4th letter

BCT Day 0

The day started at 0400. We were required to clean the bays up immaculately. The weather outside was perfect. It felt like upper 60s with a slight breeze. We were scheduled to load up leave for "down range" at 1000 hrs, but the civilians at the reception building were moving slow on the last minute fixes. While waiting the company ISG assigned 4 "high speed" specialists, including myself, to go to the various bays and square away any details missed. We had to take 10 other soldiers each to get it done. After doing that, I pray that I don't get some of these people in my platoon. I cannot just sit around and screw around when a DS asked us to do something. I was just annoyed to bananas. We sat and sat and went to lunch. Then the trucks came and they had us file out and stack our duffel bags and got into formation. The belittling started here. I knew what to do so I brought no attention to myself. It was intimidating to say the least. I was distracted enough due to the fact that my laundry detergent started leaking in my laundry. This was the bag that we're holding the whole time. It had all of my personal items, (including the new bag I purchased and not the one I donated. Thank you again SSG WTF." and other misc gear. My bag felt like about 25-35 lbs.

They then had us march about a mile up a hill with the bags still in our hands. We came across the battalion and company building. They marched us into this courtyard and pressed us together really close. They then had us sit down somehow. This was about 215 people mashed together. They then had the company 1SG talk to us over a PA system. He just gave an introduction to the  company and DS staff. They then had us all run over to our stacks of bags and find ours. During this, the DSs were finding people to pick on. I kept my head down and was constantly running, so I avoided any attention. During this whole time, I emptied all emotion, and became a rock. They had us move into our PLT. formation. Here they yelled at us some more. They then had us go to our bay upstairs.

Once in our bay, they had us hold our laundry bags over heads and out in front of us. I was sweating fairly well by now. They then had us do half-jacks for a while. We did it longer because there were guys having problems with the cadences. One guy even passed out just from those exercises. And of course, they had us do push-ups. I have the name already for the one DSs; DS T, He sounds like Mr. T, except he doesn't say fool.

He then had us fill out some paper work that I have already filled out before.We went to chow afterwards. The selection is a little different and is healthier then the reception; no fried food. I got some good ribs. The DSs then took us on a tour of the battalion grounds. We then had to deal with a fire alarm. Around 1800 hrs, the whole company meets up around this big company and army logo and had what they call "Hydration formation." This basically gives a status quo of events and a preview of the next day. We went back in our bays. More paper work and push ups. Then at about 2140 they told all 54 of us to shower in 20 minutes. Lots of fun, we even had DS T com in looking at tattoos. We then went to bed, but I ended up having fireguard duty at 0200 for a hour...yay.

BCT Day 1

My name is not Keith Miller anymore. I now go by Roster #309. That means, 3rd platoon and 9th on the roster. We are know as the Regulators, I guess a past cavalry division.

Wake up was supposed to be at 0430, but the DSs had other ideas. What's a first morning at basic without a wake up call from modified air horns @ 0400. Part of the experience. I saw that coming because there was no fireguard scheduled till 0430. We then had to try and make our beds the way they wanted, shave, brush our teeth, and get dressed in about 45 minutes. There are so many sick people right now. There is constant hacking and sniffling. I hope I can stay clear of the crud.

We had our initial PT test, which is known as the 1-1-1. 1 minute of push ups, 1 minute of sit ups and a 1 mile run. I did 25 official push ups with about 5-10 not counted because I guess my form was not right. Oh Well. I did not have as much of a problem with my sit ups. I did 34. For my 1 mile run, I ran 8:14, which is my best time so far, but according to DS T, "That's Shit."

The DSs in my platoon are the strictest in the company. Evidently, we get smoked more than anyone else. DS T is the worst. I can see what he is doing though. He's training us harder to get our discipline squared away better than the other platoons.

We basically sat in a classroom all day trying not to fall asleep or dealing with a DS in your face. I managed the classes were basic topics like Equal Opportunity, hot weather injuries watched some IED rules on Taliban, and operation security. OPSEC

Friday -> Tuesday  BCT Day 2-6

The last couple of days have been very stressful and busy. I have not been able to write very much at all. I will highlight the last couple of days.

Friday- We were issued our weapons, M-16 M-4. These things are .06 lbs without the sling and magazine. It doesn't sound like much, but you take a 9 lb weight and hold it out on your side for 2-5 minutes. I now have to carry this around just about everywhere, including the bathroom and chow. We started training on the new Army PRT system, which is replacing the old Army PT. This is the new system I mentioned that SSG Lime thought it was gay. It's not even that hard for me with the personal training I paid for. It's the coordination with the cadences that takes practice. If you screw that up, the DSs are on you quick.

Saturday- I really do not remember what happened that day except that I did wake up with that crud in my lungs and head. Freaking great! The whole day I was dizzy and disoriented and even fell asleep standing up a few times.

Sunday- It was supposed to be a more relaxing day. However, DS T saw the guidelines through his own eyes. Supposedly, DSs are not supposed to smoke PVTs on Sundays till 1600. Well at about 1300, DS T came in and got all pissed about the various stupid stuff that our stupid people were doing. Mainly talking and moving at the position attention. I don't know why it is so hard to follow simple instructions. DS T. had us doing PT stuff from about 1515 to about 1410. In the meantime, I was hacking and sniffling the whole time. What annoyed me about that was that it got me very sweaty before church. My church service was scheduled for 1500 and you have to report 30 minutes prior to march. I got there on time at 1430 with no DS there till about 1545 and then we waited another 10-15 minutes for more people. We got to church at about 1515 with a long line for confession still in place that caused mass to start around 1540. Fine by me! More time away from DSs who are not allowed in the masses. After mass, we got to ride back in a van. However, six of us had to stuff ourselves into the back of a van on the ground.

DS T did ask us to huddle before personal time to ask questions. It's got to be the funniest Q and A session from a step back. Stupid people asking stupid questions, and DS T giving them a "you dumb fucker" answer. He did talk about the gas chamber the next day. The part that stands out, is when he asked about what we were going to have to recite and how bad while in the CS gas chamber. His response was, "depends on whether his woman was gonna give him any pussy that night. So pray for pussy fuckers." Holy crap, I lost it. We actually got some free time to ourselves that night too. Wow!

Monday- Gas Chamber Day!

We started the day with chow around 0600. I had a feeling that it would be smart to eat a small meal to lessen the chance of regurgitation in the gas chamber. The DSs made it sound like you may have to clean any mess you leave behind in there. Oops, before chow we did more of intro to the PRT exercises. Easy stuff, slightly challenging. However, when we were leaving, we were the only platoon to decide to run two laps around the track. About a 1/4 of the platoon kept up with the DS. I was having problems with the breathing because of the chest crud, but I nearly stayed the pace. We did have a guy who the DSs call PVT Hip Hop who I rode up from MEPS in the van, who could barely walk much less run because of his knee. Turns out after seeing the athletic trainers, he may have done something to his MCL, not good. He is now on crutches. PVT Hip Hop still wanted to go to the gas chamber. We then all got in our ACUs, got our assault rifles. We marched a bit and met up some "cattle trucks." I volunteered to carry Hip Hops bag as well as my own. Not too bad, just more sweat. At the gas chamber, we did a quick check of the mask. I didn't know what I was doing for the check because I missed the chemical class the day before because of church. I was praying that my seals were good.

They marched us in and within 5 seconds, my skin where I shaved that morning started to burn. My mask worked though, whew. They had us pull our mask off and say our last name and last 4 digits of our SSN, then reseal the mask. I was ok till my last digit and got hit. It took me a minute to recover. They then had my line pull our masks off,  put our helmet on properly, put our rifle in our right hand, our mask in the left, and hold both hands out. I was the first done, but waited for the freaked out people. Finally, they had us run out. You could see the sick people because the faces and jackets were covered in snot!. I was one of them. I slowly could breathe again. The rest of the day was low key though! Didn't really do much training, and we got a full hour of personal time.

Tuesday- Obstacle course day

I was dragging it hard in the morning from whatever it was I have. Worse, DS T smoked us in the bay before leaving. I sweated like crazy. I was dizzy as hell. After the smoking, I asked if he could take my temp where he then chewed my ass for being 25 and not letting someone know that I was sick sooner. It was bad enough that I needed some time to myself in the bathroom for a minute. Oh well, I decided I would stick it out for the day to see how far I could take it.On top of that, I started having problems with my knee the night before. So I had that going for me.

Attire for the obstacle course was ACUs, boots and our camel backs. We marched to the course and learned how to stack our rifles. We then went on a tour of the course. Lucky for us PVT Whiney and my bunk mate (who happens to have the same last name as me, and I have been trying to help him with bunk, rifle, etc) did some stupid things and caused the whole company to drop. My bunk mate already got Article 15 the night before from our SDS(Senior). Because of both soldiers' actions and attitudes, it looks like both will be getting ELS (Entry level Separation). This means they are leaving the Army early. We then got in starting positions and the platoons competed against themselves in squads. I thought I was going to on the first obstacle. Luckily, I had some good battle buddies pushing my ass! I could barely breathe through the whole thing. It was fun though. I didn't feel my knee either. After that run, each platoon picked their "super 8" to compete against each platoon. I was definitely not on that team. Our platoon ended up coming in 3rd. Unfortunately, I think if Hip Hop and our ELS guy were able to make it to the course, we could have won.

After the competition, they marched everyone up through a water hose that was dumping a load of water on each person. It was so refreshing. By this time I had noticed that my knee was starting be sore again. Oh well.

The DSs took it somewhat easy on the rest of the day. I did decide previously that I was not better by Tuesday, I would be going to sick call for my knee and chest crud Wednesday morning. After I turned in my request, I found out that I would miss the first Ability Group Run (AGR). AGR is where they have a run with people broken up in groups based on their run time. But, I made a decision and was not planning on second guessing myself. Lucky for me, I did not have fire guard duty and tried to get some sleep.