Wow.. it has been a change for sure so it has taken me some time to get back to this. AIT is a total flip from basic. We are called "Soldier Medic" instead of countless trash names and almost treated with a sort of respect. The atmosphere is a lot more relaxed while at the same time stressing how important it is for us to dedicate. Medics are life changers... team member.. an essential part of any group in the Army. High Speed is the only way to describe how this next 16 weeks is going to be.
-Original thoughts.. Fort Benning basic training is still strict and on point. No horsing around or anything close to the sort. All males and so on. Different kind of attitude. Here at Ft Sam we of course have a mixed company. Fox company is about 240 strong.. males.. females..and came from about 4 different basic training locations. All of the Benning guys are thrown off to say the least. In formation there is a lot of messing around... cadence calling has songs and clapping and the sort that we would have never even thought about pulling off in Benning or it would have been a 2 hour smoke session.
- We have to certify as an EMT Basic and pass the National EMT exam to become certified. The catch is that we are doing this in 6 weeks. Accelerated classes in civilian life may do it in 10 weeks but normal classes go for 4-6 months. The normal day starts at 4:50 formation for PT. Then chow.. quick time back to the barracks to shower and form up and start classes at 8:30. Lunch chow is at 11:20 then back in classes until 17:20. Dinner chow then finally back "home" to the barracks again. Usually we get about an hour of free time before final formation. Typical day to a T.
-PT will be a notch up. We split into groups of course based on speed. Alpha group is led by the Senior Sarge. He is on the 10 miler team for Ft Sam so the guy can run. He wants us to average no more than a 7 minute mile pace while running and nothing under 3 miles. Working up to 6 miles at under 7 min miles.... GEEZE... talk about tough but will be an awesome challenge. On weekends we are allowed to use the gym so I can actually get a good weight workout in. Huge bonus. The barracks have a real track going all the way around which is just a hair over half a mile. PX store is right across the street so its nice also.
-Chow- No set real times like it use to be in Basic. We also get 15-30 minutes from the time we sit down to eat.. just weird. They have a main line which is your cafeteria choices and healthier.. or the fast food which is burgers, fries, hotdogs and such. I weight in at the most I've ever weighed just at about 170 lbs so I am opting to hit the main line and get a spinach salad as much as I can.. unless I'm hungry and want to catch the short fast line. We also are mixed with navy and air force so we see everyone. Pretty sweet I think.... and not too shabby seeing some of the Air Force and Navy girls. Good change of scenery.
-Barracks are 2 guys per room.. share a bathroom but get 2 sinks, 2 closest, 2 desks and so on so its nice. We have day room we can use during free time to watch TV or meet up so we were able to catch last weekends football playoff games.
It is a 3 day weekend but we still have formation every 2 hours for now. The plan is a ton of studying. we did 170 pages and 7 chapters in 2.5 days of class.. and first MOD test on Tuesday so school will be the main focus. Gym and a little free time of course worked in.
I will try and get back to this with more details and life but wanted to drop a quick fill in
HI everyone... happy weekend
