(no subject)
Rapid update on what I've done in the last.... oh.... year and a half in bullet form before I go to bed. Highlights! Lowlights! Other! Ready, steady, GO!!!
5 Jan 07: Finish corrections on Master's Report (Thesis Lite) approximately 0500. Turn in thesis. Get paper stating completion.
6 Jan 07: Spend last day with Tara.
7 Jan 08: Get in car with govt. contractor. Ride to Iron Mountain. Hook up with recruiter in 16 passenger van. Ride to Milwaukee. Meet folks I'm shipping to Benning with. Spend night in Milwaukee. Made last phone call to my wife as a civilian that night. Wow, hadn't even thought of it like that.
8 Jan 08: First day at MEPS. Swear in. Almost piss it away telling doc about getting sick in China, and not having Master Promissory Note for SLRP. Google it. :) Second night in Milwaukee.
9 Jan 08: Fly Milwaukee to Atlanta. Bus Atlanta to Ft. Benning.
10 Jan 08 0130: Arrive at lovely Fort Benning, GA, 30th AG! (That's Adjutant General, or in-processing for the non-military types) Spend a week and a half waiting to process shots, initial issue, paperwork, getting screamed at, paperwork, standing nut to butt, paperwork, learning to make beds, paperwork, getting out of the way of everyone, paperwork, reading the IET handbook, trying not to fall asleep, eating meals in 7 minutes, and...paperwork. LOTS of stories, memories. I'll make that a topic for later. Met some people who would later be joining me at
16 Jan 08: A Co, 2/47th INF, Basic Training BN. Technically, I was part of 4th ID for 9 weeks. Anywho, 68-71 guys (we gained/lost a few through the cycle) crammed into one open bay. Good times. My Drill Sergeants (NOT DIs! I'm not a Sailor or a Marine, dammit!) are DS Mayo, Hobbs, and Gauldine. They rocked. Basic Training (NOT Boot Camp, SEE ABOVE DAMMIT!!) is about 8 stories. I could make it 20 pages. 5 minute version:
We got smoked. Holding "Cover!" for 10-20 minutes. (I lost track of time, and couldn't see my watch so good, was more concerned with not quitting at the time) Doing "Iron Mikes" and sprints under the starship barracks for oh... 2 hours? 3? and not being able to walk up/down stairs for 3 days. "Hobbs 75s" that consist of doing every exercise DS Hobbs could think of. DS Collins gets us up at 0100 to do 700 knee benders because the fire guard said "'Sup," when he walked in. Almost die running A group, don't get worked running B group. Overhead arm claps/military press FOREVER in the classroom because some fool(s) couldn't keep their eyes open/know when to stand up. Getting smoked as the Platoon Guide until I couldn't move, being asked if I wanted to quit now, and screaming "NO DRILL SERGEANT!!!" Having the whole platoon drop with me when I was getting smoked, as one behind me. Best church services I've been to in my life. Running a 1304 2-mile. Being pissed at myself for not breaking 1300.
Mentoring young privates who were struggling with life at Basic. Wasserman, Williams, Rothstein, Webster, Ventura, Wonser, Woods, Skittles, (Simons, really, but he got named Skittles day 1 @ 30th AG). Getting sick. Getting emotional. Pugils. Williams falls asleep in the middle of being a first aid dummy. PVT twists foot on 1-mile ruck.... because he wore two left boots, one of which is a winter boot, the other summer. Yeah... Wrote letters. LOTS of letters. "Drink water!" is a command.
Initial intro to Combatives, MREs. Land nav didn't go so well with 6 of us in a group. In retrospect, I did better on my own not using the compass. Huh. Learning to use the radios = saying really dumb things on the airwaves. Bayonet training in cold, cold field. LOMAH range on cold, cold day. No winter boots. No poly-pros. Getting crammed onto cattle cars with rucks and weapons, finally allowed to sleep. Rucks sucked...now they don't, but I remember when they did. :)
MOUT training. Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM). A touch of ARM (Advanced...). My team's mounted live fire exercise was the best my DSs had seen in last 7 cycles. Made SAW gunner for last FTX, dug a wicked sweet fighting position with my AGs. Kicked ass on the missions/defense. Made a flying run over to the point that was being overrun (yeah, that side of the platoon was kinda dumb...) and gunned down lots of the raiding platoon. Jumped into the middle of a firefight with my team off our MOUT exercise, and killed lots of people. Had a blast on the last buddy team live fire exercise. Had a blast on the "Nick @ night" exercise (live 7.62 rounds fired off from the M240B over our heads). Had a blast...when I wasn't depressed/missing my wife enough to forget how awesome it was.
Listened to "Bruce" (a "motivational" narration of how to visualize success on the rifle range) 24/7 (yes, we slept with the CD on repeat) during qualification week of BRM. Shot 41/42 day prior, shoot 27/40 on prequal, 32/40 on qual despite being on safe for 1st 2 shots, and being in completely unfamiliar lane. See wild anoles.
Did laundry at 0300. Cleaned stuff at 0300. Pulled guard at 0300. Got smoked at 0300. Occasionally slept at 0300. Never got enough sleep.
Almost missed OCS class date because of late start/end of BCT. Instead, get out of week 9 (a.k.a. hell week), get 48-hour pass, spend 48 hours of wedded bliss with Tara (yes, we left the hotel), then go straight to OCS, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Well, do collect a pay increase from E-4 to E-5, which amounted to about $200 a month. Anywho. :) Well, that's Jan 07 to 19 Mar 07. I'm going to bed now. For all 3 of you reading this...enjoy. Everyone else...piss off! :P
5 Jan 07: Finish corrections on Master's Report (Thesis Lite) approximately 0500. Turn in thesis. Get paper stating completion.
6 Jan 07: Spend last day with Tara.
7 Jan 08: Get in car with govt. contractor. Ride to Iron Mountain. Hook up with recruiter in 16 passenger van. Ride to Milwaukee. Meet folks I'm shipping to Benning with. Spend night in Milwaukee. Made last phone call to my wife as a civilian that night. Wow, hadn't even thought of it like that.
8 Jan 08: First day at MEPS. Swear in. Almost piss it away telling doc about getting sick in China, and not having Master Promissory Note for SLRP. Google it. :) Second night in Milwaukee.
9 Jan 08: Fly Milwaukee to Atlanta. Bus Atlanta to Ft. Benning.
10 Jan 08 0130: Arrive at lovely Fort Benning, GA, 30th AG! (That's Adjutant General, or in-processing for the non-military types) Spend a week and a half waiting to process shots, initial issue, paperwork, getting screamed at, paperwork, standing nut to butt, paperwork, learning to make beds, paperwork, getting out of the way of everyone, paperwork, reading the IET handbook, trying not to fall asleep, eating meals in 7 minutes, and...paperwork. LOTS of stories, memories. I'll make that a topic for later. Met some people who would later be joining me at
16 Jan 08: A Co, 2/47th INF, Basic Training BN. Technically, I was part of 4th ID for 9 weeks. Anywho, 68-71 guys (we gained/lost a few through the cycle) crammed into one open bay. Good times. My Drill Sergeants (NOT DIs! I'm not a Sailor or a Marine, dammit!) are DS Mayo, Hobbs, and Gauldine. They rocked. Basic Training (NOT Boot Camp, SEE ABOVE DAMMIT!!) is about 8 stories. I could make it 20 pages. 5 minute version:
We got smoked. Holding "Cover!" for 10-20 minutes. (I lost track of time, and couldn't see my watch so good, was more concerned with not quitting at the time) Doing "Iron Mikes" and sprints under the starship barracks for oh... 2 hours? 3? and not being able to walk up/down stairs for 3 days. "Hobbs 75s" that consist of doing every exercise DS Hobbs could think of. DS Collins gets us up at 0100 to do 700 knee benders because the fire guard said "'Sup," when he walked in. Almost die running A group, don't get worked running B group. Overhead arm claps/military press FOREVER in the classroom because some fool(s) couldn't keep their eyes open/know when to stand up. Getting smoked as the Platoon Guide until I couldn't move, being asked if I wanted to quit now, and screaming "NO DRILL SERGEANT!!!" Having the whole platoon drop with me when I was getting smoked, as one behind me. Best church services I've been to in my life. Running a 1304 2-mile. Being pissed at myself for not breaking 1300.
Mentoring young privates who were struggling with life at Basic. Wasserman, Williams, Rothstein, Webster, Ventura, Wonser, Woods, Skittles, (Simons, really, but he got named Skittles day 1 @ 30th AG). Getting sick. Getting emotional. Pugils. Williams falls asleep in the middle of being a first aid dummy. PVT twists foot on 1-mile ruck.... because he wore two left boots, one of which is a winter boot, the other summer. Yeah... Wrote letters. LOTS of letters. "Drink water!" is a command.
Initial intro to Combatives, MREs. Land nav didn't go so well with 6 of us in a group. In retrospect, I did better on my own not using the compass. Huh. Learning to use the radios = saying really dumb things on the airwaves. Bayonet training in cold, cold field. LOMAH range on cold, cold day. No winter boots. No poly-pros. Getting crammed onto cattle cars with rucks and weapons, finally allowed to sleep. Rucks sucked...now they don't, but I remember when they did. :)
MOUT training. Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM). A touch of ARM (Advanced...). My team's mounted live fire exercise was the best my DSs had seen in last 7 cycles. Made SAW gunner for last FTX, dug a wicked sweet fighting position with my AGs. Kicked ass on the missions/defense. Made a flying run over to the point that was being overrun (yeah, that side of the platoon was kinda dumb...) and gunned down lots of the raiding platoon. Jumped into the middle of a firefight with my team off our MOUT exercise, and killed lots of people. Had a blast on the last buddy team live fire exercise. Had a blast on the "Nick @ night" exercise (live 7.62 rounds fired off from the M240B over our heads). Had a blast...when I wasn't depressed/missing my wife enough to forget how awesome it was.
Listened to "Bruce" (a "motivational" narration of how to visualize success on the rifle range) 24/7 (yes, we slept with the CD on repeat) during qualification week of BRM. Shot 41/42 day prior, shoot 27/40 on prequal, 32/40 on qual despite being on safe for 1st 2 shots, and being in completely unfamiliar lane. See wild anoles.
Did laundry at 0300. Cleaned stuff at 0300. Pulled guard at 0300. Got smoked at 0300. Occasionally slept at 0300. Never got enough sleep.
Almost missed OCS class date because of late start/end of BCT. Instead, get out of week 9 (a.k.a. hell week), get 48-hour pass, spend 48 hours of wedded bliss with Tara (yes, we left the hotel), then go straight to OCS, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Well, do collect a pay increase from E-4 to E-5, which amounted to about $200 a month. Anywho. :) Well, that's Jan 07 to 19 Mar 07. I'm going to bed now. For all 3 of you reading this...enjoy. Everyone else...piss off! :P