June 1, 2012- From Reception, we load the big white buses... destination- Basic Training Alpha Company. We are greeted by our drill sergeants before the bus takes off. They yelled and cussed at us telling us to keep our heads down on our bags. After what seemed to be an hour bus ride, we arrived at Building 11000.. Alpha Company. We were pushed off the bus as the Drill Sergeants made us hold our luggage above our heads and run to formation. The second we reached our formation area we were to drop all our things and get into the front leaning rest position. ( the pushup position) " Front Leaning Rest Position.. MOVE!!" Those 5 words became muscle memory in my head.. for all of 10 weeks of Basic training, I would hear those words in my sleep. The second day, we were issued all of our gear and assigned bunks. this was the longest day of the cycle. 4 am wake up call wasnt your typical birds chirping either.. " get you asses out of bed NOW" was what came over the intercom. We all rushed down to formation in our PT's. It was the first day of our PT test. It is rated on a scale 300 being maximum points and anything above that is the extended scale. The 1-1-1 .. 1 minute of pushups, 1 minute of sit ups, one mile run. Pushups- I did 41, sit ups- I did 45, and ran a mile in 6:23 The Sergant major approached me that morning on the way to Breakfast and said he was very impressed and he hoped to see me keep pushing for the AFPT award for our company. That became an instant goal for me at that point.
When we reached the chow hall we were given 7 minutes to eat. The remainder of the day consisted of paperwork and death by power point, going over expectations. In between all this sitting, of course we got into trouble and got scuffed up alot. At the end of the day, everyone was drained as we climbed in our perfectly made bunks.. some didnt do a good enough job and their bunks were on the bay ground. If you had left your locker unlocked.. your personal belongings were EVERYWHERE!! All over the bay.
The next day we were allowed to call our home and let our families know we made it home safely. I didnt know which family membe to call we were only given 5 minutes. So I called sister. Kris answered right away. It was so good to hear families voices... I wanted to cry. I just wanted to be home so bad.. hearing the kids giggling in the background was hard.
That day I had my first MRE- I had pork rib. You dont get a choice. they hand you an MRE and you haveto eat it . As I opened it up, I did a quick calorie count of the contents... 2400 calories... for one meal!! No way jose. I wasnt eatin it. I traded all my contents for peoples peanut butter, and sugar free juice packets.
That night was the first night we hard to start fire guard... Lucky me- I had the 0200-0300 duty :( We haveto be in full uniform and sit at the desk in the bay for an hour and watch people sleep. The rules were- no sleeping, no personal time.
Week one was the hardest week for me. I got caught falling asleep in the lecture once and had to go to the back of the classroom and stay in the push-up position until I was given further instruction.
The First week was tough just getting settled in and meeting new soldiers. More of a culture shock than anything.
We did go to "Victory Tower" the first week and do obstacle courses. We were taught to repel down a 40 ft wall in the pouring down rain and did all sorts of rope climbs and fun stuff. This was the first day I started getting blisters from my new boots. But so was everyone else.
Week 1 was when I got my first letter from Brian :) and I became squad leader for my platoon as well.
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