I couldn't breathe all the way in or out. The difference between the groups is huge. I can see why people just moving into alpha hate their first couple workouts.

Today was originally supposed to be our BRM qualification day, but beacuse of the probable upcomming war and ammunition conservation, we did it yesterday. Today would be a chance for those who didn't make it yesterday to try again. The rest of us would do barracks maintenance and work on paperwork or equipment problems.

I took the opportunity to go to sick call and have my ribs checked out. After 3 days, they really don't feel any better at all. My run was ok, but I had taken an 800mg Ibuprofin, which halved the pain. I sat in the waiting room about 2 1/2 hours as they called in the quicker cases. They finally got to me and the doctor said he did not think anything was broken but he wanted to take some x-rays. Luckily, they confirmed his suspicion and he diagnosed it as a contusion. I have some pain killers/anti-inflamatories and 3 days of no running, jumping, or marching.

There were quite a few of us from our platoon at the CTMC (consolidated troop medical center) and we went to lunch after we were all finished. Instead of going all the way back, however, we stopped by an AIT engineering batallion's D-FAC. Sodas, cakes, and ice cream for all!

2003-07-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 10, 2003

BRM qualification day! Up at 0300 for the last fireguard shift. Light PT. I'm 5th in the firing order. We need 23/40 hits to qualify. My foxhole was a disaster - I hit 8. I could hear the drill sergeant behind me commenting ( they weren't allowed to help us at all directly while shooting) that it wasn't like me to be so off. She took a look at my weapon and changed the elevation knob back to where we had been during zeroing. Our head drill sergeant had told us to change it for this range. So I got down to the prone unsupported pretty much resigned to the fact that I probably wouldn't qualify my first try, and proceeded to hit 18/20 targets and qualify with 26 total hits. It would have been nice to get a sharpshooter badge (30-35 hits), or expert (36+), but I'm just glad I made it at all after that start. Everyone in the platoon qualified - the only one of the 4 to claim that. We also won the BRM championship for the company and will be awarded a streamer tomorrow. We also earned cookies and ice cream at show (without a drill sergeant going off on our butts), and an extra hour of personal time. We are finally getting to go to the PX this weekend and make phone calls. The 100% meant a lot to the drill sergeants in our platoon. They didn't care about the BRM championship - their goal was to get everyone through so they can graduate.

2003-07-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 9, 2003

I don't know what it is about Sundays, but they are always freezing. Another Sunday, another cold front. Church. Barracks cleaning. Afternoon, we did BRM reinforcement training. I did the weaponeer again and learned that my trigger squeeze was causing some of my problems. I hope it helps me tomorrow. We are being sent to bed early to be well rested.

2003-07-22T19:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 8, 2003

We got a wakeup call today. While we were outside doing PT, the drill sergeant inspected our rooms. Many had not polished their boots the night before (including me) because we ran late and had no time before lights out. 18 or so of us had to wear our 2nd pair of boots around our necks. This will not happen again - at least not to me.

We did no BRM today. Confidence course, which is a sort of obstacle course that we do by platoon, one station at a time. Except for 1 station, we work as individuals. The toughest was called the weaver, a sort of roof-shaped with horizontal 4x4s spaced 2 1/2 feet apart. The idea is to climb up one side by going over 1 board and under the next, until you get to the top. On the way down, to save time, we slid on our fronts and did a flip off the last board to dismount.

A fun one was a set of 3 logs we had to balance and walk across. During the first 2, lower, logs, the drill sergeants would try to get us to lose our balance and fall off. The 3rd was too high for messing around. Then we had a long set of monkey bars to negotiate. I managed better than during the PECS course, but it still hurt my shoulders. It didn't seem so bad though because I had another injury which was hurting that I had gotten on an earlier station. There, we had had to run up to a log, jump forward and up, and flip/roll our bodies over another log - called the low belly over. I didn't jump high enough and I think I bruised a rib (I hope it is only bruised). Pretty painful to breathe in all the way, but our physical activity is limited until after BRM qualification Monday, so if it hasn't improved at all by then, I will get it checked out and at least get some pain killers.

The only station we did as a team was in teams of 4. There is a tower with 5 levels, each platform up is slightly larger than the one below, so each overhangs the levels underneath it. The team has to boose and pull each other up and down. Because of high winds, we only went up 2 levels, but we would have been able to do all 5 with no problem had the conditions allowed.

The last station was, for me, the most fun. We climbed up 20 feet of cargo netting, walked across 4x4s spaced a couple feet apart. Climbed up an A-frame ladder of 4x4s another 20 feet, went over the top, and then down 40 feet of cargo netting.

It was a very tiring course, but a lot of fun, despite the apin in my chest and a few other bruises.

We had a discussion with the drill sergeant about motivation, values, why we are here (as individuals), who we are here for - a wandering discussion. Got eventually to the subject of male/female relations because we are an integrated company and tehse things come up.* One thing is males and females are not supposed to smile at one another. So, of course, not 15 minutes later, a female smiled (at the drill sergeant!), and we all had to go outside for a few pushups and flutterkicks. Some people just don't learn...

* The drill sergeant said they are probably going to re-segregate the genders soon because too many problems are arising from the distractions. It may be a good thing one some levels, but you end up with different standards between males and females, and some still will never have worked with someone of the opposite sex until they get to their regular duty stations.

2003-07-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

Friday, March 7, 2003

First time on a range where the distances and targets are the same as they will be in the qulification next week: 50m left-side, 50m right-side, 100m, 150m, 200m, 250m, and 300m. I didn't do well, but the range is said to be the most difficult of all the US Army ranges - even the NCO in charge of the range, which is called Jurassic Park because of it's utterly barren landscape, has never gotten a 40/40. I got 21/40, but know some things that went wrong that I will be able to correct.

2003-07-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

Thursday, March 6, 2003

BRM. 2 sessions today. 2 clips of 18 shots each, and 2 of 22 each. It was the first time we have shot at targets of differing distances which rotated through 75m, 175m and 300m. Also, we did both foxhole supported and prone unsupported. I didn't do so hot on the first - 20/36 - and we needed 22 to get a "Go," although we could fail both sessions today and still pass. The afternoon, they mixed in having 2 targets pop up simultaneously at times and I did better: 31 of 44, where we needed 27 for a "Go".

2003-07-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, March 5, 2003

COLD!!! 8 degrees with wind chill. We were shooting today at a range with variable distances of 75, 175, and 300 meters. 5 rounds at 75, 10 at 175, and 5 at 300 in both the foxhole and prone unsupported positions. Go/No Go was at least 8 hits on the 75m, 14 on the 175m. They only wanted us to engage the 300, but the qualification standard is actually 5. I got in there first and did well in the foxhole. When I switched to the prone unsupported, I did not realize the little square of carpet there was to put under our elbows. Instead, I had them in gravel and constantly sank down and had to readjust. The cold didn't really bother me, but I was allowed to keep on my glove inserts. Others had to go bare-handed.

I ended up hitting all of the 75, 14/20 at 175, and 4/10 at 300. Not bad considering the conditions. Those that didn't qualify did not reshoot, as the drill sergeants felt it would be a waste of time in the extreme cold.

We finally got a lesson in cleaning our rifles, and broke them down. Getting better at disassembly, but the handguards are really tricky. I hope to find a way to get them off and back on again quickly before we are tested on it. Tomorrow, we get our first pop-up targets which stay up for as short as 4 seconds.

2003-07-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, March 4, 2003

More BRM. This time zeroing our weapons. Now that we could group, we needed to ensure that that group was where we wanted it to be. I only needed a minor adjustment on my rifle and I was good to go. Another quick day, I shot 15 rounds (6 at first, then sets of 3 until the drill sergeant was satisfied with waht we had done), and was done again within an hour. Arrived at the range about 0800, shot from 0900 to 1000 or so, then from 1000 to 1630 I coached others, with a 1 hour lunch in there somewhere.

Overall, the drill sergeant said we did a good job. All but one were able to zero their weapons, and the average is usually all but 5 or 6. Tomorrow is to be our first experience with the prone unsupported position, and firing at targets at actual different distances.

2003-07-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 3, 2003

Wakeup 0400. AGR run. I'm beginning to dread these workouts. I am keeping up, but I just hate running now. Too early. Too cold. Too fast.

BRM grouping. We went to a range and fired live rounds for the first time. The kick isn't bad at all on the M16, but the sound sure was a distraction. We had to put 6 of 9 shots in a 4 cm diameter circle to get a successful grouping. The target was at 25 meters and sized to simulate one at 300. I put at least 8 of 9 in the circle, and I think the 9th was there as well, but just through an existing hole. There were only 8 holes on the target and I don't think I did anything to cause myself to miss badly enough to miss the 8 1/2" x 11" target entirely. I was out in about 30 minutes, then coached 4 other soldiers through their groupings.

2003-07-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 2, 2003

Sleep in until 0500, although everyone had fireguard last night. The drill sergeant wanted us to take turns transitioning from right to left targets in our prone unsupported firing positions in order to start building up the callouses on our elbows. It was painful doing it on a solid floor. So instead of 2 soldiers per fireguard shift, we had 4 on the first 3 shifts, and the other 5 with 3 soldiers. Fireguard duty is really starting to get to me. The rotation ends up being 2 nights on, 1 night off. The interruption of sleep is starting to affect me, I think. I was so tired today it got me depressed. Sunday is a cleaning day and I was doing floors - buffing was actually comforting - I guess because there was no real deadline. We also got to go to the PX for the 2nd time to buy things we may need. Halls (aka private candy), kleenex, soap, etc. Also got my 3rd haircut - I can't wait to be able to grow it out a little. Just over a year ago I had long hair, and now, basically none. The kicker is, they charge us to cut it...

It is now 0150. Finished our fireguard cleaning. We now have to wake up the next shift.

2003-07-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 1, 2003

The weather warmed up today and we finally ran. Started over, so it was a relatively slow pace (we were told 6:30 first mile), then slowed a bit and kept running to build endurance.

Got our weapons again and went to another place to work on our 4 fundamentals: steady position, aiming, breathing, and trigger squeeze. 1st was a machine that simulated a range. We fired at a target and a computer shows where we would have hit. It was not important to hit center as much as it was that we group our shots well (hit the same place). If we did that, our fundamentals are good. If not, from the shot distribution, the drill sergeants can tell if we are shooting without pausing our breathing (a vertical shot distribution), or if we are jerking the trigger (a horizontal shot distribution). I didn't get to see my results (they dont want us to adjust our aim subconsiously), but I was told I am currently ok. Except Sunday, we now shoot every day until next Tuesday's qualifications.

The 2nd station was a set of foxholes where we got in to work on our positioning. Some soldiers were off in a field and popped up as targets and we were to aim and dry fire at them. Drill sergeants would critique our form as we did this.

Third was a lecture on firing problems. A process to follow if we are jammed. What to do in case of a double-load. What do to in case of a pop-and-no-kick - the bullet fired off but the main explosion did not propel the bullet out of the barrel, which means defective ammunition. It gets stuck in the barrel and if you fire another, the rifle will blow up in your face. In the case it happens, you call the entire range to a cease fire. Once a drill sergeant stops yelling at you for doing that and it turns out that it really is a pop-and-no-kick, all the ranges are shut down on base. Also, every range in the Army using ammunition from that lot number are shut down as well until it is all pulled from circulation. Fortunately, the drill sergeant conducting the lecture hasn't seen one in his 12 years, so it probably won't happen.

The last station was a washer test. A washer is balanced on the end of your barrel and you dry fire. If the washer falls, you need to work on your fundamentals. Mine fell once in 10 tries, and the person putting it on said it wasn't balanced very well to begin with.

When we got outside, they phased us. We are now in white phase. Red was mostly physical training. White is almost all BRM. Last is blue, which we get in another 3 weeks or so. It has been tough, and finally reaching a landmark date is a big lift mentally. They switch our platoon banner from a red one to a white one. However, the drill sergeant took it away from us immediately because some people insist on not doing things as they should. For now, we have a simple poll representing us in front of our formation - it will take a bit for us to earn the right to have it back.

2003-07-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

Friday, February 28, 2003

Started BRM officially now. Today we got our rifles and went to a range. We received range and safety orientations and did some dry firing out of a foxhole. Our qualification test will be 20 shots from a foxhole, and 20 shots in the prone unsupported position (lying on stomache, propped up on elbows). Our 5k road march was cancelled, I'm not sure why, but I guess it was the icy conditions.

2003-07-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

Thursday, February 27, 2003

We went out to our land navigation course and hung out a while as the drill sergeants decided whether or not to cancel the exercise. They did. It was snowing and they didn't want those people who will get lost (there is always a group or two who do) to get frostbite. They also cancelled PECS 2, which was to be a timed run-through. So we did some BRM classroom work - how to get into the proper unsupported prone position up our elbows, aim, and fire. We ate MREs for the first time. I had turkey breast with potatos and gravy. Not bad if we could have heated it up. There was also fruit cocktail in mine which was pretty nasty. Crackers and peanut butter, a chocolate power bar, and a chocolate-covered oatmeal cookie. I hope I get the M&Ms next time.

Lots of PT today. Gave myself muscle failure 3 times at pushups. In 2 minutes, I've improved by 5 pushups and 10 situps since only Saturday. 3 hours of personal time today - too much it seems. I'm going to write a few letters.

2003-07-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, February 26, 2003

Classroom instruction in land navigation. Reading maps. Plotting points. Determining azmuths. Set up plans for the navigation course we are doing tomorrow. Start point, go a certain distance to point 2, etc. At night we finally all learned why each of us joined up. Lots of surprises. Lots of "ah, ok, that's it" to explain certain peoples' attitudes and behaviors.

2003-07-14T20:21:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, February 25, 2003

RBT [RBT = Rifle Bayonet Training]. Learned to use the bayonet. Slash, thrust, head bash, groin bash. Then we put on the pads and went at it with pugil sticks. FUN! 1st match was a marathon. I got in a bunch of kill shots, got killed a few times myself, but for whatever reason, the drill sergeant was not counting them. She wanted a rifle-butt bash to the face, which I eventually did to win. Was winded quickly - we both had to stop after a few times to catch our breath. Had a 2nd bout later. Lost this one but still got in a few good shots. Took a hard head blow which pretty much made me not want to go to a 3rd.

I got a birthday package today from a friend who I didn't tell not to send me anything. The drill sergeant took the book she sent, but I should get it back when I leave.

2003-07-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

Monday, February 24, 2003

My birthday. Get lots of wishes, but the day pretty much sucked. Went to sick call because I am getting the flu. Was in and out, but had to wait almost 6 hours for my battle buddies to get out (we are not allowed to go anywhere alone). As a result, I missed hand-to-hand combat. The only chance I have to choke some of these guys. I guess I'll have to wait for the pugil sticks. Also when I got back, something had happened to really piss off the drill sergeant. Everyone had gotten off the cattle cars and formed up in front of the barracks as our drill sergeant had ordered. Another platoon's drill sergeant yelled at them for being dumbasses and not going inside. Half the platoon went inside and chaos ensued. He took away our phase banner and replaced it with a rag with a "2" spraypainted on it. I also may have been fired as APG, but we will see, as I said, I wasn't there.

Also, a sad day. One of our leaders was seriously hurt at hand-to-hand and it doesn't look good. We are all pulling for him.

2003-07-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

Sunday, February 23, 2003

Another boring Sunday. Sleep in until 0500, get up for chow. Clean. 1000 church. Chow. Clean. Laundry. Personal time starts at 1500 today. Early dinner chow. Then back to to the D-FAC [D-FAC = dining facility] eventually to help KP finish cleaning early. One of our drill sergeants is the KP drill sergeant today and they frequently bring over their privates so everyone can get out earlier. Hand-to-hand is scheduled for tomorrow, but it is snowing, so it may be postponed. Weather is crazy here. Almost 70 degrees yesterday and today it snows. Even worse is when it is in the 30s when we get up and have to change later as it gets really warm, then change back as it gets cold again in the evening. No wonder they call Missouri, "Misery".

2003-07-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday, February 22, 2003

Wakeup 0400. PT. Chow. Class on intro to BRM on video. The drill sergeant did a runthrough on the basics - more to come later. Map reading class. Learned to use a military map - get coordinates within 10m. The rest of the day was like a Sunday. Lots of cleaning. PT on our own - I did 183 pushups in about 15 minutes, mixed in with 120 situps.

2003-07-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

Friday, February 21, 2003

APFT I [APFT = Army Physical Fitness Test]. In 2 minutes, I complete 39 pushups for 60%, 51 situps for 66%, and 13:50 on the 2-mile run for 94%.

We have a sensing session with the company commander and the 1st sergeant. It is an informal meeting where we are allowed to voice any grievances without the drill sergeants being present. No real complaints. Many comments on proceedres. My complaint was how we went through reception for all that time, and then did almost everything again during basic - reception could literally be 1 day: get our shots, issue our clothing, set up our pay, and move us out.

We find out that TRADOC, which is in charge of training standards, has decreed that no caping (smoking) is allowed for more than 5 minutes, and no more than 10 pushups at a time. Huh??? I have to do 39 pushups in under 2 minutes to pass the regular army standard, but they can't drop me for 1/4 of that? Makes no sense...

I felt good running today. A tendon behind my knee is really sore and my knee swells immediately after if I am inactive. Thankfully, while running, it feels ok, but I plan to ice and rest it over the weekend.

2003-07-14T20:02:00.000-07:00

Thursday, February 20, 2003

Finally, someone got what was comming to him. Bad attitude was caught on his bunk. Drill sergeant smoked us all, but it was worth the guy having to tell us why it was all his fault.

PECS [PECS = Physical Endurance & Conditioning (Course?)] today. Basically and obstacle course. Fun! but hard. Very hard while wearing kevlar & LCE [LCD = Load Carrying Equipment]. Rope bridge, dive under log, back crawl under barbed wire, balance run across logs, over walls, and the hardest for me: pull yourself along the top of a rope - commando-style. I at first was unable to get up. After a boost, I made it about 5 feet before losing my balance and ending up under the rope. I wasn't about to have to do it again, so I willed myself across upside down. Tearing and burning arms, but I made it. The platoon started to come together as a team as well as we cheered each other on.

Messed up situation. Rumors abound after breakfast about a hijacked jet crashing into the USS Ronald Reagan and 3000 sailors deal. Turns out it was fake. Planted. We had a company meeting to go over some equal opportunity, sexual harassment, and threat classes. The company commander broke in and announced that the plane had hit a ship and sunk it, however it was not the Reagan. A militant Islamic group was claiming responsibility which had connections to Iraq and IRan. Also, 3 scuds with nerve agent exploded over Tel Aviv, killing another 3000+. Bush has ordered the invasion and our training has been fast-tracked to end in 6 weeks instead of 9. Our MOSes have been changed and we would be reclassed according to the needs of the army. 2 days after gradation, we will be on a plane to Germany for 2 more weeks of training, then on to Turkey to guard the Turkey/Iraq border. They asked questions about who in the room was a sole-surviving family member, who spoke Arabic, and who could not kill someone. It was an exercise to see who had really thought about why they joined and to get us more serious about our training. It turns out, a large number of people said they could not kill someone. Why the hell did they join the Army of a country at war if they weren't willing to fight?!?!?!??! A few people are going to have to re-earn my respect.

This situation could actually happen tomorrow. However, with us unable to access any world news other than what the drill sergeants tell us, it was real enough today. I was scared, enraged, and my hands were shaking; but I am proud that I was still willing to go. A few people are already showing signs of seriousness, but time will tell for sure.

2003-07-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, February 19, 2003

I wake up early at 0330 for KP - have to be outside and ready at 0430. End up doing pots & pans for breakfast and lunch. Dinner I do headcount, which basically means I sit and wait for a drill sergeant to sign up each of the 4 companies in the batallion as they eat. Also, if an NCO or officer is on a pay-by-meal plan, I take their payment. $3.25 for dinner is a bargain-and-a-half! After that is over, it's back to pots & pans. Total time: 15 hours. We did get a break for 40-45 min or so between lunch and dinner, but it was a very long day and my hands are sore from pruning and repruning over and over.

2003-07-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, February 18, 2003

Got up for KP, went and was sent away because they had too many people already from other companies. Back to change for AGR PT and a fast run. I kept up better this time, but my knees and shins are starting to get sore. I have been icing them and I hope to build them up soon, but we dont run enough right now - the weather hinders outside activity.

We didn't do warrior tower because of the ice on the structure. Instead, we did a teamwork development course. Get a team through a culvert, over 3 posts, and through another culvert with a box of ammo using only 4 boards. Get a team over a wall and cross a broken chain bridge, etc. We pretty much had the same problem of too many chiefs and not enough followers. Better change soon.

Came back to the barracks for our phase I testing. Had to recite our general orders, recognize rank insignia, know military/civilian time conversion, manual of arms for drill and ceremony, how to report to an officer. Easy. Passed them all. Hope this means that phase I is comming to an end soon. Next thursday is the official last day of our 3rd week, but they can advance us sooner (or make us wait) if they think we are ready (or not). I don't think we are - people still will not be quiet or do as they are supposed to in formations.

We found out about the new Bin Laden tape last night. I find it hard to believe he hasn't been dead for over a year. He must have been seriously hurt though, because he is the type to brag - 1 year+ of silence, if we missed him, is way out of character.

Tonight, we got a lesson in how to change clothes faster. After dinner chow, we were given 10 minutes to change into BDUs. Then 10 minutes to change into PTs. Then 10 minutes into BDUs. Each time, we had to run around the building, up to the 2nd floor, get our stuff out of our lockers, go to the changing room, change, put stuff back into our lockers, get outside and run around the building to where we form up. Very tough to do in 10 minutes. The last time, back into our PTs, we had to get into the classroom, which is also on the 2nd floor. We make that one easily. According to my watch, we also made it the last time we had to run outside, but that never stops the drill sergeants from giving us a fun time.

2003-07-07T20:41:00.000-07:00

Monday, February 17, 2003

It is Presidents' day, so there is nothing major on the schedule. The drill sergeant on duty found out about a guy and a girl hugging down on the female floor and smoked the entire company until they admitted who they were. Then he continued until witnesses came forward. I don't know what happened to them after that. More cleaning. Self PT - pushups and situps. Studying for the first phast test. Our platoon sergeant (i.e. head drill sergeant) ran PT at night for the first time. Very hard, but I feel great now. Pushups, situps, crunches of at least 4 varieties and flutterkicks. Over and over again. I didnt count the abdominal sets, but I estimate 400-500 pushups today.

The weather here is completely messed up. 40 degrees in the morning, 70 in the afternoon, snow the next day. Warrior tower is suposed to be tomorrow, but we cannot do it if it is even slightly wet or icy, or if there is a strong wind. I have KP, so I am hoping that the snow and ice that is currently out there does not melt.

2003-07-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

Sunday, February 16, 2003

I was acting PG today as our regular had KP. I didn't have fireguard last night, so I got to sleep for 7 1/2 hours straight! Finally we have an easy day as I was told Sundays would be. Wakeup at 0500. 2 hours of personal time to work on cleaning, etc. Chow. Church at 10. More cleaning until 1300 to get the barracks clean. After lunch, back the the barracks to work on our wall lockers, cleaning, studying, and turning in our BDUs to the quartermaster. Chow at 1700. Back to the barracks where the drill sergeant strongly hinted that our lockers and boots should be perfect, and sent those that needed to work on those things away to do just that. The rest of us were given time to do our own PT, or go on free time. I actually had time to write 2 complete letters today. I could do another, but I have fireguard from 2300-2400, so I will get to bed for a few hours' sleep first. Definately feeling refreshed now. I will need it if we are inspected tomorrow - they will find plenty wrong, I am sure.

2003-07-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday, February 15, 2003

0400 wakeup. No foot march because of a thunderstorm. We have a class on how to put on our NBC gear [NBC = nuclear, biological, chemical]. Then we march over to the gas chamber!

We put on our hoods and masks and get in line. 15 of us enter the chamber and the door closes. I clear and seal my mask multiple times to make sure it is right. Some gas starts getting into my mask and I choke as my eyes begin to water. We are commanded to hold our breath and lift the mask away from our faces to expose our chins to the sergeant in charge. Someone doesn't do it correctly so everything takes longer, and as he said he would if someone didn't follow directions, he makes the gas stronger. FINALLY, the guy gets the mask up enough to satisfy the sergeant and we can put the masks back on, and clear and seal them around our faces. I'm gone. Still choking - I don't think my original seal was great. We then are commanded to turn around, completely remove the mask and hood, and breathe "normally". We are told to turn around a couple of times to see if we are still coherent enough to understand commands. At this point, I am dry-heaving and wishing that I could throw up my spaghetti lunch. This is torture. One of the other soldiers is screwing up the turn-around commands and they aren't opening the door to let us out. I then have to physically spin the guy beside me to get him to comply with an about-face order that I somehow understood (the speaker in the chamber is of amazingly bad quality). At last! They say "Get the hell out of here!" and open the door. Practically blind, we walk out (being the last in of the 15, I am the last to exit and thus exposed to the gas the longest). We are told where to go and to lift our arms up and breathe. I can barely see them, never mind see them pointing and gesturing. Things pretty much clear up quickly after that, but my sinuses are screwed. Snot is literally running down my face, but I do not vomit. 20 min later, all that is left is some stinking eyes and a whiff of the gasses every once in a while from our clothes.

During all this, the drill sergeants are taking photos and laughing alot. I think this may be their favorite day of all of basic training.

The gas they used was CS - riot control stuff, but at least on the streets, it dissipates. In the chamber, it just concentrates.

I do not want to do that again.

After all that, we get back to the barracks only to get smoked by our newest drill sergeant (the same guy from the shaving episode). Since he is fresh out of drill sergeant school, he is tough. Also, we haven't changed clothes, and as we sweat, the room starts to fill with CS. So we move outside, where I do some heavy damage to my boots from front-back-go's on the concrete. I can't believe these freaking kids will not get the message through their skulls that they need to shut up and do as they are told. I am starting to get really worn down.

A slight gas backlash in the shower as my eyes stung from the water washing the last of the gas out of my hair and skin.

We have a boot shining class then some PT. Pushups and situps in sets of 2:00, 1:30, 1:00, 0:30, 2:00. I would already have passed the standards necessary for our final PT test as I do 35 pushups (56%) and 40 situps (57%). My goal is to get over 60% on both on next week's test.

2003-07-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

Friday, February 14, 2003

Pretty easy day. Wokd up at 0345 to get some extra work done.

One thing that I have noticed is that we haven't been pulled out of bed in the middle of the night (yet). It happened every night at reception - I think they screwed with us that way because there was nothing they could really do to us until we passed a PT diagnostic test. Once we pass, we are legally fit enough to punnish with pushups, etc.

Started marching in cadence today. It's tough to understand the drill sergeants at times because we are marching in company (240 or so soldiers), but it certainly makes marching more fun.

Tomorrow is the gas chamber plus a 3 km road march, so they are taking it generally easy on us. It's also Valentine's day, so I think a lot of the drill sergeants wanted to get home to their families.

2003-06-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

Yep, I jacked it up.

Hit one button and lost all my formatting. Fortunately, I was able to do a view source of the page before I published and am able to get many of my links back. I was planning on making changes anyway, as I was tired of the old format, but wanted to wait until I had basictrainingblog up on it's own. Oh well, a little duct tape, WD-40 and a couple hours and here you go. At least now the archives work and you can go back to the beginning of my BCT.

PS: I don't know why the dates for the Basic Training Blog entries are black, they are supposed to be red...

2003-06-24T18:53:00.000-07:00

Thursday, February 13, 2003

Today sucked. Very sore. Smoked again in the morning. We were even warned a couple of times too. Within about 15 seconds of, someone talked... Very tired - this is starting to catch up with me.

The day did end on a great note, however. During the day, we were over getting a communications class. I was acting PG [PG = Platoon Guide] as the other was on sick call. There was a girl from another platoon who was giving me lots of grief. Later, we were out in formation and she did something to piss off a drill sergeant. If you respond to a drill sergeant without saying "drill sergeant" at the end of your statement, they like to use sarcasm to prompt you to add it: they will say "Yes what? ...yes buddy, asshole, pal...?" Well, this drill sergeant said "...yes asshole?" and says, "Yes, asshole." There are a few seconds of silence as this sunk in (even though we couldn't see what was happening, we could visualize the gears turning in this DS' head as he realized what she said.) Then there was an explosion as 4 of them jumped down her throat. Drill sergeants are no longer allowed to touch trainees with their hands, so they make up for it with their voices. I had been wondering, actually, if anyone had ever slipped up and said that in the past, and what would happen.

We had our first wall locker inspection. We failed, of course. Had to repack everything into our duffle bags and bring them outside, clean the barracks, and bring them back in. However, I think it was planned that we would fail because there were 3 hours scheduled for this inspection.

My back is very sore. First is was my fingertips, but they are fine now. Palms of my hands are now very sore as well from all the pushing.

2003-06-24T18:39:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, February 12, 2003

The BRM training room was what I thought our barracks would look like. [BRM = Basic Rifle Marksmanship] Squat, long, thin buildings made of corrugated aluminum. Our actual barracks are bunkbeds, 16 in my room. Our platoon has other bays with 7 and 4 in them.

Today: running PT. I am in alpha group due to my fast diagnostic mile run time. Beginning to think I should have dogged that diagnostic but then again, I haven't run in a couple months. I should be OK eventually. Right now I am really hapy I have no knee or shinsplint pain.

Took a trip to the museum on base. Mostly a history of mines and chemicals in war as Ft Leonard Wood is where those specialties, along with MPs, train.

Drill & Ceremony: we learn many moves with our rifles that you see: present arms, right shoulder arms, left shoulder arms, inspect arms, etc. No "razzle dazzle" move from Stripes, though.

Smoked again for 30 min or so. Front-back-go's and side straddle hops (jumping jacks). About 5 assholes can't grow up and learn to be quiet and respectful. I did, however, feel really good after. I am getting stronger - not bigger yet - we don't get much time to eat alot so I don't think much weight gain is going to occur.

2003-06-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, February 11, 2003

0400 wakeup. 1 hr PT. My back is killing me. We do at least 200 pushups, then flutterkicks, situps, overhead armclaps (top half of jumping jacks) and arm raises. They don't sound hard, but do 100 of them in a row.

We get our M16s and learn to disassemble and reassemble them. We have to do it in under a minute - I can't even get the handguards off in that as that spring is really tough. Once I get those off, though, I fly.

Forgot to mention yesterday, but if war comes, I may get fasttracked to a 6 week BCT instead of 9, and get deployed immediately to whatever MOS the army needs that I can do. [MOS = Military Occupational Specialty] Not a great prospect, but if I can come back to my original plan afterward, I would be up for it. The thing is, the war would probably be over before those 6 weeks (well 5 now) are up.

I may have ducked another smoke session. Missed a spot while shaving today. The drill sergeant told me to fix it and I forgot. He wasn't my regular drill sergeant but he called me on it later. He was pissed, but couldn't do anything at the time. I think (hope) he forgot. Will be taking extra care tomorrow...

2003-06-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

CHANGES

My blogger has switched over to the new format and I'm trying to get things straight with it. I also all along intended to move the basic training part of my blog to it's own site, so this is as good a time as any to do that. I will post that address when it is up and these posts are moved. After that point, new entries will be much more frequent.

2003-05-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

Monday, February 10, 2003

1st day of official PT, but no running because it is so cold. I get weighed and find I've already lost 6 lbs (138 now). I got lucky today as I forgot my ID and did not have it for breakfast or lunch. The checker wrote down my name at breakfast, but the drill sergeant didn't call me on it.

Classes on sexual harrassment, equal opportunity, etc. We watch the 1st 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan to introduce us to the 7 army values (loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, personal courage). The room we have it in is very hot and many fall asleep. When caught, they are brought outside and made to do things that will wake them up, such as pushups and overhead arm clappers. I still havent been caught and smoked alone. Hope that continues.

Have some letters to write, so nothing else today.

2003-05-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

Sunday, February 9, 2003

We went to the PX (post exchange) for the first time to purchase any items we need such as toiletries, shoe shining supplies, etc. I had to get underwear, t-shirts and socks just to have on display in my wall locker. Got another haircut - didn't mention it before, but I am pretty much a skinhead now. Combind that with the BCG glasses (bcg = birth control glasses), and Im looking pretty freaky.

2003-05-11T17:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday, February 8, 2003

People are getting more serious - it seems they realize its a job rather than a summer camp.

Got to see our M16s today. Went to the weapons arsenal, checked them out, and then got directly in line to check them in again. They were just getting us used to the process of getting them out.

Let me tell you about chow... We file in, stagger people to the left and right in order to squeeze more people in a small area. If we don't keep our heads and eyes forward and our bodies at parade rest, we're screamed at and sometimes sent to the end of the line. There is no talking. We get our silverware and trays, put the trays down, keep our toes against the base of the counter and our heels together. We slide down the counter as we sound off to the kitchen help what we want. We sit and have about 10 minutes (if we're lucky) to finish and get out. It is as structured as drill and ceremony.

Speaking of which, drill and ceremony started today officially. It is the marching in napoleonic formations, the methods of saluting, etc. I was named PGA (platoon guide assistant). My position is last in the 1st squad (row). When facing as a rectangle on display, I am the farthest right, first row. I basically don't have any responsibility except to fill in for the PG when she is not there.

We also had our initial diagnostic PT test today. In 2 minutes each, I completed 28 pushups and 26 situps, then ran a mile in 6:58

2003-04-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

Friday, February 7, 2003

Today is our first day of basic training, officially. Pretty much all classroom instruction, which surprises me.

2003-04-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

Thursday, February 6, 2003

Snowed in the AM and we stayed inside. We get smoked for over an hour in the morning. It is hard. 49 of us in a small room doing pushups, situps, overhead arm clappers, flutterkicks, arching our backs, then letting our hips go almost to the floor and back up again. Puddles of sweat on the floor - not fun.

Smoked again at night - in the snow, with mud underneath it - for about 40 minutes. Front, back, gos in the snow. Front = pushups, back = flutterkicks, go = running in place, arms straight out in front of you. May sound easy, but it gets tiring very quickly. Some people will just not show respect or shut up. *sigh*

2003-04-26T14:59:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, February 5, 2003

No entry for today, sorry.

2003-04-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, February 4, 2003

We moved down to where we will be spending basic training today. They gathered us outside the reception area and loaded us into cattle cars. After a 10 minute ride or so, the doors opened and all hell broke loose. Drill sergeants everywhere screaming at us as we tried not to trip and be run over while running with our 70 lb duffle bags into a gym. We have to line up into I dont remember how many lines and get our duffles lined up perfectly from right to left. Each time we don't get it right, we have to do "corrective training". Either pushups or overhead arm-clappers, which are like the arm part of jumping jacks, but you don't drop your arms past your shoulders.

We are separated into 4 platoons and move out to our building and classrooms. There, we undergo a shakedown where the drill sergeants make sure we have everything we are supposed to have, and nothing we are not supposed to have - all that goes in a personal bag and is locked up until we leave.

2003-04-26T14:53:00.000-07:00

Monday, February 3, 2003

Had to redo my security paperwork again. Everything I did at MEPS - staying that extra day - was not in the system. But now it is done... Got my ID and class A photo as well. Lastly, we had our PT (physical training) test: 13 pushups, 17 situps, and 1 mile in 8:30. I did that in about 6:50 and really needed it. All the anxiety and nausea is now gone, at least for today. I just want to get this started - an hour of activity goes much faster than an hour of waiting.

2003-04-26T14:51:00.000-07:00

Sunday, February 2, 2003

0600 Wakeup. Lots of hurry up and wait. Got to make a phone call home to get some information for paperwork. Watch 1/2 of Black Hawk Down. Some people still don't understand the phrase "shut up." Stenciled names on our dufflebags. Went to church for the first time in 12 years, excluding xmas services. Was good to go - it was recommended to go as it is the only break we get during basic.

Find out we are shipping out to basic training on Tuesday. Nervous as hell.

2003-04-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday, February 1, 2003

I am finally writing here on the same day. I can't believe it, but last night, I was excited about the prospects of this morning's 0630 wakeup. We form up and head to the chow hall, after which we are waiting in a large room when a sergeant comes in and asks if anyone is from Texas. He then proceeds to tell us that NASA had lost contact with the space shuttle Columbia somewhere over Texas and turns on the TV. I remember watching the very first shuttle blastoff in 1st grade when my grandmother brought in a TV to my class - that was also the Columbia. What flashes in my mind next is this spoof story that I saw at Little Green Footballs shortly before I left. I don't know if anyone actually celebrated the tragedy, but considering that an Israeli Air Force Colonel was among the killed, they probably did (UPDATE: Yes, they did. The sick bastards.) Find out on the news that he took part in the Iraqui nuclear plant raid years ago. There is little doubt in my mind that if Israel had not done this, and Iraq was able to develop nuclear weapons from it, I would have been in a nuclear fireball on 9/11 rather than watching smaller explosions from my subway car. We owe this guy some sort of honor.

I can't believe the number of 18-year-olds here who think they are king of the world. Lots of spitting, cursing, sexual bravado, and fake southern accents... I hope my platoon when I actually get to basic isn't full of these guys, but I would love to see the attitude adjustments after they get smoked a few times.

Not much today. Saturday and Sunday are slow at reception - I hear not so much during basic - we'll see. I have fireguard duty from 0000-0100 so I'm going to bed.

2003-04-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

Friday, January 31, 2003

We spend most of the day processing paperwork for our finances, benefits, etc. Then we have an x-ray taken and get a mouthguard from the dental office, and have an eye exam if we wear glasses, which I do.

2003-04-20T16:07:00.000-07:00

Thursday, January 30, 2003

We get to sleep in until 0500. Head over to the reception hall where we wait around most of the morning for medical in order to receive 7 shots in less than 1 minute - the one in the hips/butt really aches later in the day. One poor guy told the attendants that he would pass out as soon as they stuck him. They didn't really believe him until he dropped the second the 1st shot went into his arm. He then passed out 6 more times; one time for each additional shot.

We get our clothing issues: 4 sets of BDUs (battle dress uniforms, i.e. camo fatigues), PTs (physical training uniforms), boots, socks, underwear, etc. Then we go to the PX (post store) to buy stuff they easily could have told us to buy before leaving home.

2003-04-20T16:03:00.000-07:00

PAYPAL BUTTON

Yes, I added a tip jar. I am having trouble with publishing and archives, so I am hoping to upgrade to a blogger pro account to solve these issues. Please do not feel obligated to contribute.

2003-04-20T14:38:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, January 29, 2003

4:45 wakeup and back to MEPS. Since I have been sworn in again, I am now officially active duty and they put me to work shredding paper for a few hours. After a couple briefings about mealtickets and what to do if I miss a flight or anything, I head to the airport and fly through Detroit to St Louis. We wait a couple hours at the USO in St Louis for a bus to take us to Ft Leonard Wood. I sleep about 1 1/2 hours on the bus, which is a good thing, as we are met by a drill sergeant and have to continue with some paperwork after we arrive around 1:00 AM. Actually get to bed around 3:00.

2003-04-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, January 28, 2003

4:45 wakeup. I slept maybe 2 hours. Arrive at MEPS (Military Entry Processing Station, Im pretty sure) for a medical inspection. There is a paperwork problem that causes me to miss my flight out. I re-swear in after it is fixed and head back to the Doubletree for another night. This time, I actually sleep 4 or 5 hours!

2003-04-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

Monday, January 27, 2003

My brother-in-law drove me to the Portland, Maine Doubletree Inn to spend the night and await my early-morning processing at the MEPS station the following day. I'm unable to sleep, but unlike when I first signed up in September, I'm not nervous. I'm simply thinking about the good reasons why I am doing this.

2003-04-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

BASIC TRAINING BLOG

I've finished my journal and it is 80 pages long. Not sure how long it will take to get all on here, but I will get it going a little at a time, mostly over weekends for sure. I should have some started tonight, but if not, definately tomorrow - there are usually a lot of people waiting to use the computers here and they limit us to 30 min at a time when there is a line.

Some of the writing is very rough. I decided that I will transcribe it exactly how I wrote it, and not polish up the language at all. It should add some dimension to my state of mind, level of stress, amount of sleep deprivation, etc... :)

On another note, I read through most of the notes of advice I got from many of you before I went in. Most made me smile at how right on they were, especially the one from the ex-BCT batallion commander. For anyone going in, thats pretty much all you need to know.

UPDATE: Forget not changing the language. After scanning the first couple days, I have a lot of short thoughts there that I need to elaborate on at times.

2003-04-09T16:08:00.000-07:00

I MADE IT

Wow. That was tough. I am sitting in a hotel now with my father and step-mother, who came out for graduation, which is tomorrow. I noticed that my average number of hits per day has been around 40 since my Instapundit surge, so I wanted to post this little note since I have a chance. I ended up keeping my journal and have over 70 pages of composition-sized notebook pages full. I am about a week behind so that should be over 80 when I complete it. Once that is done, and I am settled into school in California, I will be transcribing it here a couple days at a time. Entries vary from a few lines, to pages. I am looking forward to discovering what I have already forgotten. The experience as been good at times, bad frequently, even fun at times, but mostly it was just sit back and take it for X more days/weeks/whatever and it will be over.

I look forward to answering questions as I go along in my basictrainingblog. Please email me any you have or put them in a comments area.

2003-01-26T09:35:00.000-08:00

IM OUT

OK, Im done for a couple months. Will be back during the 2nd or 3rd week of April after I return and will transpose my written notes into basic training blog.

Thanks to all who offered their support in the comments below and through email. I am especially thankful to those who offered advice. Even though I was unable to email each of you individually, I wanted to let you know that I appreciate it.

2003-01-23T07:46:00.000-08:00

ABOUT TO BE AN UNCLE

My sister has been having contractions 5-8 minuts apart for almost 48 hours now. I leave Monday. Our other sister goes back to school in California on Saturday. Her in-laws return to Oregon Wednesday. HURRY UP!

UPDATE: It's a girl! 8lbs 5oz Savannah Therese born today (1/24) 0424 hours

UPDATE II: This is probably a great way to finish things up before I shut down for 2 months. I'll write a quick entry before I go, but except for that, I'm done posting until after basic.