Flight

The night of graduation is when we had to be downstairs with all of our bags, ready to catch the bus to the airport. I had 3 huge bags to carry! Once we got to the airport, early in the morning, we checked our bags, without any charge and then my battle buddy and I were given first class seats. How nice. :) By noon the next day, we arrived and caught the shuttle to Ft Jackson. What a horrible disaster I just stepped into. Thank God I am with Robinson though. LOVE HER!! My BBF....Battle Buddy Forever!

Graduation!!!!!

On Aug 12 we had Family Day, there was a nice ceremony. Following the ceremony, I found my mom and she had my step-dad in tow, what a nice surprise. I was so happy to see them both. The 1st place we went once leaving base was to Chick-fil-a. SWEET TEA! yum. After that, I went and got a new pair of ACU's (uniform). I was issued mediums and they were so big by the end of boot camp. I had to get Extra Small's....and I wasn't complaining about that :). Mom gave me the quilt she made as my graduation gift and it is beautiful. We dropped Mitch, my step-dad, off at the hotel so he could get a nap and we decided to have some girl-time. We stopped at Starbucks for Frappucino's then headed to get our mani/pedi's. How nice. It felt amazing. Then we picked Mitch up and went to Santa Fe Steakhouse and it was a yummy steak. As the day drew to an end, they dropped me back off at the barracks.

The following day was graduation. After the ceremony, Mom, Mitch and I went to get hot wings and sweet tea. We took it back to the hotel where I changed into comfy clothes, ate and spent time with mom and Mitch. When they took me back to the barracks, it was a sad good-bye. I miss them so much. Once I returned to my bay and started packing, Dad called. It was great to talk to him after so long. Tears :,(

"Pull pin, throw!" BOOM!

Sorry I haven't written in a bit. Lots going on! Today we had hand grenades. We had lots of practice grenades they go "POOF" when they detonate. We had 4 practice ones to throw so that we could learn exactly how to "pull pin, throw" on a real one AND so that the Drill Sergeant could "mark" our helmets. LOL I got marked with a "W/SA" which is weak throw and Side Arm. I couldn't throw very far and I throw a side arm. This way, the Drill Sergeants & Instructors knew when I came to them that we had to definitely take cover and he needed to watch my arm so he didn't get decked by me. Haha. So, when we made our way up to throw real grenades, we got 2 & it was serious. I ran over to the bunker, the instructor handed me a greanade "thumb safety clip". I tossed the safety clip. "Pull pin, throw!" I pulled the pin, threw the grenade & ducked. (They have a window you can look out of the bunker to see it explode). The instructor covered my upper body then yelled "you don't have a side arm but you damn sure can't throw!" All I felt after the vibration from the blast was dirt falling above us. He later poked fun at me about it now that he has a nice hole directly in front of the bunker. LMAO. Good think I'm not infantry I guess.
As for what's happened the past week. we have had a PT test, the COC (Confidence Obstacle Course) and BRM (Basic Rifle Marksmanship).
The PT test showed improvement. This is the 2nd of 3. I passed pushups & situps this time. The run, however needs to be shaved by 2 additional minutes. The drill Sergeant made me permanent roadguard until I pass which means lots of additional running for me. But, it can only better my run time!
At BRM, I scored sharpshooter 31/40 targets. YAY! Only one other female from our platoon scored in the thirties :) I was happy that's all I have for now. Until next time...
July 15, 2010

Phase Change!

Red Phase, completed. Welcome White Phase! :) Today we had our phase test and the battery average was an 80-passing! The First Sergeant unrolled our guide-on's revealing the white phase banner. How exciting!!!
Yesterday we got our phones twice throughout the day, one of the new freedoms of white phase. On Sunday's we will be allowed to have our phones for a certain period of time. As long as each platoon is on their best behavior. We will stay in white phase. At any time, the First Sergeant can send us right back to red phase.
They have chosen leadership for our platoon. I'm actually glad I was not picked. I plan on laying low :) They said everyone will have a leadership position at some point though.
Until next time...
05July 2010

Toby Keith @ Ft Sill!!!

Toby Keith, Free Entry, Food, Drinks, Friday.
Sounds like a good time, huh? It was a night to remember but it was not my idea of fun. We were so unhappy when we heard a rumor that we would not be going to the concert because we were still in red phase - basic training. It turned out it was a rumor and we were ordered to go "MANDATORY FUN!!" Said the First Sergeant.
As we were marching to the concert-grounds, it started to downpour. Not misting; not sprinling; not raining; DOWNPOUR! Several soldiers walked over to the Drill Sergeants and requested we do push-ups. "Platoon, Attention! Halfright face. Front leaning rest position, move" Fingers digging in the mud and grass, hair and uniform drenched, glasses fogged... we sounded off each push-up. Push-ups were followed by the leg tuck and twist, followed by the 8 count push-up. By that point, I was frustrated by the guys begging for more. WTF? We were finally released into the gate. Robinson & myself jumped in line to get a funnel cake. YUM! Then we got shaved ice drinks. It was Robinson's FIRST Country music concert and I wanted her to see up close. We made our way as close to the front as we could get. It was awesome. I wanted to hear 'American Soldier' and 'Red, White, & Blue' but he did not play them until we made it back to formation (behind the stage) :( At concert ending the Ft Sill Fireworks started to shoot off. They were very good. Then we marched back. When we made it back to the bay, we emptied pockets and were searched for smell of alcohol, cigarettes, any contraband. We made it to bed by 2400. What a night (02July2010)

Oh, to be a Female Again...

I am excited about Family Day & Graduation Day. My Mom will be coming & since we get all kinds of time OFF post with our family those days, I asked her if we could go for some REAL food and a mani/pedi. I'm long over-due & getting it done with my Mom would be AWESOME.
I'm so ready to feel like a female again. I feel like a dirty/nasty female ALL the time. 'What happens at Basic stays at Basic' is our little motto, but I'm gonna tell y'all how it is. If you were here, these things would seem normal... but since you aren't, it's a little shocking.
Our day starts of with P.T. (personal training), then we come back to the barracks and change into our ACU'. On a good day we will get back in time so that we can get a 3 min shower but some days, you just know to grab your baby wipes & head to the bathroom where you take a baby wipe bath. And THIS is normal here. You do what you can, when you can. I had never used a Port-a-john before either until I got here. Most of them don't have toilet paper, so at the chow line, you grab lots of napkins to stick in your pocket for when you are going into the field. You have to think smart. Army Strong? nah, more like Army Smart. Laundry is a rarity. You can get it done about once a week. There are 60 females, 5 washers/6 dryers, only 4 days to do laundry,. It may seem like plenty of time but when you are out in the field during a laundry day, no time to do it. As a results you end up wearing a uniform 2 times before you throw it into your laundry bag. And these uniforms get dirty from sweating all the damn time. It's not like those pair of jeans you can wear 2 days in a row b/c they didn't get dirty the day before LMAO. Shaving ladies, lets talk about shaving. There is NO possible way to shave every day. More like once a week IF you are lucky! There is just NO time. I feel bad for whoever holds my ankles while doing sit-ups. The other females understand, because that's how it is, but the guys probably don't. LOL Ugh - y'all know how girly I am, so it drives me nuts! Then, no tweezers, so - yep, I'm getting a wax the 1st time I get off base (I think the day before family day, they are taking us to JCPenney to get our hair done). Oh, I'm so ready to feel like a lady again. Most females come out of the Army, tough as nails, but for me it's gonna make me strong, but I'm still girly. ;p

My Mini-Vacation (June 29, 2010)

I am currently in quarters right now. Quarters is kind of like sick bay. They separated me from my platoon for 72 hours. I have pink eye. As often as I wipe sweat from my eyes daily, I'm not surprised really. There are lots of people here for pink eye. More males than females. All I do throughout the day is rest & eat. I have to stay in my bunk & sleep/rest. I don't have to do P.T. (personal training), make my bed, or clean. I get to take nice long showers ;) It's like a vacation. Oh, and the best thing, no drill Sgt's! Although it's a nice break, I'm bummed because I am missing some really important training. We have BRM (Basic Rifle Marksmanship) all this week & next week. We qualify end of next week, so I could really use the training this week. Thgey are 'zeroing' the weapons today. I hope one of the Drill Sgt's will get with me on that when I return. Also, I can not receive my mail here. They hold it until I return to my platoon. That sucks. So, I'm just sleeping and writing letters. All this time to think makes me realize how much I miss everyone! I'm a little homesick. But, with all I have endured the past 4 weeks, I'm staying put. Everytime I'm down, I just remind myself of that. Everyone says basic is so much easier than years ago but not lie, it is still hard. The main thing that is different is Drill Sgt's can't physically touch you now, and when the temperature hits about 90, we are able to unblouse our boots (my personal opinion, it looks ridiculous) and if they 'smoke' us they can only give us 3 exercies (ex: 10 pushups, plus 10 prone rows, puls 10 squat benders) then rest for 10 minutes and so on. That's not what I call easy, it's just smart. Train smarter, not harder. On really hot days of training and we are out in the field, it's hard to stay hydrated enough & people start falling out from heat exhaustion or dehydration. There was one girl inches from death. She fell out in the cafeteria after the Land Navigation and they stripped her down, wrapped her in ice sheets & carried her out on a litter. EVERYWHERE we train, we take coolers of water that duty platoon always keeps full. There are always litters, medical bags, & coolers of ice sheets. You always know when someone has fallen out because you will see 2 soldiers sprint to the box coolers, dig out ice sheets & take off. You have to drink water through the day AND night to keep hydrated. We exert way too much energy not to.

We were supposed to go to the Toby Keith concert Friday of July 4th but rumor is they won't let us since we will still be in red phase. I hope that's a false rumor. That's been one thing we were looking forward to.

Well, I'm gonna cut it off here. Thanks again for all the letters. The best time of the day is mail call & it's a bad feeling when you don't get anything. Fortunately, I have people that miss me ;) LOL.

Until next time...