A recap in letters

What follows is a transcription of the last 4 letters I wrote to MB. I will add notes where they are needed. For the record, I am thoroughly enjoying being on vacation (EXODUS). My goal is to NOT gain 47 pounds! I will add more at the end of this post!

15.Nov -Last night was a total bummer, but it's a LONG STORY that I will tell you later (explanation: the whole platoon was reamed for like 2 hours for having no discipline, and I was personally called out for not having told them all to "shut the fuck up" and the DS was all like, "I've been waiting for you to say something for 5 weeks and I don't think you're EVER going to" I was bummed about it for awhile, but have since come to terms with it, because I know what kind of person and leader I am, and he is not a person I respect anyway.) The long and short of it is that I am now a squad leader. It appears they weren't lying about the PT test. Oh, Lord, let it be over soon. We're doing a confidence course today, rope climbing, wall scaling - could be fun, but it's really hot out and we're in ACUs, which I'm sure you've heard do not keep you warm OR cool when you need it. Stupid. It's almost 10am and I'm still waiting - made up a platoon list with the PG who happens to be sitting next to me - funny - there's this kid in my platoon from Phenix City, AL I did NOT offer him a ride home.
We just finished the confidence course -which was stupid because there are like 25 obstacles but because of ticket sales this morning, we only did 3 of them. I'm starting to believe that this whole cycle of Basic Training is being a little half-assed by the people in charge. (Edited to add: one of the obstacles we did was called FIVE WALLS, which is a series of 5 walls, each getting taller, the goal is for a team of 4 to get over all 5...when I tell you that EVERY female ended up with GIANT black and blue marks on their upper arms from trying to pull herself up a wall, or from someone grabbing her by the upper arm to get her over, I am NOT exaggerating, there was a nightly comparison in the latrine of color and size...they were grotesque. I only wish I had my camera!) So, we were on the bus and a Trace Adkins song came on and I got so excited because it's the first REAL son I've had in my head for like a month. Usually it's cadences, which gets SUPER annoying.
16.Nov Happy Wednesday! Got 2 letters from you yesterday! YAY! 2 things - WTF Michelle Duggar, holy crap they are disturbed AND holy crap Joe Paterno! They would protest him getting fired, losers. WOW. And my friend Muller told me that Andy Rooney died. Sad. The bad day from Monday continues. Remember when I sad low crawling in the dirt sounded like fun? It is not. Our DS flipped shit about us not being motivated, us not wanting to train. As a teacher, I know where he's coming from - a few bad ones spoil it for everyone.
17.Nov Everytime I see Darren I'm going to say "Chief" or "Sir". For a day, anyway, lol. You're whole family is going to say "Scouts Out" soon. So today is Thursday, and we're going to the range AGAIN for reflexive fire. Walking and shooting. I passed the computer simulation, but am always nervous about the real thing. So, because our PT test is after vacation, they're giving us a PT plan, that should be fun for US! LOL But Sonic chili dogs sound amazing and I will be
indulging very soon. CAN'T WAIT. French fries, buffalo wings, you name it, I want to eat it. By the way, S. Carolina sucks. I have an ANT BITE on my arm. GROSS! It's all hard and full of pus. Disgusting. You realize, of course, that this diagnosis is based solely on this girl saying it looks like an ant bite she had. (Edited to add - SO NOT AN ANT BITE, more on this topic later!!) I put a BandAid and Neosporin on it. We'll see what happens. The range was good. It took forever, we only shot 30 rounds each, but it took like 3 hours. Then we had chow. Then they apparently hadn't arranged for a Motor Move back home, so we practiced shooting from behind barriers for 2.5 hours. I did really well at reflexive firing, the CCO or COC or whatever acronym it is for the laser scope thing makes it so much easier and faster. It's literally point and shoot! OOH, DS just said it's CCO - Close Combat something, I wrote it down a few days ago - clearly it meant a lot to me, lol.
It was bothering me, so I looked it up - Close Quarter Combat Optic. Sorry this letter is so random. It's like 1630 and we've been sitting in the classroom for almost an hour doing nothing while people get "counseled". That means they were naughty. 2 of the males changed settings on weapons the night before qualification. They are in MAJOR trouble.
PT TEST RESULTS: push ups 9 (80% increase)
situps 41 (78% increase)
2 mile run 17:33 (2:40 faster)
22.Nov By the time you get this it will probably be December, which means I'm that much closer to being sprung from here! WOO-HOO! Things have gone from 0-60 in like 3 days. I'm PG now, this since yesterday after breakfast. It's a long story about why, but I have a theory about that, but today at lunch I screwed up (nothing major, don't worry) so I'm hoping I get fired. Seriously, it's a lot of stress that I didn't want. THEN we had a shakedown yesterday morning - they were looking for contraband. Damn. The males had food and candy and stuff, this one kid has his Ipod AND there were females in MY platoon with homemade dice. They are currently being either chaptered out or restarted because gambling is bad. It has been quite the topic of conversation for the last 24 hours. Oh, and did I mention that one of them is my battle buddy? Heh. Is it wrong of me to be happy she'll be gone? I can't believe I just wrote that! Got my dress blues today - very tedious process, back to Reception *shudder* Flashbacks of hell. All 37 females have been finished for like an hour, and we are waiting for 104 males to finish. It is already 1500. I don't know what this evening will bring, but I'm pretty sure all the DS are still mad about yesterday because each platoon apparently brought shame upon the company. WHATEVER. Seriously, most of the stress of BCT is the mental anguish and living in constant dread of what might happen next. It's not good for a person. Tomorrow is NIC at night, which, from what I gather involves barbed wire, low crawling and live rounds being shot above my head. Word on the street is, it's the toughest training we have left. Unless you count the 10 mile footmarch on 10. Dec. That will be tons of fun. Apparently it's mandatory to take a break every 5o minutes...hopefully it won't be too cold. Sitting here thinking of you in Disneyworld, and am truly jealous, for some reason today I am feeling really homesick. I'm really tired and trying to take it one day at a time. For laughs, let me describe the trip to Deferred Issue for you.
We took the bus to 120th (Reception Battalion) at about 0700 and had breakfast at the DFAC here, which SUCKS!! Plus we came in right after the FAT CAMP was eating (sorry, Fitness Training Company) and so we got reduced portions of a very limited selection of food. Boo. Then we made it to CIIP which is an acronym I'm still trying to decipher. Clothing Issue something? Not sure. (edited to add -Clothing Initial Issue Point) Shoes come first - they actually gave us like 6 pairs of socks, then we went to try on shiny black shoes. After that, you wear your shiny black shoes with your PT shorts and T shirt to the SHIRT station, where you strip to bra and undies and wait for the ladies there. Just imagine 7 females standing there in bra and undies with shiny black shoes on, holding clipboards. Definitely a sight. The shirt lady also gives you a beret. I have a fat head, lol. Next is fancy jacket - mine feels really tight, but the DS approved it. So now I'm running around in a short sleeve shirt and shiny black shoes. Next you get measured for a skirt, which was uneventful, but the pants were an ordeal because as the ladies were fond of saying to me "We're trying to make your booty look good, but there isn't much there" HEH. So, after all of that, you have to wait for all the alterations, then go parade around ON AN ACTUAL STAGE for all the DS to inspect the fit. Truly bizarre to hear my GIANT muscle man DS ask if the pants were hitting me at the belly button. Strange. As expected, the Army has a system for everything, and it worked pretty well. It just takes forever. Hurry up and wait is not a myth, it's a fact. We were finished around 1600, then waited around til like 1700 for chow. now it's almost 1900 and we well be here til at least 1930. *sigh*
25.Nov It was great talking to you yesterday, now I am feeling encouraged and ready to kick ass for another 3 weeks!
Got fired from being PG today, thank goodness. It was stressing me out. I didn't do anything wrong, the average time on the job is like 3 days. Anyway, it's good just to fall into formation again!
Today is full of first aid. Last week we talked mainly about hemorrhaging and tourniquets. I think today will be about chest wounds. Exciting. Well, I was wrong. We're talking about managing airways. ONE HOUR LATER: we finally got around to open (sucking) chest wounds and got to watch some pretty graphic videos. Yuck. So, it's noon and there is nothing else on the schedule for today. We are done with the first aid program for the day. DS is texting 1SGT to see if we can watch a movie after chow. Heh. "So, what did you do in Basic Training?" Oh, well, I spoke too soon. People are stupid and can't follow simple instructions, so we just spent 1/2 an hour doing various exercises. This is the kind of thing that de-motivates me. What is wrong with personal accountability? It just gets old having to pay for other people's immaturity. *sigh* End of rant. The T-shirt guy just came by and sadly, all of the designs are really ugly. Even our platoon shirt. I really wanted to like something. Oh, well, no souveniers for me. Next on the schedule is a movie. The Shooter I think it's called. Looks pretty good. Turns out there was coffee I could have had yesterday at dinner. LTC authorized us drinking some. Too bad I didn't know that yesterday. I did have pumpkin pie, a BitoHoney a MaryJane and a caramel. Indulgent, right? They took us to the DFAC at like 1600 yesterday. No one was hungry, but we knew we had to eat, b/c breakfast isn't til 0700.