MONTEREY

The odyssey that my life has become continues! I arrived in Monterey at about 0130 January 14. We formed up behind the company building and some Specialist was explaining to us about how "chill" it was here. From there, we went upstairs to fill out some in-processing packets. You would think they could have saved that for a time when we were all awake and rested, but no. Then they took our phones and electronics, major bummer. There were no beds or rooms for us, so we literally wandered around the barracks looking for places to sleep. I ended up on a couch in the day room, which was really comfortable. They let us sleep in and at noon on Saturday we had a formation. This is when "Phase IV" was explained to us. As a continuation of Basic Training, we were still in a very restrictive environment. We did get our phone backs, but only to use IN OUR ROOMS at the end of the duty day. Most of the time this was at about 1700 or so. The days were filled with classes on stuff we already did at Basic, Land Navigation and First Aid mostly. Sprinkle in a shit-ton of briefings about everything from personal finance to sexual harassment, and that gives you an accurate picture of life here during Phase IV. Oh, and the fact that in order to go ANYWHERE, we had to march in groups of 8 or more. Completely annoying. AND the fact that we weren't allowed to go anywhere that was not assigned. Couldn't pick up and go to the gym, couldn't go to the PX, nothing. Super annoying. The biggest sticking point was our ASU/room inspection. ASU is the acronym for Army Service Uniform, it's the dress blues. The room inspection is a pain, but everyone (at least on the female floor) was prepared. This is mostly because EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, a sergeant comes through your room to make sure your room is in accordance with the very detailed SOP that you must live by. Things like "all trousers will be folded at the waist with the front of the trouser facing the left of the wall locker. The waist of the trouser will be to the viewers left." Seriously. There was shit like that for all our stuff. We had to roll and display socks, underwear, t-shirts, towels and shorts. (see pictures above) And the bed had to be made with hospital corners at a 45 degree angle. Super annoying. So that was part 1 of the inspection. Part 2 was the appearance of our dress uniforms, which is just as detail oriented and just as annoying. "The U.S. insignia will be worn 5/8" from the notch in the lapel and centered between the inside of the collar..." "The name plate will be worn 1-2" above the top button, centered..." Super annoying. Anyway, the first inspection we had we failed. This is mostly due (in my opinion) to the fact that 30 minutes before the First Sergeant was coming, our sergeants had us downstairs telling us what to pay attention to. AND we were wearing ACUs...they gave us 10 minutes to change...and then they were pissed that no one was ready 10 minutes in advance. It was a sham. Not a real inspection at all, evidenced by the fact that when they did come, they were all wearing their ACUs. A week later (oh, did I mention we got an extra week tacked on to our Phase IV because we failed??) they came to do inspection in their ASUs. Suspicious. ANYWAY, long story short, we "graduated" on February 7, and I have a certificate and a unit patch to prove it. Now we're in Phase V, which is basically like being a real person, except if we leave post we have to wear the ASUs. At least it makes sense to me why we had to get them inspected. We were all assigned to our gaining companies, and I'm in Delta, where all the Korean students go. The people there are really nice and friendly, and I really like the platoon sergeants. It took a little getting used to getting up at 0415 for PT every morning, but I would so much rather have PT in the morning than in the afternoon. I somehow have my own room, which is AWESOME. I do not get to live in the beautiful new barracks, there was no room, but the Supply Sergeant (who is really a SPC) says to keep checking back to see if/when a room opens up. Not sure how I feel about moving at this point. Each location has its advantages. Charlie (where I live now) is super close to class and the library, but Delta is super close to where we have PT...so, it's a trade off. I'm happy where I am at the moment, and have really good friends to hang out with, so that's a plus!