11/10/2014 "M-16 Zero confirmed off"

What a long day. Started at 0245. APFT2 this morning. Big disappointment for me. Improved on pushups to 69. Lost a few to form but max out of 77 will be achieved in 2 weeks. Sit-ups ticked me off. First, the Ds didn’t want to count quite a few of mine. Lower shoulders need to touch by rule but he wanted the entire back to touch so I lost about 11. AND the doofus that was suppose to hold my ankles down slid all the way to my toes…anyone who has done a sit-up test knows how much harder sit-ups are when you have a bad anchor. On the other side I PR’d the 2 mile with a 12:32. Total score 269-300. pushups and run should be in the bag. New workouts stating in the morning to strengthen my hip flexors to help with the sit-ups.

We took off to the rifle range after chow, in full gear, and did a mock qualifying. Today’s deal was to learn how much I had to compensate in order to pass. First round of forty only hit 11. sighting off more than I thought. I’ll credit some to user error but Texas boys don’t miss like that. I changed on adjustment and got another chance. My pride was already hurt but I know equipment error and limited shots to fix were stacked against me. Figured out how to half way compensate and shot 23-40, the minimum to qualify. I’m upset but it will have to do. As for our PT test, our platoon did much better. 32 didn’t pass last time and this time only 12 didn’t. I’m proud of some of the guys and their improvement. A handful of guys are now wanting me to wake them up early when I get up to do extra exercise and shower.

SMOKING- besides doing 2-2-2 (2 min max pushups, sit-ups, 2 mile run) all before 0600 we got our butts handed to us, getting smoked. Before our 2 mile run the first Sarge smoked us for about 40 pushups, just because. Immediately after our testing, we put on our ACU’s. in full gear we got smoked as a platoon because we barely lost first in overall fitness test. 20 minute session this time. As soon as we arrived at the rifle range we got in front lean rest position just because. Midway through, the DS and Senior DS hit us with another 20 minutes of exercising. One more time after dinner chow we were also hit. Mondays at basic are the longest and hardest days by far. Back home work Mondays don’t compare.

Veterans’ Day is tomorrow, so we get to sleep until 0600 then combatics again. Should be a good day.

2300- fireguard shift, clean and mop showers, then back to bed a little before midnight for 5 hours. Nice!!!

What’s your next life goal? Are you constantly working to better yourself?

Do you still have dreams you want to achieve?