January 14, 2013- This morning we woke up at the 120th Reception Battalion here at Fort Jackson and then were bussed over to the 165th Infantry Brigade Basic Training barracks. We were told to evacuate the bus in less than 90 seconds (about 120 soldiers per bus) and we were bear-hugging our laundry bags (which contained any personal bags as well) while running out to the PT Pit. The PT Pit is full of little corn flake-sized chunks of old tires and reeks of sweat and tears and feels like it's about 300 degrees! The drill sergeants introduced themselves at this time as well. We ran in place holding our bags 'till everyone formed, which took about 20 minutes at least. And we must have done about 100 push ups in that first half hour. In fact, the first thing that they taught us was the proper way to do push ups in cadence. I, sadly, can't jump from front leaning rest position (the one you do push ups in) to the position of attention in one fluid movement very well at all, and caused us to receive one additional set of push ups, at least. :( I will do my best to keep that from again in the future. After the pit, we got called to formation under our barracks and then, after a lot more push ups, we were given 90 seconds for 6 platoons to grab their duffel bags from a huge pile about half a mile away and return back to formation. We failed this the first time and had to repeat the whole thing over again because of just a couple of slow soldiers. One female recruit tried to quit within half an hour of getting off the bus!
The rest of the afternoon was spent learning facing movements and being in formation. We did our first marching to cadence and then ate MREs for lunch. Our drill sergeants seem pretty cool, as far as drill sergeants go. We have DS "Action Man", who is a short and self-admittedly quiet African American male. He looks like if Miles Austin from the Dallas Cowboys and Sgt. Slaughter from the WWF had a love child. We also have DS "Hood", who is an African American female, who seems like she grew up on the block, but the Army reformed her from possibly just being some hood rat. Finally, we have DS "Pain Bringer", who is our platoon sergeant. She is one to steer clear of, has a piercing scream and punishing way of talking. She is very fast to point out every way you're wrong in about 5 seconds flat. Overall, they are pretty decent though, as long as we don't screw anything up.
So, everyone got weighed and measured for height on the first night here. When I got up there, I knew I would be at least 15 to 20 pounds over my target weight of 194 (as I have been during this whole process.) But somehow, either due to a shitty scale (it was non digital) or DS Pain Bringer trying to read it in a dark corner, they got my weight down as 184 POUNDS!! Score! I felt so glad at escaping the tape test this time.
Well, first fire guard shift is over, so I'm gonna try to get some rest now.
Funny moments:
"You bump into me again and I will punch you in the fucking face!" ~DS Pain Bringer after a private accidentally backed off the scale and into her.
"How old are you? 30? Holy shit, you look like you're 50! And you look like my grandma! And you weigh about as much as her too!" ~DS Pain Bringer after a female recruit stepped up to get weighed on the scale. Admittedly, she DID look old as hell for her age.
"Come here, you ugly thing!!" One of the reception drill sergeants calling back a female recruit before she ran off as we were getting ready to leave to basic. It was just so shocking and unexpected, it was hilarious!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Reception is Over
January 13, 2013- We're at Reception still and waiting to ship out to basic tomorrow. Everyone is talking about it and you can feel the nervousness/excitement in the air. We've been issued all of our gear and crammed it into our duffel bags. We wore our ACUs for the first time today and I must admit, it was really great to feel like a soldier all day even if I am just a lowly private. We had church, which was good, except I was so tired and was fighting to stay awake. But it turns out at the end of service about a dozen soldiers got saved and the chaplain had every other soldier in attendance shake their hand on the way out. I thought that was nice. It was like 200 soldiers that congratulated them. Then I went to the Bible study they had which was awesome. And then I got back and realized everyone else had been packing their duffel bags and I didn't get that chance because the Bible study ran long. Thankfully, when the DS on duty heard why I was late, she was lenient and said to just pack it up and get my bag in line with all the other soldier's bags to be taken to basic tomorrow. Then I realized that I had missed lunch. NOOOOO!! Everything worked out okay though and I was able to eat with the last of the LDS service soldiers. I don't think I make a very convincing Mormon though. Lol.
Funny moments:
"Shut the hell up and walk in a single file line! You're not on the damn block anymore!" (Our female DS yelling at some female recruits who were laughing and talking loudly after lunch on their way back from the DFAC.)
"Why aren't there any pregnant midget strippers?" (One of the other recruits talking to another about opening up a strip club and ideas about themes.)
Funny moments:
"Shut the hell up and walk in a single file line! You're not on the damn block anymore!" (Our female DS yelling at some female recruits who were laughing and talking loudly after lunch on their way back from the DFAC.)
"Why aren't there any pregnant midget strippers?" (One of the other recruits talking to another about opening up a strip club and ideas about themes.)
Monday, January 28, 2013
Ship Day... At Last!
January 8, 2013- Today, I woke up at the hotel and got a surprise. I had spontaneously woken up at 0315 instead of 0400 from the hotel's wake up call service. I took the extra time to make sure I got a quick shave in (damn you, aggressive facial hair) and hustled downstairs after making sure not to leave anything in the room, as I am famous for doing just that sort of thing. I got downstairs and saw the epic line for the breakfast buffet and had just enough time to grab a bite and get in line and on the bus and off to MEPS. On the way there, we passed Fort Sam Houston's cemetery where my father was laid to rest over two years ago. I happened to look up at the precise moment that we were passing the giant flagpole in the middle of the site. Even with rain coming down and it being a very dark 5 in the morning, the flood lights at the base lit up our nation's colors and, for a brief moment, I felt a surge of emotion swell over me. It was as if I felt a connection to my father in that I was following in his footsteps as well as pride in myself for doing the right thing for my family. A deepening patriotism also pounded like a drum in my heart as I felt the sense of duty and sacrifice that cost the lives of many of those who lie next to my father in eternal peace. I also felt that I was setting a good example for my son, and that combined with a sudden sense that my father would approve of my actions, really encouraged me to move forward with my head held high.
When I got to MEPS, there were the usual occurrences. Waiting in a cold room, stripped down to the underwear only, for a height and weight check. Of course, I was overweight like every other time I had been to MEPS and had to do a tape test. This was the only part I was nervous about as Christmas had been full of cookies and delicious, yet fattening foods.Thanks to my wife being the Diet Diva though, I had lost 7 pounds in 7 days without having to resort to starvation, and passed the tape test without any problems. After that, it was alot of waiting for other people to finish their MEPS process in order to have a group of people large enough to swear in and ship off to the airport. Funny thing happened as I was officially swearing in though. Everyone had been marched into the swearing in room and I happened to be in the very back of the group all by myself in a row. At that point, the families of soldiers who were there were invited to come and witness the oath of enlistment. As we were brought to attention, a little girl around the age of 4 or 5 fell into formation right next to me and began to not only switch back and forth from Parade Rest to Attention, but actually raise her little hand and recite the oath of enlistment. I had a vague sense of what was going on from what I could gather from my peripheral and just hoped it was a little person up to no good, lol. I wonder if she'll go Airborne?
After the swear in, there was time for a few pics with the family and then some teary eyes goodbyes to my brother, his adorable son (shout out to Little Man!), my uncle (who has been my mentor through this attempt to enlist), and my mom (who just in the last few days accepted that I wanted to do this and that it was a good thing.) That just left my amazing wife to part ways with. As we walked downstairs so I could get on the bus to head off to the airport, I knew I wouldn't know what to say. So we let a long, tightly held hug say it all. As the bus drove away and I waved at her out the window, my eyes welled up and it struck me how much she truly means to me. It was another lesson learned through hardship. Cherish those close to you before they aren't close anymore. I had to remind myself that it's only temporary and to, literally, soldier on. But damn, I missed her from the moment she was out of my sight.
Before we had left MEPS, I was made the group leader for all of the Army guys shipping to Fort Jackson that day. This meant I had to get all their contact info and keep them from getting lost. I was also responsible for making sure that they all had their information packets with required documents to turn into MEPS and was the only person in our group that was appointed to converse with transportation officials and airport personnel aside from security checks. It was kind of like babysitting adults, but I really did my best to take it seriously and convey a sense of leadership. The flight from San Antonio to Atlanta was fine and when we got off the plane, hauled ass faster through the airport than the family from Home Alone. We JUST made it to our connecting flight and were boarding the plane when they made us de-plane. So after about 45 minutes of sitting and waiting for news, they said the plane had a mechanical error and we would have to wait for another plane to be brought in, which would make our arrival time into Columbia (where Ft Jackson is located) to be more than an hour later than originally planned. The plane finally landed (TWO hours later than scheduled) in Columbia, South Carolina.We lined up in the lobby, got on a bus and headed to Fort Jackson. While on the way, I got in one last call to Kat and to my mom. Then, we arrived at reception, and that's when the fun began.At 2:00 AM, we got into formation for the first time and were taking into a room to discuss basic Army policies and our last chance to anonymously ditch any contraband items in our possession. After getting issued our soldier's handbook, we were then issued out bedding and laundry bag (which has become like a glorified purse) as well as our PT uniforms. We got both the standard summer and the super comfy winter versions as well as wet and cold weather outerwear. We got out dental x-rays and vision exams too (I'm getting ap airo f the cool new Buddy Holly-esque BCGs in a couple of days!) We also got wait in lines. And more lines. And even more lines! I never knew it, but the Army runs on lines and formations. But mostly lines, lol. It's crazy how inefficiently it seems that things are done here, but I'm still a peon here and don't really know about the finer points of how difficult it may be to organize so many people and get them where they need to be. But it's hard to remember that when you've been up for 45 straight hours and waiting two hours in accountability formation hoping to just lay your head down and crash out. We started our first Fire Guard shifts too. Fire Guard is a one hour shift that we rotate through the bay where two people walk up and down the bay with a flashlight and make sure that everyone is accounted for in their bunks and report back at the end of their shift to the Drill Seargant on duty. They also wake everyone up in the event of a real fire to evacuate. I start my first Fire Guard shift at 0300-0330 when it;s time to wake everyone up for 0400 formation. The best Fire Guard shifts are the first and last shifts because they don't interfere with your sleep too much, so I lucked out this time and only get up a half an hour early. Tomorrow we get our ACUs (with the digital camo print on them) and start to look like real soldiers! I can't wait to take our pictures in them too! We just heard that we should be shipping out to BCT on Monday the 14th. I feel that I am ready and mentally prepared for what lies ahead but I think a lot of the guys here are in for a culture shock. I know it will be crazy, but I've done my research so I'm not scared.
Funny moments-
When at MEPS, one of the doctors (who was prior military and happily married)
had us strip to our underwear only and then left the room. Five minutes later, he waltzed back in, stomped his foot on the ground, did 3 snaps in a "Z" shape above his head, and in the gayest voice ever, yelled out "I'm ready for you boys!! It's a WHOLE new Army now!!"
Our platoon seems to be the gassiest one around, even at this early point. About five different guys kept farting right after the other like it was a contest when a Drill Seargent walked up from behind us and says to the last guy, "Now I KNOW you just shit yourself now!"
When I got to MEPS, there were the usual occurrences. Waiting in a cold room, stripped down to the underwear only, for a height and weight check. Of course, I was overweight like every other time I had been to MEPS and had to do a tape test. This was the only part I was nervous about as Christmas had been full of cookies and delicious, yet fattening foods.Thanks to my wife being the Diet Diva though, I had lost 7 pounds in 7 days without having to resort to starvation, and passed the tape test without any problems. After that, it was alot of waiting for other people to finish their MEPS process in order to have a group of people large enough to swear in and ship off to the airport. Funny thing happened as I was officially swearing in though. Everyone had been marched into the swearing in room and I happened to be in the very back of the group all by myself in a row. At that point, the families of soldiers who were there were invited to come and witness the oath of enlistment. As we were brought to attention, a little girl around the age of 4 or 5 fell into formation right next to me and began to not only switch back and forth from Parade Rest to Attention, but actually raise her little hand and recite the oath of enlistment. I had a vague sense of what was going on from what I could gather from my peripheral and just hoped it was a little person up to no good, lol. I wonder if she'll go Airborne?
After the swear in, there was time for a few pics with the family and then some teary eyes goodbyes to my brother, his adorable son (shout out to Little Man!), my uncle (who has been my mentor through this attempt to enlist), and my mom (who just in the last few days accepted that I wanted to do this and that it was a good thing.) That just left my amazing wife to part ways with. As we walked downstairs so I could get on the bus to head off to the airport, I knew I wouldn't know what to say. So we let a long, tightly held hug say it all. As the bus drove away and I waved at her out the window, my eyes welled up and it struck me how much she truly means to me. It was another lesson learned through hardship. Cherish those close to you before they aren't close anymore. I had to remind myself that it's only temporary and to, literally, soldier on. But damn, I missed her from the moment she was out of my sight.
Before we had left MEPS, I was made the group leader for all of the Army guys shipping to Fort Jackson that day. This meant I had to get all their contact info and keep them from getting lost. I was also responsible for making sure that they all had their information packets with required documents to turn into MEPS and was the only person in our group that was appointed to converse with transportation officials and airport personnel aside from security checks. It was kind of like babysitting adults, but I really did my best to take it seriously and convey a sense of leadership. The flight from San Antonio to Atlanta was fine and when we got off the plane, hauled ass faster through the airport than the family from Home Alone. We JUST made it to our connecting flight and were boarding the plane when they made us de-plane. So after about 45 minutes of sitting and waiting for news, they said the plane had a mechanical error and we would have to wait for another plane to be brought in, which would make our arrival time into Columbia (where Ft Jackson is located) to be more than an hour later than originally planned. The plane finally landed (TWO hours later than scheduled) in Columbia, South Carolina.We lined up in the lobby, got on a bus and headed to Fort Jackson. While on the way, I got in one last call to Kat and to my mom. Then, we arrived at reception, and that's when the fun began.At 2:00 AM, we got into formation for the first time and were taking into a room to discuss basic Army policies and our last chance to anonymously ditch any contraband items in our possession. After getting issued our soldier's handbook, we were then issued out bedding and laundry bag (which has become like a glorified purse) as well as our PT uniforms. We got both the standard summer and the super comfy winter versions as well as wet and cold weather outerwear. We got out dental x-rays and vision exams too (I'm getting ap airo f the cool new Buddy Holly-esque BCGs in a couple of days!) We also got wait in lines. And more lines. And even more lines! I never knew it, but the Army runs on lines and formations. But mostly lines, lol. It's crazy how inefficiently it seems that things are done here, but I'm still a peon here and don't really know about the finer points of how difficult it may be to organize so many people and get them where they need to be. But it's hard to remember that when you've been up for 45 straight hours and waiting two hours in accountability formation hoping to just lay your head down and crash out. We started our first Fire Guard shifts too. Fire Guard is a one hour shift that we rotate through the bay where two people walk up and down the bay with a flashlight and make sure that everyone is accounted for in their bunks and report back at the end of their shift to the Drill Seargant on duty. They also wake everyone up in the event of a real fire to evacuate. I start my first Fire Guard shift at 0300-0330 when it;s time to wake everyone up for 0400 formation. The best Fire Guard shifts are the first and last shifts because they don't interfere with your sleep too much, so I lucked out this time and only get up a half an hour early. Tomorrow we get our ACUs (with the digital camo print on them) and start to look like real soldiers! I can't wait to take our pictures in them too! We just heard that we should be shipping out to BCT on Monday the 14th. I feel that I am ready and mentally prepared for what lies ahead but I think a lot of the guys here are in for a culture shock. I know it will be crazy, but I've done my research so I'm not scared.
Funny moments-
When at MEPS, one of the doctors (who was prior military and happily married)
had us strip to our underwear only and then left the room. Five minutes later, he waltzed back in, stomped his foot on the ground, did 3 snaps in a "Z" shape above his head, and in the gayest voice ever, yelled out "I'm ready for you boys!! It's a WHOLE new Army now!!"
Our platoon seems to be the gassiest one around, even at this early point. About five different guys kept farting right after the other like it was a contest when a Drill Seargent walked up from behind us and says to the last guy, "Now I KNOW you just shit yourself now!"
Monday, January 7, 2013
The Point Of No Return
Tomorrow is Ship Day! I can't really believe it. I don't think it's really sunk in for me and my wife yet. Probably not till we're saying our goodbyes. I'm packed right now and ready to go the hotel for my last few hours as a civilian. I can't describe how I'm feeling, but I know that things are about to change considerably for me. And I'm at peace with that. It will be hard, but I'm ready to be pushed to my very limits and see what I'm capable of. I can't think too much about how things will be like for my family while I'm gone because it breaks my heart to think of them struggling in my absence and me not being able to do anything about it. I have to stay positive and look at the good aspects of this situation and the opportunities it will bring to my family. I have to look forward and stop living in the past. And tomorrow I take the first bold steps into that new life. I can't wait. Gonna log off now and, for the next ten weeks or so, Kat will be posting updates based on the letters I send home. She'll be posting them word for word as I wrote them and will do her best to read my horrific handwriting. Lol. I guess this is goodbye for now...... Farewell blogosphere.
A Happy Goodbye
So, we had my going away party two days ago. It was a Saturday night and everyone that I wanted to be there was able to make it, with the exception of just a couple of people. I had friends from various stages of my life meeting each other and my family for the first time. We ate and drank and played Rock Band on the Xbox till late at night. It was everything I was hoping for. It was a happy goodbye and filled with laughter and good times. It was great to have friends come in from over an hour away just to be here to see me off. And I got to see my nephew who is currently stationed in San Diego with the Navy as well as his wife and adorable daughter whom I had never had the pleasure of meeting. I got to play with babies and have a toast with buddies and the whole night was very satisfying and, looking back on it now, moving. It was a great night. Thank you to everyone who could be there. And a very special thanks to my wife and her friend who made such an amazing array of food for everyone and made it such a wonderful experience as well! :)
Sunday, January 6, 2013
The Story So Far
So, I should probably explain the events that led to me being here in the position that I am in, on the verge of being in the Army. It's kind of funny. I had always said that the Army just wasn't for me. But after waiting tables for the last seven years, I got really tired of seeing my life go absolutely nowhere. And due to numerous mounting circumstances paired with that past history of mediocrity, I found myself in a very peculiar position. It seemed that there was no way out, that my life had led to this feeling of poverty and misery. I was broke, I had no money in savings, no stability and no prospects for a brighter future in sight. I was starting to fall behind on bills and started to get really bummed out over it all. It was a burden I bore quietly along with my wife. And I felt that I had failed my family so far. Deciding to think outside the box, I told my wife that I'd join the military. So I went to a recruiter about eight months ago. There I found out that ever since the Army took away individual commissions from recruiters and made it a whole-office approach that the quality of recruiting has gone way down since fifteen years ago when I remembered my brother going to get info about the Army. They said that since I had a GED, that I'd have to take a personality test. What my recruiter DIDN'T tell me is that if I failed this test, it would stop my enlistment. First off, how in the hell can you even FAIL a personality test? Well, guess who didn't pass his. Yup, THIS guy. So at that point my recruiters told me that in order to enlist, I would have to go get 15 college credit hours. So, I enrolled for online classes with a local community college system and got it done. Working full time and doing full time college classes was alot harder than I thought it would be. But I finished it and my education level changed from GED to Some College. Prior to finishing the semester, I had no thought of being able to swear in before the semester was over. I had been working out, but too hard and too fast. I injured my knee and had to take some time off from getting in shape. At some point, my recruiter got me hopeful that we could get a transcript before the semester was over showing that I was enrolled for enough hours. Well I went to MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) and was about to sign for a job but then they said that my enrollment verification was no good for them. SO a couple weeks later, I'm back at MEPS again with the right documents when I discover that in order to get the job I really wanted from the beginning, 35P Cryptologic Linguist, I need to pass a credit check to get a Top Secret clearance. Recruiters never mentioned this and they also didn't mention that I needed to have my wife's credit run also. If I would have known that, I never would have gotten my hopes up for that position. The crappy part is that I was about three signatures away from signing up and going across the hall to enlist on my first trip up to MEPS. Misinformation from my recruiters made everything more stressful. SO on my FOURTH trip up to MEPS, everything was okay and I was good to go. But the only problem was that I didn't have an MOS that I preferred anymore. So after much consideration and based on available positions that day, I took a 25Q enlistment. Wasn't the job I wanted, but it gets me in the military so I'm not complaining. Eight months after I started the process, I'm finally enlisting in two days. Almost there. The sense of anticipation is electric inside of me, and at times, I can't tell if it's excitement, nervousness, fear or peace. My life will never be the same again. This time, I got to choose that moment. The last time it happened was when my father passed away. I'm ready. It will be difficult and at times I will feel broken. And then I will pick myself back up and move on. Here I go.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
What I'll be missing out on...
So, here it is on New Years Day 2013 and me, my wife Kat and daughter Kiddo are all sitting in the living room watching TV. An episode of Shark Tank and a cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie, which they kept making fun of me for watching, were the entertainment of the evening. And as the night progressed, I realized that this is what I'll be missing out on while I'm gone. The jokes during commercial breaks, my wife trying to keep her sub-Arctic feet warm between my leg and the couch, dinner with the family and just seeing the kids get older, more mature and even funnier than they already are. I'm gonna miss my son's first season of basketball entirely. And I worry about my wife and if she or the kids should need anything while I'm gone. I know that more than likely they'll be fine, but it still feels crappy to leave them on their own. But in the grand scheme of things, it will be for the best. I will focus on my training and getting through BCT (Basic Combat Training) and AIT (Advanced Individual Training). Time to man up and get this done.
-J-
-J-
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