Welcome to the Jungle.....

First, let me apologize for the long delays in my posts recently. I don't currently have internet in the barracks and also have classes that keep me pretty busy so I've had to figure out the best time to try and fit in some writing time. My first week at A.I.T. was a shock and an awakening. I showed up to my first formation at 0800 hours and was amazed at the lack of discipline on display. People were talking in formation left and right and nobody even cared. I found out it was like this all the time. I was the only soldier from Ft. Jackson that had been assigned to Echo Company for the new class, so I was on my own with no familiar faces around again, just like when I showed up at reception. Well, at least it wasn't freezing and windy all the time like at Ft. Jackson. I found out that, with the exception of two guys who had basic at Ft. Sill, everyone else from our class was from Ft. Benning. I was in a room with some pretty squared away guys for nearly a week and then we finished in-processing (which is truly horrible, maddeningly boring, and essentially death by PowerPoint) and got split up into groups of days and swings. Me and Private Sleepy (because he spends all his free time during the week hibernating) were moved into the room next door, which initially worried me as I thought the new room might be less disciplined. It turns out the move may have been for the better anyways, as these guys are more like me in personality anyways, so we get along better. As the in-processing ended, we started classes with our instructor, who I'll call Mr. P. The first learning module, essentially the first week of class, was more death by PowerPoint but as the second and third week arrived we began to do some hands-on work with the equipment we'll be working with in our MOS. We've gotten to know our platoon sergeants and they all seem pretty laid back. We've got Sergeant First Class HotRod (named so because he drives a fast car that you can hear coming from down the street) and Staff Sergeant Cedric (because he looks like and reminds me of a skinny version of Cedric the Entertainer). We have more freedom here but there are still certain rules and regulations that must be followed. The battle buddy system is still in effect and soldiers must have a battle buddy with them any time they leave the company A.O. (Area of Operations).  There's also a Phase system that mirrors that of Basic Training's Red, White and Blue Phases, except ours are Phase IV, V, and V+. The advantages of phasing up are not having to go to formations every two hours on Saturdays and Sundays and being able to use tobacco products if we choose to. Phase V+ doesn't have to do fire guard or CQ duty shifts any more, but you have to be in your tenth week here before you can phase up to that. Phase V is available to start phasing up to after the third week but none of us passed on the first week. Me and another private were closest to making it but failed on our wall locker inspections. On the fourth week though most of our class phased up. The cast of characters here is interesting and I feel like our room gets along the best. We've got Private Mimic, who does really good impressions of people's voices. Then there's PV2 Bain, who frequently quotes lines from The Dark Knight Rises and loves to hunt. There's Private Grissy, who is from Haiti and always gets cracked on for his Creole accent. "Grissy" is how he said 'Greasy' in class one day and it's his new catchphrase. Then there's our resident crazy character who is so animated I'm gonna refer to him as PV2 Cartoon. We have PVT Beats, who is constantly wearing his 200 dollar Beats by Dre headphones and constantly asking what's going on because he didn't pay attention to what's goin on around him. Rounding out the room is PV2 Bieber who used to rock a Justin Bieber-styled haircut and is always talking to girls till late in the night. The guys are all pretty decent fellows and it was really interesting getting to know them. These soldiers would prove to be my closest battle buddies for the next 16 weeks. It was time to start learning how to do our jobs as soldiers.