The Candy Gate Conspiracy

January 22, 2013- Today was eventful and boring at the same time. We started early waking up for PT at 0500. It was a good workout and then we went to chow. We're starting to get more than five minutes to eat, but not much more. We've been doing our Combat Life Saver training, which sounds exciting but most definitely is NOT. Everyone refers to it at "Death by Powerpoint" because tons of people are falling asleep during the class. When you fall asleep and they catch you, you gotta go to the back of the room and hold your rifle in the air at shoulder level for what seems like forever. 7.8 pounds weighs a ton after you've been holding it stationary in front of you for 20 minutes or so. Sometimes they make you do squats while holding the weapon too.

So, the morning was classroom time, followed by MREs for lunch. It was after that the great Candy Gate conspiracy was uncovered. You see, MREs come with candy inside them most of the time, but we're supposed to turn all the candy in to the Drill Sergeants when we open them. Well, a bunch of the females and a few males got the bright idea to offer to throw out the platoon's used MRE packaging and eat a bunch of it by the dumpster and pocket the rest for later. What these idiots forgot was that they were doing all this RIGHT BEHIND our Battalion Headquaters! The Command Sergeant Major simply had to turn his head and look out a window to witness a cluster of dumbass privates breaking multiple rules. The worst offense was taking food and trying to get it back in the bay to eat it later. They had us sign a paper when we first got here that said we wouldn't keep any contraband items in the barracks and it even mentioned MREs. I tried to warn them that they would be in big time trouble if they got caught, but they didn't listen. And I gladly steered clear from being involved and less than an hour later, I was proven right. They pulled our whole platoon out of the classroom training we were doing and performed on on the spot shakedown of every pocket on our ACUs. They even searched the pockets inside our PCs (the caps we wear with our ACUs.)  We were lucky they didn't make us empty our entire lockers because we had JUST organized our lockers to military standard. It's funny how much this place can feel like prison. We got guys walking around and asking how much for someone to wash their clothes for them. Cough drops are like freakin' currency here, lol. This week we had duty week which means that when the company goes out for special functions, we serve the food and bag up all the trash afterwards. The upside to duty week is you get extra food and as much punch as you can stand, lol.

It's been really crazy weather here. When we got in last Monday, it was nice and warm with highs in the 70's. We were told that was unusual for this time of year here, but we didn't expect for it ot change so rapidly. Last Wednesday or Thursday, we did this awesome obstacle course, and just as we finished running it, the sky just started dumping rain. I don't think, with the possibility of one hilarious exception from my first trip to Pennsylvania, that i have EVER been that soaked in my life. We had to wait in the rain for the rest of the company to finish, and that meant just standing there while you watched the guy in front of you have his ACUs plastered onto his body by hoe soaked they were getting. And of course, the same thing was happening to you simultaneously, Then, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped like 20 degrees in about and hour or two. So we did about a two mile march to get back to barracks and then stood in formation fro like another half hour or longer getting flash frozen by the wind. After that, the weather has been a high of mid-50's in the afternoons but lows around 30 degrees in the early mornings when we're out doing PT!

I'm a little nervous about passing the first APFT test on Friday 'cause I know I'm still not in great shape. But I also know I'm getting a little stronger and my endurance a little better as each day passes. We started our Combat Life Saver course on Monday and test on it Thursday. I hope I pass the first time (you only get two tries total.) We also found out from DS Pain Bringer that DS Hood will be transferring to another company on Monday. That sucks 'cause she was the most laid back and helpful out of all the DS's. She felt like an older sister or momma type figure becasue she always tried to keep us out of trouble ahead of the fact. I'm just hoping her replacement isn't too harsh on us compared to Hood. Also, rumor from a very reliable source that DS Pain Bringer is getting a promotion and DS Action Man will be our Platoon Sergeant. That's cool, 'cause he's already everyone's favorite.

So, I should also mention that I hate my bunkmate, He's a dude from Mississippi that is the worst ghetto and disrespectful type of person. He always has a bad attitude and complains about everyone yet can't admit when he's wrong himself. He is the opposite of a team player and the other day, he and I almost got in a fight because he was whining about stuff and wouldn't let me speak to him while we were on Fire Guard duty, which could've gotten us into big trouble for not following orders correctly. I usually just ignore him as I know I'm not his favorite person.

We've had about five or six people in our company quit and one guy get pneumonia and got quarantined in the last week or so. It's crazy how weak I feel in comparison to all these young guys in the prime of their lives. But I'll catch up soon. Gotta get some sleep. Wake up is in 5 hours!