#68 - Red Phase continues

I was a little bummed today, as I sent my husband an anniversary card. This will be the first one I am missing. I've also missed his birthday too. :(

Today I was able to visit the Shoppette for the first time. It was truly the highlight of my week. One of the Drill Sergeants from another platoon was in the store, and was harrassing me about buying so much stationary and postcards. One of my DSs was there, and defended me, saying, "Leave her alone. She's our PG, and this soldier is squared away. She can buy as many postcards as she wants to." I guess it's good that the Drill Sergeant thinks well of me.

Today I had to accompany one of the females in my platoon, Pvt. Gallagos, as a battle buddy to see the Chaplain. This is the girl who tried to recently go AWOL.

We are preparing for our first tactical road march early tomorrow morning. It is just a few miles to Victory Forge. We will not be marching in a regular formation, but in a staggered one of two lines (one on each side of the road), carrying the M-16 at the low-ready position (barrel pointed towards the ground). We will be wearing Kevlar helmets, LBEs (load-bearing equipment, aka LCEs or load-carrying equipment) - basically the web strapping & pistol belts, 1-qt. canteens on each side, ammo pouches, etc. and one of those ancient-looking Army rucksacks. I am still having difficulty keeping in step with the regular marching since most of the people in the front refuse to take a 30-inch step. My legs are only so long. I could probably walk all day long, but it's almost impossible for me to keep in step with cadence taking such an exaggerated step.

This morning for PT we had our first experience running. We did shuttle sprints (running as fast as you can for short distances) and 30/60s (sprinting for 30 seconds, and jogging for 60 seconds). I believe there were six repetitions, so we ran or jogged for about nine minutes. Towards the end, I did walk a little bit, but I managed to hang in there. What troubled me was that my shins were beginning to hurt. They gave us less than 20 seconds to stretch beforehand. I will have to remember to stretch on my own before PT on run days, as I'm sure to hurt myself with this inadequate stretching. I believe we are to have our first ability group runs on Wednesday. Wish me luck!