Here Comes the Boom!!

Friday, March 8, 2013- So, the last week has been really busy as we go barreling on, closer to the finale of this crazy adventure called BCT. This last Saturday we started training with hand grenades an on Monday we went to the course and qualified. We got to throw two live grenades each and let me tell ya, it was pretty exciting! I walked away after the huge boom saying, "Now, THAT'S living!" Then, because we finished early in the day, we were tasked with range detail. In this case, range detail consisted of landscaping a huge area, trimming tree branches, clearing brush, laying rocks down in a drainage ditch and creating paths lined with sand bags. The next day, we did training for a live fire two man exercise designed to test the firing and movement techniques we've learned so far. The practice phase was kind of boring, but the next day, when we qualified with live ammo, it was intense because the risk of injury (or death) from a private not paying attention to detail is higher than almost any other part of BCT. Thankfully, I had PVT Maestro  with me as my battle buddy for qualifying so I felt more assured that I wouldn't get shot in the ass on accident. Lol. Our run went well with minor infractions that were addressed verbally, but we passed, which was a relief.

Our days are super busy now and there is very little personal time, if any. Training comes first and foremost, of course. My uncle, who has spent about 37 years in the Army told me some great advice before I came here. He said, "The Army is like a train. You can jump on and be along for the ride. If you do, it'll take you great places. But if you let it go, it'll keep rolling along without you. I've seen plenty of people let go of this opportunity and refuse to train. And I can't help but think of all they're missing."

We just had a bunch of new soldiers join our company. They're blue phase restarts, which means they got set back about to the six week point in training, usually for doing something stupid. We got about four new soldiers in our platoon. About 2 weeks ago, my bunkmate switched bunks to across the bay, so there was an empty bunk above me. One of the restarts took his place and it's so much better. No more holding my tongue all day because of someone else's bad attitude. No more hearing someone mumble negativity under their breath all day because they're a coward. My new bunkmate is pretty cool. He's gonna be a chaplain's assistant, which actually seems like a pretty cool job to have.