10/26/2014 "Sunday Lazy Day"

Sermon speaking points

**Realize situations happen

**Reactions arise

**Hope floats

Today turned out to be almost a full day of relaxation. Buses didn’t pick us up again for the 0930 Protestant services, so the Sergeant in charge made sure transport picked us up to make the 1045 General Christian service. It turned out good. There is a stained glass mural above the podium of a solider down on one knee, weapon in hand, praying. That gets me every time.

Same as last week; we got back too late for lunch chow, so MRE’s it was. No candy for me, but I did get a chocolate chip pop tart and dreamcicle cookies. Most of the day was spent doing a lot of cleaning. My groin muscles are super tight and we have the 2-2-2 test first thing in the morning, tomorrow. I will start extra endurance before bed to keep building on the push-ups/ sit-ups. They told us either this coming week or start of next week we will begin shooting our weapons. We got some really good news today. The brigade passed down a new rule for phases. We will hit white phase in about two more weeks. Use to that meant phone privileges for about 15-20 minutes every Sunday. The new rule states that as long as we reach the phase and behave; we will get the phone for one hour every Sunday. That’s pretty sweet.

I have fireguard first shift, then hopefully can nab 5 hours of sleep for 0300 wake up.

Hope everyone had an amazing weekend.

SPC Manning, James 3rd Platoon #304

Cco. 1-46 Infantry Regt.

9587 2nd Armored Division Rd

Bldg. 3515 Fort Benning, GA 31905

10/25/2014 "Psalm 91"

I stumbled across a book in our bay locker today that caught my attention. “Psalm 91 God’s Shield of Protection.” Something about it caught my interest. (Note from his mom and past teachers- James hates to read, so if he recommends something check it out). I goes though all of Psalm 91 and has personal stories and accounts relating. It has a military theme and references. I just started it but I plan to set aside 10 minutes a day to read another section of it. I’ve become friends with one of the guys here that seems pretty similar to me. 18 years old and fresh out of high school but well grounded. He will also be in San Antonio for AIT when I’m there, so it’s pretty neat. We are church buddies.

Tonight the Company had a Halloween party for the kids and families, so most of the Drill Sergeants were pretty scarce. Made for an easy day, which in Basic means chow three times a day. A lot of cleaning as well. Tomorrow we are getting our lockers checked so everyone had to get them ready. This means clothes folded and rolled the same, accessories and other items all placed and fronted exactly the same. We also did the introduction to close combat training- hand to hand fighting. Lights off 2100 but I have to fireguard at 2200, so no point in sleeping yet. Tomorrow should be a much needed relaxation day. Our first real physical test is Monday; 2-2-2 (2 minute pushups and sit-ups and 2 mile run so they are trying to let us keep it easy so we can recover. We learned the extreme rude DS is leaving for a month to do training so everyone is happy. Lots of free time Sunday so more to come.

10/24/2014 "First Aid Again"

“Tiny Bubbles- in my beer;

Makes me happy, makes me cheer.

Tiny Bubbles- in my rum;

Makes me happy, makes me dumb.

Tiny Bubbles- in my whiskey;

Makes me happy, makes me frisky.

Tiny Bubbles- in my wine;

Makes me happy, makes me feel fine.”

Cadence of the day during the march; now everyone keeps singing it.

This will be quick; every night the DS rotate night shift. Some leave us alone. Some get bored and harass us; wake us up at random times to clean or get smoked. Tonight is the A-hole. The one that never shows us a good guy- real side. Always being rude.

Today I received my first letter from my mom. Good hearing from back home. Depressed my Aggies are blowing the football season though.

Today was more First Aid. PT this morning stepped up a little. Normal stretches, different exercises and then push-up sit-up endurance. 60 seconds of push-ups then 60 seconds of sit-ups, then 45 seconds, 30 seconds as many each time that you can do. Pretty tiring. Our group is slowly becoming more and more of a team. Its good watching the younger guys, mature some with discipline. I’ll have more free time tomorrow and Sunday to catch up.

SPC Manning, James 3rd Platoon #304

Cco. 1-46 Infantry Regt.

9587 2nd Armored Division Rd

Bldg. 3515 Fort Benning, GA 31905

10/25/2014 "Classroom day"



Today was a boring day. We had normal small smoke sessions. Towards the end of the night we got hit pretty hard. We were split into groups for cleaning duties and the Drill Sergeant wanted everyone quite. Every time we were given an order we say “Yes Drill Sergeant”. Even after he told us he didn’t want to hear anything at all... Quite a few kept yelling this which in turn meant another set of pushups. This went on about six times (60 pushups). They finally got the point after their life was threatened by about 200 soldiers.

Today was a lot of classroom for First Aid. It’s a small glimpse into what they train the soldiers to do before the medic arrives (what I am training for). Pretty neat stuff.

Our first running PT was today. It should start stepping up now. We did stretches, leg warm ups, hand full of exercises and then jogged 2 laps. Next we did 30-60’s. Sprint for 30 seconds walk for 60 seconds. We managed to get in about 5 cycles of these. Not much but it is a glimpse. The 68W combat medics that taught the First Aid talked with me for a little bit. Explained the reason there are so many open positions. It’s because there is a high turn over due to them moving into other medical fields and when the Army did cutbacks they cut a lot of active Duty Medics down or moved them to different specialties.

The active duty guys here are a little on edge and nervous. We have been told that all actives are pretty much guaranteed to being deployed within six months after finishing AIT. Pretty edgy stuff. Hope all is well.

Keep the faith

10/22/2014 "Navigation Under the Stars"



After last night’s letter, we get a companywide wake up. One of the future soldiers snuck out in flip flops and went to another company’s barracks. So wrong uniform, sneaking out and trespassing. The first Sergeant that caught him turned him over to the night sergeant while the first sergeant tore us all up. His paperwork is being processed immediately and he will be kicked out in the next two days.

Today was Land Navigation Day. We were taken out into the woods and split into teams of five. We were given maps and marker points. With a compass and protractor we had three hours to locate 3 of the 5 markers. Each marker had 3 codes and our score sheet had which code we needed to get. A wrong one counted as a miss. The markers were anywhere from 100 meters to almost a mile (1300 meters) apart from each other. The terrain went from hills and scattered trees down to the slush muddy bottom with thick cover. Each team had a compass man, pace setter (for distance) and locators. I was kind of excited knowing I was getting 2 MRE’s for meals, which meant a chance at candy. For the day run our team found three markers but with an hour left we decided to head back since we had over a mile to track back. My team was old and out of shape. The compass point is 34, commercial pilot and not the best physical abilities. Another is an attempted Lawyer about 32 and extremely out of shape. The last is a young kid that could not understand the concept of staying with the team. The woods have been used for years as training so you have to be careful. There was barbed wire, random holes and wildlife (like hogs) you had to watch out for. So our night mission he needed to stay close. My lunch MRE didn’t have candy. It had an apple cinnamon energy bar, good but not for my fix.

We had about and hour and a half until the night navigation so of course the Drill Sergeant had to find a reason to smoke us. We kicked the night navigation off at dusk. Our group cleared the first three markers before dark. Once it got dark it was tough. I led since walking through the woods see the same as growing up back home. We got to the fourth marker with about an hour and a half to go. After finding the main road we stuck to it to try to locate the last one. From having to guess our location we attempted a couple of time to locate the 5^th marker, but due to the dark, thick brush and unsure location we decided to hit the road back. It was 2K back. We collected a handful of groups on the way. The sky was clear and full of stars. Amazing sight. Not any better than the Texas hill country but still good. We saw several shooting stars. This was by far one of the better days. Working as a team, hiking, nature and at the time no Drill Sergeant yelling at us.

FYI Dinner MRE- Strike out no candyL. Dang it.

We got back about midnight and grabbed 3 hours of sleep. Because lack of accountability, I got with the bay leader and we decided to wake everyone up two hours early to clean. Plan worked and we actually impressed the Sarge. Time to start the day.

10/21/2014 "Confidence Course"



Starting on a good note. During the obstacle course yesterday, I was usually the first one through each event. The whole platoon stood on the side and cheered. Before yesterday I only chatted with about five guys. Today the majority of the platoon knows my name and is friendly. It’s amazing how gutting it up, showing heart and not quitting will earn the respect of others.

Today was the confidence course. It is individual as well as teamwork. Because of yesterday’s performance, I went first a lot.

The German wall was first, this is a 15 foot incline wall with a rope to climb, followed by five walls to climb. Four guys to a team. The walls ranged from six to eleven feet tall. It was tough but as a team we smoked it. We then had what I call the “Pirate Ship” obstacle, this consists of a 15 foot rope climb, a 20 foot walk across planks, , climbing a 20 foot ladder to the to the top which is about 40 feet tall over all. Then you flip over the edge and climb a cargo net down. Pretty fun. Only about half could do the course due to climbing the rope. Next we had to do the 3 story tower that had no walls. Teams of four had to hoist or find a way to get all the guys all the way up and all the way down.

Bad note today, MRE didn’t have candy; mine had a maple muffin- HUGE disappointment. Almost cried.

Everyone’s body is still pretty much shot after yesterday. After chow the Drill sergeant with the attitude, smoked all of us for about 25 minutes. Overall it was a great day. Wake up is at 0445 tomorrow, so maybe 5 hours of sleep tonight. Study time.

10/20/2014 "a small slice of Paradise in a Day of Gloom"



Today may have been the hardest physical day I have ever been though. I have trained, done summer football – two a days, 14 hour personal training days but today surpassed them all. My body is shot.

Started out with our PT assessment test. Felt like 40º at 0500. We had our 1 minute push-ups, 1 minute sit-ups, and 1 mile run. First thing in the morning, in the cold, does not favor the muscles. I hit 50 pushups and sit-ups but the Drill Sergeant counting mine had attention issues. He told me I did the last 5 pushups wrong. When in reality he just quit paying attention and didn’t keep count. It felt good. Next was the mile run. Goal was 13 minute pace and came through at a 6:30 minute, so spot on. When the scores get posted I should be at the top. We caught chow and headed off to the obstacle course.

The course was about 10 different obstacles. This consists of:

• Low army crawl in the soft red Georgia dirt
• 10- 8 count push-ups
• Monkey bars
• A few walls to jump
• Low crawl under barbed wire
• Couple of balance beams
• Backward crawl
• Sprint to finish

I was chosen as one of the 5 but barely. I know my abilities but not competing in the popularity contest, so not everyone knows me. The Drill Sear gents choose one of the five…he chooses the smallest kid in the whole platoon. Everyone has to finish for the time to stop. In the end we came in last. The four of us that were peer chosen were on record time, but we had to keep waiting and motivating the little guy. Lost about 60 seconds waiting on him. Total time lost to first place- 24 seconds. PISSED OFF. To clarify we all had already done the obstacle course once, and then waited 30 minutes and the race started, so everyone was worn out. We still don’t know why the leaders set us up for failure, as scattered as out team is, we needed the win to unite us. Maybe their teaching humility, defeat and bouncing back, or something else that we don’t know. The little guy gave heart, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the physical.

Two guys from different platoon tried getting in a fight while we were there. BIG ASS NO NO. We know as soon as we got back that meant “Smoke” but we didn’t expect what was coming or how bad.

To summarize so far: PT test early, mini smoke after breakfast, 4K march, two times through the obstacle course to this point and I was already feeling it.

“SMOKE SESSION”: When we returned we did just over an hour of physical workout punishment. No real breaks, non-stop, ton of 8 count mix-up pushups and squats, bended leg raises, knee up and twist and a lot of pain. Not that I would act but I’ll be honest and say that the “why in the hell am I here” crossed my mind. In my platoon of 56- 12 guys wanted to quit. This day broke a man down, made men and just flat out whipped our butts.

To top things off, we were ordered to do 50/50 fireguard duty. That is where half the bay is up for an hour cleaning in full gear, (ACU fatigues, boots, ACH (helmet) and Kevlar vests with plates weighing about 35 pounds. Every hour we switched which basically meant not much sleep.

Anyways a few points

****My Bright Spot*** we had to eat MRE (meals ready to eat) for lunch. I had spaghetti and meatballs. We haven’t earned the right to heat them up yet. BUT….all of them has some form of sweet. I SCORED big with a pack of tropical Skittles. I rushed through my meal to savor those. I’m not a big sweet eater but I love candy. Those made my week. Usually the Drill Sergeants will not allow us to have candy, but they didn’t say anything so we tore them up.

Only one guy quit but everyone recovered and got their minds steady and right.

Time to start Tuesday’s blog!  =)

10/19/2014 "Sunday Peace"



“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7

“HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR DIVINE BATTLE BUDDY”

Today was Sunday recover day. There are different religious services going on all day, so they can’t really do much with us since the whole group is not together. I was going with the Protestant service again. We were suppose to meet at the bus stop at 0900. Wake up was at 0500supposivly but everyone swore they could be ready in 30 minutes so we got up at 0530 for 0600 formation. I slept amazing and woke up at 0500 to start getting ready. At 0530 I kicked the lights on. I made rounds at 0545 and almost no one was up….Geez. Senior Drill Sear gent came in screaming we were late for formation. “Smoke” push-ups to start relaxation day. 60 of us went down for the buses to pick us up for church, we waited and waited. 0930 and still no bus. A second service started at 1030 so we started the two mile hike to the chapel. We showed up while the first service started the sermon so a few of us snuck in to listen. The preacher was black and he was fired up. The keyboard played along with him the whole time. When that ended we stayed for the second service, the preacher knew some of us made the first service so he went off the script and had an impromptu service. I was not disappointed. He was singing and dancing and had everyone getting into it. One of the groups graduates this Thursday so it got pretty emotional.

The rest of the day was cleaning and studying. The DS pretty much left us alone except for chow. The end of the night we had cleaning duty for our outside pavilion and hallways. Poor guys that had outside missed giant garbage bag and the Sarge threw trash all over the place and threw cans down the hill. Sucks for them.

Tomorrow is 1-1-1 PT Test that starts at 0500. Just an assessment but it will set a good starting point. My shins are killing me from all the hikes and breaking the new combat boots in, so hopefully I can run.

We also have the obstacle course. We will run through it once as a company and then have a race among platoons. Each of the 4 platoons have to choose 5 guys out of 56 per group to compete. I was elected in our platoon to compete and am looking forward to tomorrow.

Night all.  

10/18/2014- "Eagle/Victory Tower"



“I AM NOT A NUMBER, I AM NOT PART OF A STATISTIC, I WILL BREAK OUT OF ANY CAGE, AND DEFY ALL LIMITATIONS. FACE ANY FEAR AND OVERCOME ANY OBSTACLE. I AM A PUNISHER.”

My platoon’s name is the Punishers and this is our motto.

Today we did Eagle Tower. You can look up Fort Benning and Victory or Eagle Tower. A 42 foot tower with different sides. One side we climb up by pulling ourselves up a rope and walking up the side of the wall and then climb a cargo net down. The other test was climbing a massive ladder to the top then repelling down. I’m not a fan of heights, but this was a rush and fun. Our group didn’t really have anyone back out, I was hoping for some drama. That pretty much took up the whole day. The DS didn’t let us down, he was being an ass. Everyone got “smoked” in groups, individual, platoons and the whole company. Pretty sure I topped 500 push-ups, 100 squats, 100’s of crunches along with some others. I got smoked at the end of the night but pretty sure my DS was just being a problem. As soon as I walked out of the bathroom, my battle buddy handed me his rifle to help him take it apart. I walked to my bed and my DS was all over my ass. That took about 60 push-ups along with a lot of up-down / buspees (I am not sure what he means by this, trouble reading his writing) at the end saying “yes Drill Sear gent” every time I went down, got up, and for anything else he said to me. Blow hole.

We had MRE’s (meals ready to eat) for lunch. Most of the guys didn’t know how to heat them up so they ate them cold. The Sarge only gave us 10 minutes to open up all of it and eat it anyway we could. So by the time I finally heated mine up I had 5 minutes to eat it. The good thing is these come with dessert. We don’t get sweets here so it’s a big deal. My battle buddy had tootsie rolls- which I love- but ate them before I figured it out. One of the options has skittles which people actually pay money to get. I had a dry pound cake- total bummer.

This evening is cleaning evening. As soon as we got back from evening chow our bay was trashes- MAJOR TIME. Bunk beds flipped over, mattress pads tossed in the bathroom, clothes, shoes and bags tossed everywhere. And shaving cream was everywhere. The infamous “gnome” did it. It was done to piss us off but also to force us to use teamwork to clean the whole bay, mop and make the beds in 10 minutes. Crazy Stuff.

Also one of the DS got mad because we kept calling him Sarge or Sear gent or Sir. THEY HATE THIS!!! They take it as an insult, so we have to write Drill Sear gent 2000 times and turn it in Monday morning. My Sarge go upset because no one knew the Army Code of Conduct, so we have to write this too and what it means to us.

Anyway tomorrow is our day of peace. If all else works out I should get 5.5 hours of sleep tonight which would double my average so far.

A black preacher that sings and jives will be preaching at the Protestant service tomorrow, so I am looking forward to it. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend.

10/17/2014 "Can't Stay Awake"



I can’t seem to stay awake today. Sleep didn’t really happen again last night. Lights went out a little after 2100, but of course no one went to sleep. Just as everyone was finally starting to doze off; at 2141 the Drill Sergeant came in looking for a reason to smoke us. After digging around- he found it. One of the guys on fireguard duty had on the wrong color of socks. OH DAMN. We had to get out of bed; change out of out PT’s (shorts and shirt) and into out ACU’s (army fatigues); run outside and get into formation. After drills and threats on our lives; we had to run back upstairs and put on PT shorts, short, shoes, ACU, socks and top. Run back down stairs for more push-ups. Finally we wrapped up about 2240. I had fireguard duty at 0100. Grabbed about 2 hours of sleep. I woke up and waxed the bay floor, then snuck in about 30 minutes of shut eye before the 0300 wake-up.

By the way- I don’t know what the weather is back home but here it feels about 40º in the morning and I hate it. Shorts and outside at 0400 doing drills is not for this Texas boy.

Today is out first morning to do PT (workout). It was just a warm-up and consisted of a series of ten different exercises. It felt good and will start adding more every morning. Our 1-1-1 is on Monday. 1 minute of push-ups, I minute of sit-ups, and a 1 mile test.

Today is a lot of class room time. Earlier a General talked with us. His main point was “ESTO VIR or Be a Man/ Do the right thing. Then the Chaplain talked life, suicide; this being such a tough moment in life. He said to “Embrace the Suck.” We are now in uncensored sexual harassment class. Funny but a serious topic in the Army.

Tomorrow we are going to Victory Tower. A 40 foot wall to climb and repel down. My platoon has three Drill Sear gents. One of them said he has been held back by the Senior DS and tomorrow all hell breaks loose. He is releasing his “Inner Retard” and life will suck. Sounds Sweet.

I’m done for now. I’m sure something else will spark before the night ends.

Lost letter again 10/14/2014- "Rainy Day"



I had to wake up at 0245 for fireguard duty. Wake up/ lights on, it was 0330 so I just had to grab a head count and take the trash out. That’s when I noticed it was raining. At 1310 the rain still has not stopped. Like a bad movie setting the scene for the REAL basic starting at 0200 tomorrow. So far today we have spent about three hours standing in formation getting soaked. Rain doesn’t bother me especially if I am playing in it. But standing still, rain pouring, getting soaked is another story.

We are back in the auditorium getting last minute things taken care of so everyone can ship out tomorrow. I figured starting this evening I won’t have time to write as well as any time tomorrow. Next letter will be another combined days until I get to sleep again. After evening chow we start getting our information and new platoons for when we ship down range.

We will try to pack all our junk into two duffle bags and get ready. We may be able to catch a 2 hour nap tonight. So far the schedule is another round of shots at 0200…load bags at 0300 and load up shortly after that to go down range. Anticipation is high. A lot of concern and worry from some guys…and ones like me looking forward to it. Yelling, pain, work, no sleep, and whatever else is next, but it beats the hell out of standing and being in this reception phase.

Either the weather has changed or the flu shot has caught up with me. I have a runny nose, headache and just not 100%, set in yesterday afternoon. I’ll stop for now; add more if I get down time tonight.

Good news is the next letter after this will have a real return address so looking forward to hearing from the outside world.

STAY INSPIRED!!!!

Lost letter from October 11, 2014- "First day to finally do some PT"



This letter was lost in our wonderful US mail and I just received it today 10/21/2014. So please disregard the order of James’ posts.

Last night I would have had a shot at finally getting seven hours of sleep….BUT NO. Right at 3.5 hours in my sleep the awaking came. File outside for a gripe session. One of the bays had a fireguard decide not to get up until 15 minutes into his shift. At 0130 we stood in formation for 30 minutes. Now it is 0200 and all the bottom bunks had cleaning duty from 0200-0300 and top bunks from 0300-0400. So instead of sleeping until 0500 we had to stay up. I am a top bunk, so I tried to catch some shut eye for an hour. Try that with 24 guys cleaning. Great start to the day.

The first part of the day we listened to people talk about stuff, I have no clue what it was but to me it wasn’t important. After lunch we finally hit the field to go over warm-up “PT” training. With 440 guys it took awhile to get started. The warm-up was 10 different exercises and it was pretty hot outside. Anything from toe touches, high jumps, push-ups, windmills, prone row and row are some of the exercises we did. I enjoyed this after not being able to work out for the last five days. 2 different guys fell out during the exercises and one more hauled off in an ambulance for heat issues. With the camel water pack we ALWAYS wear there is no reason for dehydration. Anyways short story longer…kind of can’t wait for the physical part to start.

We got word we are the worst group top come through in awhile (do all the groups hear this?). They threatened to hold us all back but I know it won’t happen because of Christmas. We are the largest group in awhile which in a random pool means we have the most “immature kids” that can’t stand not talking and cutting up. Some of the senior guys said this has been passed down range to basic, so we will have it tough at first to see if they can weed any out.

Should be easy the next two days since all the civilian workers are not here. As long as these guys don’t piss off the Drill Sergeants too bad. We should be able to get 7-8 hours of sleep minus the 1.5 hours to wake up for fireguard duty. Six hours would be amazing.

They hold church services tomorrow but not sure about starting this Sunday or next. Clearly there is not a Baptist or a non-denominational but they have about six different ones. Church will be a Sunday norm starting next week.

All I thought about was missing college football and my Aggies.

Weekly Quote- “Sometimes its hard to keep going but dedication is moving forward without giving up, no matter what.”

I hat having no control over what is happening back home. One week in and I know that feeling won’t shake while I’m here.  

10/16/2014- Nothing new- More Drills

Nothing new today except more drills. We were issued our M16A4 rifles to carry around everywhere. Lots of marching drills with those today. Running low on sleep so I am going to try to catch up in a few hours.

My mom will post my address on Facebook- hope to hear from home. 

10/15/2014- "Shark Attack- Day 1 of Basic"



Wednesday started off at 0200. A lot of standing around getting ready to ship down range. Dog tags and Military ID’s were issued. We packed all of our stuff into two bags. (3 pair of boots, tons of clothes and such…. 100+ pounds and awkward to carry). At 1300 44 guys were crammed onto a bus to the point where we could not breathe.

As you can imagine, there were a ton of Drill Sergeants waiting for us as we unloaded the bus (thus the Shark attack). We had to run uphill for a little over a quarter of a mile. As one kid fell the sharks got him. I wanted to help him, but it was every man for himself at this point. Not going to lie, it was tiring and pretty tough but it lasted only about 15 minutes. We split up into platoons, met the guys, and then went to class. Chow was a different story here.

Chow- they have 3 different food trays from Healthy to not so healthy. BUT you don’t really get a choice. Whatever is put up there when you walk up is what you get. Then you get two cups of juice. You chug one on the spot and take one with you. The whole platoon has to stand and wait for the last person before starting. We ask permission to eat then when granted you get 5 minutes to eat. The whole time the Drill Sergeants are yelling and cussing in your face to hurry up. Eating that fast hurts and getting yelled at is not motivating. Worst meal ever.

Next- Shower time

All 54 guys have to get in a square wearing army issued “Tighty Whities” that are six sizes too big, flip flops and hold a towel and soap. You get into four lines shoulder to shoulder in the hallway and sing the Army Song. Twelve guys at a time go into the shower and we have exactly TWO minutes to shower, turn the water off and file back in line soaking wet.

Then Bed-

We have our summer PT’s (Shorts and shirt tucked in). The Drill Sergeant says “Mount your beds” and we jump in and land however without moving. Sarge says to adjust and we have to get under the covers on our back in “Attention form”. Then lights go out and everyone gets back up to finish brushing their teeth and such. I was in bed for about four hours with one of those hours being fire watch. During that time we had to arrange our lockers so we ended up with about two hours sleep.

October 13- "A Day Of Eating"



Happy Columbus Day. Today is a day of eating. We went to morning chow came back and cleaned and then had two hours of personal time. Unlike most days, they actually allowed us to lay in our bunks and nap or study. After lunch was also all free time so I decided to write down a few things.

A few of us older guys are giving life advice to the younger kids. I feel sorry for them now. Clearly they haven't figured it out yet. Next is chow again then early bedtime. Tomorrow will be extremely busy along with a short night of sleep before “Shark Attack” so I'll take advantage of this. I swear I have gained 5-10 lbs of bad weight and feel worthless from lack of activity, but I know that changes soon so all it's good.

I have adapted to shaving daily (which I still hate) and waking up and fixing my bed. Standing till- still blows and decided running miles beats standing any day.

Hopefully Thursday I'll be able to send an address for my barrack at basic. I will be accepting all letters! :)

• Excuses- the words we use to fill the gap between wanting something and achieving something.
• Exceptions- the excuse we make to explain why other people succeed.
• Excellence- what is achieved, just because you kept showing up anyways.

1854- just got back to the barracks. We got our first taste of physical “Smoke.” The Drill Sargent and main Sargent have not talked to us the last two days. One of the guys with prior military experience, is in basic with us because the changed branches has been running things. Chow was enchiladas. As soon as we made formation after chow the Drill Sargent started barking order. Blamed it on the guys talking, which is the same old thing. Getting 440 guys down where they can do push-ups was a mess. Each set of 10 was really 20 push-ups. A set of 5 is really 10 push-ups. We did about three sets of 10 at first... still talking so back down...another set...up someone is looking at the Drill Sargent so back down...three attempts to formation up failed so more push-ups. 90-100 total of the most awkward sets...crooked form, hands near you, shoes in your face, close stance, wide, awkward, however you could get down. A few guys threw their dinner up and we were done. Tonight is early to bed, should sleep all night. No fireguard and this Sargent doesn't like messing with us.

Laundry, shower, bed

Goodnight

October 12- "Sunday Funday"



At the last minute I decided to go to the Protestant Church service. I'm really glad I did. Unlike back home where sometimes Church related to boredom, struggled to get up and make it, or use any other lame excuse...here it is a sort of secluded place. Nobody yelling at you, music, peace and a sense of worth. The service was good, the message was “Where do you stand?” Music was contemporary, upbeat and enjoyable experience. It also counts down the weeks, reminds you that That you have survived another week and one less week until you go home. I do realize it has only been a week and I am by no means struggling or having issues, or even worried about what is to come. But I did get a sense of Sunday Service.

I actually got decent sleep for the first time. Tonight I have first duty on fireguard which is a good one to have because I can be in bed the rest of the night. Sundays are cleaning day; clean then clean some more, then do it again. Our group is still having a problem with team work and some guys rebelling. Come Wednesday our new platoons will go down to about 50 guys instead of 72 in a bay. Will help pull together easier with less chaos. As long as everyone can find a way to keep the volume level on talking to a low roar, and after evening chow and our cleaning we should have a little free time and call it a night. Hoping it goes that way.

Just got back from chow and so far so good for a night's rest. Early lights out at 2000 and late wake-up at 0445. Fire guard for me is from 2000- 2100 so straight to bed for sleep.

• Favorite chant so far for chow is: “Last two, beat your feet, hurry up so we can eat, HOOAH.”

They have to sprint to the front to hold the doors and count everyone in.

Got word- our “Shark Attack” first day of boot camp may start with an early shake up at 0200 and be another 40+ hours of no sleep. Great stuff:(

Unless something happens in the next two hours- it is laundry time for me then lights out.

October 10- "Sitting Day"



Today is an extremely slow day. At 0500 we saw medics for another round of shots. 5 or 6 more and a flu spray. Pretty sure I am immune to everything now. After our shots, we go to chow, then to sit in the auditorium until lunch. A few groups came in a day after us so they have to catch up on all their processing.

After lunch- we sit until dinner chow. Long boring day but with it being a holiday weekend they need to catch everyone up. Nothing good to write. So I'll share some thoughts:

• Kids can be told to shut up every 45 seconds and they still don't. Come to real boot camp will be physical punishment. Here they can only make you stand. The real world starts Wednesday.
• I can't sleep with fire watch. Someone is cleaning every hour of the night in one hour rotations. They are loud, slamming everything, and I am such a light sleeper, that sleep comes in 30 minute increments if I'm lucky.
• I have to eat the exact opposite as I learned as a personal trainer. As much as I can, as fast as I can, sometimes not chewing all the way. 8 minutes total to eat. I make it happen.

My patience is still holding for everyone that can't handle being quiet...let's see how well I do in the near future.

Love y'all- be safe

October 9th- "Sore Shots"



I said that we went through the medical shot cycle yesterday. This consists of 3 shots in the arms, 5 tubes of blood taken and a “peanut butter shot” in the left butt cheek. This consists of penicillin and several other “cillians” all mixed together. Super thick and left everyone with a lump. These soldiers are going to have real issues with the way they are reacting the next day. A few guys wanted to go to sick bay because they can't walk. It 1644 and we are sitting around study our creed, ranks, song and such. These kids are like school girls and won't quit talking. One of the Sargent got fed up and “smoked” (punished) us by making us stand at attention for 45 minutes.

Today's List: hearing test, individual pictures (got a pack so should send those home in about 6 weeks) and more standing in formation.

I'll have “Fire Watch” for an hour tonight, so I'll try to put these last 3 letters in the mail. Still no return address, but by the end of next week I'll have one. \I'll need letters :) with football scores Aggies and Texans for sure.

Love y'all

October 8th- "Almost my first big screw up"



This is almost a continuation of the previous days. Finally made it to be by 11:15 pm (40+ hours of no sleep) and at 12:30 am we were all woke up, had to put our clothes and go outside in formation. During “Fire Watch” (counting the guys and cleaning duty) one of the guys went missing. He ended up in a totally different barrack sleeping in the bathroom. After he was accounted for we were back in at 1 am to sleep only to be up at 3 am. I am still TIRED!!!! Anyways we had to dress in our ACU's (combat clothing) with includes green socks because of the boots...mind you we didn't have them yet. In my sleep deprived state, I put on my white socks. This is a Big, huge freaking NO. I would have been OK except we were getting fitted for our boots, so I couldn't hide this. The Drill Sargent already chewed out the previous group, so I wasn't looking forward to confessing, just yet. By the time my group got to the boot section, my Sargent had a lot going on. I mentioned my white socks at this point, but instead of blowing up at me he just sent me to the back of the line. Then he had a brief colorful conversation with me and said don't do it tomorrow. That conversation was in private which is rare. Must be my serious/ kind face I was displaying and I thanked my lucky stars. So far in this boring reception we do zero physical work so I think I am gaining weight.

Our first kid was removed. He kept wearing civilian clothes and smarting off. At the two and a half day mark the Sargent had had enough. Not sure what happened but by 8 pm his locker was cleared and he vanished. We may make it to bed by 9 pm but I am expecting a rude awakening at some point.

Bad new- this reception will last seven more days, so my Basic Training will not start until next Wednesday (October 15^th) then it will be 9 weeks. :(

Boring stuff so far, but long days with lots of standing. Ready for more excitement.

October 6 & 7th- "Fort Benning, Georgia Bound

It 9:17 pm and we still have not seen sleep yet. I just passed 38 hours of being awake so this might be delirious writing. We finally got our 5 minute phone call home to let Mom and family know I was alive. I am sad to report that I forgot to take a picture of my current good looks. Way too short shorts, skin head, a constant camel back hydration pack strapped to me... and no shower for two days. Other than that it is just the famous hurry up and wait Army mentality so far. No physical work yet, just uniforms, medical, getting used to what they call the "baby-soft" side of Drill Sargent. Surprisingly a good mix of ages here. From 17 all the way to 43. Still a reception for a couple of more days so I'll get a better understanding once Basic starts. Reception extremely boring, but kind of a pre- welcome to the army for what they say the "video game" generation needs so they don't cry right away. Anyways, filling out medical records soon, then hope to see a bed.