Latest from Sam
9 Nov
Our DS's have been great so far - they talk to us with a degree of respect, which is more than I can say for some of the ones I've heard. My old bunkmate was crying in the lunchroom today -- her DS called her out in front of the DS table to show them all that she "already had one crying," then made her sit at our table without a tray (I think, maybe, that she couldn't find where she'd left her food -- we have to set our food down, then go get our drink, and walk across to our seat with our widdle hands over the top of our widdle glasses, so we won't spill.). It's one thing to yell at somebody and chew them out, it's another altogether to degrade and humiliate them.
We're not being woken up until 05:00. That feels decadent.
Part of our briefings was a clip on how to talk to Drill Sergeants from Forest Gump. "What are you supposed to do, Gump?" "Do everything you tell me to do, Drill Sergeant." "You're a fucking genious, Gump!"
We got to put our duffle bags on a truck to get here [The Basic Training Barracks], and we rode buses, but we had to carry full laundry bags and our personal bags into and off of the buses. We had to run with all our gear ... and, oh my gawd, did we ever get more gear. 2 sleeping bags and a tarp in one bag, a matt rolled up, and a heavy rucksack full of wet weather gear, knee & elbow pads, a blank adapter (wtf?), more canteens, slings, helmet, etc.
We get weapons on Saturday!
11 Nov. 3am
We did PT, then the "Fit to Win" course that the DS told us was a "Confidence Building" course ... It did build a lot of confidence ... We climbed over a 20 foot high rope net platform -- 2 females fell, one almost from the top, and were hauled away by ambulance. Their confidence was probably not boosted. I loved it -- and did fine on everything but the Monkey Bars (Pam will be disappointed). I had to do 10 pushups for falling off the Monkey Bars.
16:07
I did 9 (54%) push-ups (he didn't like my 10th), 40 (72%) sit-ups, and ran my mile in 10:49. Lots of people, including drill sergeants, are pretty astonished at my age, and I enjoy bragging about my son graduating from here.
We're sitting in the sand, signing our weapons cards. I was psyched about getting the weapon, but then I found out we have to carry it everywhere. How did I forget that? I'm trying to think up a name [for it]. I wish I could look up Goddess Warrior names ... all I can think of is Nike = Victory, but I can't remember exactly what the other goddesses covered. Could you print me a lish of goddess names that are associated w/Warriors, Hunt, Victory & Motherhood? Leave Hera out -- whe was a jealous bitch, not that Zeus didn't give her plenty of reason, but she's not poly-friendly. ... I'll call her Moxie for now, until I get a permanent name.
20:09
That M16A2 isn't heavy yet -- I'm sure it will be after the first mile hiked. ... My left calf was killing me after the PT test - both legs cramped up while I did sit-ups and I was seriously worried that I had strained a muscle - but lots of marching and stretching later, it feels okay.
Tell Sue's Tim we march to the Tank Hill PX tomorrow. Graduation is on 26 January.
Our DS's have been great so far - they talk to us with a degree of respect, which is more than I can say for some of the ones I've heard. My old bunkmate was crying in the lunchroom today -- her DS called her out in front of the DS table to show them all that she "already had one crying," then made her sit at our table without a tray (I think, maybe, that she couldn't find where she'd left her food -- we have to set our food down, then go get our drink, and walk across to our seat with our widdle hands over the top of our widdle glasses, so we won't spill.). It's one thing to yell at somebody and chew them out, it's another altogether to degrade and humiliate them.
We're not being woken up until 05:00. That feels decadent.
Part of our briefings was a clip on how to talk to Drill Sergeants from Forest Gump. "What are you supposed to do, Gump?" "Do everything you tell me to do, Drill Sergeant." "You're a fucking genious, Gump!"
We got to put our duffle bags on a truck to get here [The Basic Training Barracks], and we rode buses, but we had to carry full laundry bags and our personal bags into and off of the buses. We had to run with all our gear ... and, oh my gawd, did we ever get more gear. 2 sleeping bags and a tarp in one bag, a matt rolled up, and a heavy rucksack full of wet weather gear, knee & elbow pads, a blank adapter (wtf?), more canteens, slings, helmet, etc.
We get weapons on Saturday!
11 Nov. 3am
We did PT, then the "Fit to Win" course that the DS told us was a "Confidence Building" course ... It did build a lot of confidence ... We climbed over a 20 foot high rope net platform -- 2 females fell, one almost from the top, and were hauled away by ambulance. Their confidence was probably not boosted. I loved it -- and did fine on everything but the Monkey Bars (Pam will be disappointed). I had to do 10 pushups for falling off the Monkey Bars.
16:07
I did 9 (54%) push-ups (he didn't like my 10th), 40 (72%) sit-ups, and ran my mile in 10:49. Lots of people, including drill sergeants, are pretty astonished at my age, and I enjoy bragging about my son graduating from here.
We're sitting in the sand, signing our weapons cards. I was psyched about getting the weapon, but then I found out we have to carry it everywhere. How did I forget that? I'm trying to think up a name [for it]. I wish I could look up Goddess Warrior names ... all I can think of is Nike = Victory, but I can't remember exactly what the other goddesses covered. Could you print me a lish of goddess names that are associated w/Warriors, Hunt, Victory & Motherhood? Leave Hera out -- whe was a jealous bitch, not that Zeus didn't give her plenty of reason, but she's not poly-friendly. ... I'll call her Moxie for now, until I get a permanent name.
20:09
That M16A2 isn't heavy yet -- I'm sure it will be after the first mile hiked. ... My left calf was killing me after the PT test - both legs cramped up while I did sit-ups and I was seriously worried that I had strained a muscle - but lots of marching and stretching later, it feels okay.
Tell Sue's Tim we march to the Tank Hill PX tomorrow. Graduation is on 26 January.
posted by Anonymous | 11/16/2006 04:29:00 PM
2 Comments:
Tell Sam thanks for letting me live my Army life over again through these letters. Also tell her it sounds like they have slackened off quite a bit since I was at Fort Jackson.
Forget it. I just saw the address where I can write her so I'll tell her myself.
Hey Don! Think she'd like to see my last HNT pics?
Athena: the goddess of war. She was beautiful and powerful.
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