I respond very well to criticism, and my platoon knows it. My family will disagree, and they're right too. Home and public are very different. I have not argued back once with this females. Why waste the breath anyway, even if they are in the wrong?
We were at the range today, attempting to zero our weapons. It appears I've already made an impression on our First Sergeant. Heh heh, the man's awesome but I can imagine life would be a living hell if we ever got on his bad side. Anyway, I feel him walk up behind me, observing our small circle of studious soldiers. That's exactly what we were doing too. I noticed that a shadow's appeared to my left in my periphrial vision...yep...it is that sneaky devil. So I slowly backed away from him by turning and walking backwards at the same time...I was too freaked to look at his face. I squeaked out an "at ease" to let the others know he was there. The others in my group remember me saying "at ease" but actually I don't remember. They said it was real quiet. They hadn't been sure whether they were supposed to call at ease or not, and here I am, not even looking at first sergeant, squeaking out a nervous "at ease."
In the process of my awkward backing up, somehow I slightly bumped him. He was like, "What's the matter with *you*, private?" or something of the like. Then he guffawed and said, "You're special, private." I think he meant "special ed." Him and Y.S call me special...[sigh] Well I kind of turned real red which made him grin all the more. He patted my shoulder and stated, "You're alright in my book, private." Later, I was sitting nearby him and asked about three questions. At some point he called me "special" again and then said I was "smart." I'm not sure if he's being sarcastic or not. Y.S and J.M said that it must've been because I asked well thought out questions, so basically it was a compliment. I dunno, but it was the first time someone's called me smart here. It is nice. I now don't feel as lame as before...
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
I'll be writing a lot less because I need to focus on my goal, which is being able to fully concentrate on the mission, which is completing Basic! Y.S, my Basic mum, says that things such as writing letters are luxuries. She also says that my priorities are completely out of sync and wack. Sound familiar, dad? [lol] She says that I am going to have to grow up fast now that I'm here. She's quite the discerning type – it's crazy. She's definitely not unlike my dad in that regard.
Y.S and J.M (an amiable 32 year old Australian female) both agree that they like me but get frustrated. M.D says that she's I'm funny (she used to date someone like me and got used to helping him out) and doesn't mind helping me get used to this insane environment. Here people get offended and overreact so easily, as though it were important than the bigger than the picture. Obviously, small disagreements are not.
Anyway, Y.S and M.D treat me respectfully and I've never seen M.D even slightly (what I consider insulting) insult me...ever. A.H is...well... A.H. She is what she is and I'm will to accept that. Basic is unlike anything I've every experienced.
Y.S and J.M (an amiable 32 year old Australian female) both agree that they like me but get frustrated. M.D says that she's I'm funny (she used to date someone like me and got used to helping him out) and doesn't mind helping me get used to this insane environment. Here people get offended and overreact so easily, as though it were important than the bigger than the picture. Obviously, small disagreements are not.
Anyway, Y.S and M.D treat me respectfully and I've never seen M.D even slightly (what I consider insulting) insult me...ever. A.H is...well... A.H. She is what she is and I'm will to accept that. Basic is unlike anything I've every experienced.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Oh darn, didn't get to finish my thought yesterday because M.D needed to utilize the latrine. Anyway, Shirokova told me that she had been in awe of M.D's incomparable patience because she literally did not twitch for that entire hour and a half (more or less). Y.S said that she had to move a little because of aching and whatnot, but M.D didn't move even a centimeter. I think M.D has the ability of leadership...she follows orders and is patient.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Wowzers! Shooting the M16 rifle was freaking awesome! I can now say that I've fired a real weapon!
11:07a
Oh my goodness! I am so doggone worn out. Going out to the firing range our company split and walked on both sides of the road in a march for approximately a mile and a half. I was also carrying my friend A.H's weapon. That gives me the right to whine being that I was carrying two rifles? Just kidding of course. Anyway, we just got bac so we probably marched a total of three miles. Whew! I do feel stronger now but I'm not ready to go out again any time soon! :) Time for lunch! Woot!
14:49 (2:49a)
Lunch outside again. [sigh] It's cold whenever we do that and even the food at the DFAC (chow hall) is better than Hot A's (that's the plates of limited amounts of food). We ended up eating a bit after our normal chow time, which is twelve, and I think that's why we had to eat Hot A's. This time the food was good though. Yay! With eating outside, we're actually allowed to talk as well, as opposed to eating in the DFAC where we're not even supposed to look at each other.
I have to wonder what they put in these meals though because it causes me to be really flatulent day in and day out. It's irritating! Besides that, the food I enjoy. Those who have a better sense of well prepared food can't stand the food. Sucks to be them :P
Currently we're practicing with our weapons but not actually firing anything. We will begin practicing with blanks soon enough, as I understand it, but for now we're just practicing the prone (lying on the ground) position and aiming.
Oh jeez, it's freezing and my arse is getting wet. We're sitting on the ground, waiting for the rest of the platoon to show Drill Sergeant T how they're doing their individual firing positions. I was in the first ten to go, so I didn't have to suffer the punishment of standing at attention and not moving. The group was not listening so the calm Drill Sergeant Todman didn't get angry, he calmly stated that if they even so much as twitched, they would suffer. I can't remember specifically what it was he threatened them with, but I saw a limited amount of twitching after that.
11:07a
Oh my goodness! I am so doggone worn out. Going out to the firing range our company split and walked on both sides of the road in a march for approximately a mile and a half. I was also carrying my friend A.H's weapon. That gives me the right to whine being that I was carrying two rifles? Just kidding of course. Anyway, we just got bac so we probably marched a total of three miles. Whew! I do feel stronger now but I'm not ready to go out again any time soon! :) Time for lunch! Woot!
14:49 (2:49a)
Lunch outside again. [sigh] It's cold whenever we do that and even the food at the DFAC (chow hall) is better than Hot A's (that's the plates of limited amounts of food). We ended up eating a bit after our normal chow time, which is twelve, and I think that's why we had to eat Hot A's. This time the food was good though. Yay! With eating outside, we're actually allowed to talk as well, as opposed to eating in the DFAC where we're not even supposed to look at each other.
I have to wonder what they put in these meals though because it causes me to be really flatulent day in and day out. It's irritating! Besides that, the food I enjoy. Those who have a better sense of well prepared food can't stand the food. Sucks to be them :P
Currently we're practicing with our weapons but not actually firing anything. We will begin practicing with blanks soon enough, as I understand it, but for now we're just practicing the prone (lying on the ground) position and aiming.
Oh jeez, it's freezing and my arse is getting wet. We're sitting on the ground, waiting for the rest of the platoon to show Drill Sergeant T how they're doing their individual firing positions. I was in the first ten to go, so I didn't have to suffer the punishment of standing at attention and not moving. The group was not listening so the calm Drill Sergeant Todman didn't get angry, he calmly stated that if they even so much as twitched, they would suffer. I can't remember specifically what it was he threatened them with, but I saw a limited amount of twitching after that.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Finally it's Sunday again! My third time going to this non-denominational church led by a Baptist chaplain. I don't even care that the sermons thus far haven't been great or the movement of the Holy Spirit as obvious as it is in our church. When you get no Christianity six days out of the week, one can just let their tears roll. I truly get renewed at church. We even get a bible study directly after. I sorely miss my pentecostal though.
Hahaha! We just got off the bus only to discover it is for latter day saints. Whoopsie! We all rushed madly back into the bus.
My friend, A.H, is a sarcastic and sassy person. Very much so. She's got the anti-social kind of attitude. But she's also quite funny in that way. Apparently her varsity soccer team is not unlike cheerleaders in the movies, at least in their personalities. Meh, - Her world | My world - I like it that way. She ticks me off a lot, but she also makes me laugh. She's also very immature but hey, maybe she'll grow up and be more likable? Who knows? Either way, she can be fun to be around.
This is the first Sunday where I truly feel rested. We haven't seen the DS' all day. My friends and I found a nice quiet place away from all of the loud females in the laundry room with the door shut.
We still have our phones that were given to us for temporary. It's been at least a day but DS Ike still hasn't asked for them back. I feel extremely tempted to use the cell phone when I know I'm not supposed to and it's irritating me. So I asked DS Todman about it and later, over the intercom, he requested them to be returned. My platoon's females are furious with me because apparently they've already asked a few times and DS' still did nothing about it. It didn't feel fair to me that we got the chance to use our cells and the other platoons didn't though. I feel like I did the right thing.
The thing I'm mad about is the fact that it's obvious I've been homeschooled, raised an only child, and a first time away from home dependent child. That's better than the image that I'm some damnable thief though. My "cluelessness" as my nickname has become, seems to prove my innocence...at least it seems the accusers are not as openly hostile or distrustful of me as they were previously. That's a very good sign in my book.
I pray this week will bring even better days and move our platoon out of red phase!
God bless and good night!
Hahaha! We just got off the bus only to discover it is for latter day saints. Whoopsie! We all rushed madly back into the bus.
My friend, A.H, is a sarcastic and sassy person. Very much so. She's got the anti-social kind of attitude. But she's also quite funny in that way. Apparently her varsity soccer team is not unlike cheerleaders in the movies, at least in their personalities. Meh, - Her world | My world - I like it that way. She ticks me off a lot, but she also makes me laugh. She's also very immature but hey, maybe she'll grow up and be more likable? Who knows? Either way, she can be fun to be around.
This is the first Sunday where I truly feel rested. We haven't seen the DS' all day. My friends and I found a nice quiet place away from all of the loud females in the laundry room with the door shut.
We still have our phones that were given to us for temporary. It's been at least a day but DS Ike still hasn't asked for them back. I feel extremely tempted to use the cell phone when I know I'm not supposed to and it's irritating me. So I asked DS Todman about it and later, over the intercom, he requested them to be returned. My platoon's females are furious with me because apparently they've already asked a few times and DS' still did nothing about it. It didn't feel fair to me that we got the chance to use our cells and the other platoons didn't though. I feel like I did the right thing.
The thing I'm mad about is the fact that it's obvious I've been homeschooled, raised an only child, and a first time away from home dependent child. That's better than the image that I'm some damnable thief though. My "cluelessness" as my nickname has become, seems to prove my innocence...at least it seems the accusers are not as openly hostile or distrustful of me as they were previously. That's a very good sign in my book.
I pray this week will bring even better days and move our platoon out of red phase!
God bless and good night!
Hey it's me again. It depresses me that I can't send these letters yet because it makes me feel better in knowing that someone at home is aware of what I'm doing and how I'm doing. Apparently it's really hard for the hoe-schooled, only child people. Every time I tell someone that I am one of these "unfortunates," their eyes widen and a light bulb brightens over their heads. Oh, and the fact that it's my first time away from home...all of it adds up to me: "clueless"
However, under no circumstances do I regret my being home-schooled, an only child, and all of thos ethings. The time I've had to spend with all of you has been priceless, ispriceless.
I miss my family and my church family so much. I am just grateful that I could even get a chance to talk to some of you. It was limited, but it was worth it.
Now, what I'm not looking forward to is doing them long marches. I think there's a 2mile, 5mile, and 9mile. We'll have to wear our heavy gear. I talked to some females on the bus who're close to graduating and they told me that it increased their runtime and that the feelings of accomplishment were well worth the hardship of the marches.
I've been waiting at the TMC clinic for almost two hours now. I had to fill out a thick set of paperwork, sign and date, sign and date, sign and date. Whew. The reason why I'm here is because of that mental health evaluation. Captain Y had reassured me about this and I feel peace about it. I'll be in and out like I was never here :P If I ever get into the analyst's office that is...grrrr.
Now I really need to utilize the latrine and I've missed my favorite time to eat: breakfast. [sigh] I'm afraid that if I go pee now, they might call my name. I'll just hurry.
11:15a
Yay, I'm apparently mentally fit! Time to return to the company!
However, under no circumstances do I regret my being home-schooled, an only child, and all of thos ethings. The time I've had to spend with all of you has been priceless, ispriceless.
I miss my family and my church family so much. I am just grateful that I could even get a chance to talk to some of you. It was limited, but it was worth it.
Now, what I'm not looking forward to is doing them long marches. I think there's a 2mile, 5mile, and 9mile. We'll have to wear our heavy gear. I talked to some females on the bus who're close to graduating and they told me that it increased their runtime and that the feelings of accomplishment were well worth the hardship of the marches.
I've been waiting at the TMC clinic for almost two hours now. I had to fill out a thick set of paperwork, sign and date, sign and date, sign and date. Whew. The reason why I'm here is because of that mental health evaluation. Captain Y had reassured me about this and I feel peace about it. I'll be in and out like I was never here :P If I ever get into the analyst's office that is...grrrr.
Now I really need to utilize the latrine and I've missed my favorite time to eat: breakfast. [sigh] I'm afraid that if I go pee now, they might call my name. I'll just hurry.
11:15a
Yay, I'm apparently mentally fit! Time to return to the company!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Land Navigation
Today we're doing land navigation. In fact, I'm sitting on the ground waiting with my squad to head out into this unknown forest of skinny trees and flat terrain (at least, flatter than what I'm used to). Our squad leader is an E1 while many of us our E2's and E3's. I'm just glad I'm not the leader...I was worried in the beginning because I'm a higher rank. Looks like Fort Jackson doesn't work that way.
We have to find five points in only a couple of hours. We will probably be stuck eating MREs (they're instant meals that could probably be edible after a 100 years sitting on the shelf). Don't ask me how, but the chemicals in this little plastic bag becomes instantly hot when reacting to water. I'm very curious to see what I'll get...and what goodies too. Some of this have lots of goodies, like power bars or M&Ms, some don't have any.
Woot! We just got some hot soup! That'll give us some energy for the three hours of walking around. Just as I was next in line to get coffee (the first time we've ever gotten it), it was out. Figures. :( Anyway, I hope we pass with at least finding 3/5 points.
Five minutes to go. Ah, my squad's laughing at me for writing letters every where I go. Jerks :) Oh, it's time to go!
12:10 PM
Whew, thank God we're done! Unfortunately we only got two points. Our team is full of immature young people anyway. Some tried taking control and didn't let anyone else look and understand the map and compass. Many are from the hood, used to relying on only themselves. Some of us, that's me, were at a loss at land navigation and tried to follow whoever was "leading." I got to know one of the males though, and he is a nice guy.
We did have a class on land navigation yesterday, but it was about 120 people fitting into one small classroom. I swear to God it was inhumane! I'm dead serious when I say that we lost feeling in our legs. It hurt. It was a sped-through class and we were suffering the whole time. The other land navigation classes were held outside in the freezing cold and I couldn't see the white board the DS was using to illustrate his points. Thus I didn't learn very much at all.
Well it's 12:40 right now and most of our company's back.
We have to find five points in only a couple of hours. We will probably be stuck eating MREs (they're instant meals that could probably be edible after a 100 years sitting on the shelf). Don't ask me how, but the chemicals in this little plastic bag becomes instantly hot when reacting to water. I'm very curious to see what I'll get...and what goodies too. Some of this have lots of goodies, like power bars or M&Ms, some don't have any.
Woot! We just got some hot soup! That'll give us some energy for the three hours of walking around. Just as I was next in line to get coffee (the first time we've ever gotten it), it was out. Figures. :( Anyway, I hope we pass with at least finding 3/5 points.
Five minutes to go. Ah, my squad's laughing at me for writing letters every where I go. Jerks :) Oh, it's time to go!
12:10 PM
Whew, thank God we're done! Unfortunately we only got two points. Our team is full of immature young people anyway. Some tried taking control and didn't let anyone else look and understand the map and compass. Many are from the hood, used to relying on only themselves. Some of us, that's me, were at a loss at land navigation and tried to follow whoever was "leading." I got to know one of the males though, and he is a nice guy.
We did have a class on land navigation yesterday, but it was about 120 people fitting into one small classroom. I swear to God it was inhumane! I'm dead serious when I say that we lost feeling in our legs. It hurt. It was a sped-through class and we were suffering the whole time. The other land navigation classes were held outside in the freezing cold and I couldn't see the white board the DS was using to illustrate his points. Thus I didn't learn very much at all.
Well it's 12:40 right now and most of our company's back.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Today is more of a personal rest day. I'd reference last Sunday but it was all such a blur...I can't really remember anything. Right now I'm on the bus from the Protestant church to bible study. The bus driver is crazy and a lot of us fell out of our seats during some of his sharp turns. He's also got some majorly loud rap going on! It's so good to finally hear some music though. As I walked out of the bus, I was dancing to the music and the young black bus driver laughed and said, “Dance it, sista!”
I've noticed that our Drill Sergeants (DS) make us all feel the most picked on. M.D said that DS I made her feel that way and I would have never imagined that. In fact, M.D appears to be one of the people who have it together. R.H seems ADD and she's age thirty. Her MOS is playing band at West Point and when she graduations Basic, she's going to be promoted from E-4 to E-6 because only Staff Sergeants can be at West Point. Things like this just don't happen...it's so....wrong! Oh well, I wish her the best. On top of that, her ASVAB score (that's military entrance examination) was 98/100. Mine was 74/100. So she can literally do anything she wants to in the Army. We both appear as stupid and clumsy to everyone else though. For me it seems I lack common sense, short term memory, and I'm spacey... I'm only spacey because standing in lines gets so boring! It speeds up the time, y'know? [lol] I'm realizing that I just need to suck it up and be patient rather than go into void world.
Regardless of our issues, R.H and I have each other and the other bay females such as Y.S, H, A.H, M.D, J.M, etc. It's interesting, we can't go anywhere on our own unless we have a battle buddy with us. That is, female with female, male with male, or two males and one female. First Sergeant says he doesn't mind if there are two females and one male, but the DS's and the rules at Fort Jackson disagree. Time for bible study, see ya!
I've noticed that our Drill Sergeants (DS) make us all feel the most picked on. M.D said that DS I made her feel that way and I would have never imagined that. In fact, M.D appears to be one of the people who have it together. R.H seems ADD and she's age thirty. Her MOS is playing band at West Point and when she graduations Basic, she's going to be promoted from E-4 to E-6 because only Staff Sergeants can be at West Point. Things like this just don't happen...it's so....wrong! Oh well, I wish her the best. On top of that, her ASVAB score (that's military entrance examination) was 98/100. Mine was 74/100. So she can literally do anything she wants to in the Army. We both appear as stupid and clumsy to everyone else though. For me it seems I lack common sense, short term memory, and I'm spacey... I'm only spacey because standing in lines gets so boring! It speeds up the time, y'know? [lol] I'm realizing that I just need to suck it up and be patient rather than go into void world.
Regardless of our issues, R.H and I have each other and the other bay females such as Y.S, H, A.H, M.D, J.M, etc. It's interesting, we can't go anywhere on our own unless we have a battle buddy with us. That is, female with female, male with male, or two males and one female. First Sergeant says he doesn't mind if there are two females and one male, but the DS's and the rules at Fort Jackson disagree. Time for bible study, see ya!
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