#79 - Another Sunday

It is 4:28am, and I am on fire guard duty. I don't have as much time to write on this shift, as the prior fire guard was late in waking up my shift. Today is Sunday, the day I usually look forward to all week. There are usually details galore to keep us busy, but it is a day of relative rest.

It's been a rough week, and I'm very tired. I was almost falling asleep during "Drill Sergeant time" last night (the period before our last formation where the DS goes over our training, passes out mail, etc.). I received two letters and three cards yesterday, which was really nice.

We were told that we will have another visit to the PX/Shoppette on Thursday afternoon. Visits to the Shoppette are highly anticipated, as one could probably imagine. Being cut off from the rest of the world is difficult enough, but not being able to pick up the daily essentials is unpleasant as well. I've been dying to get some cough drops. The irony is that I was harrassed by a Drill Sergeant during my last visit to the PX for buying 15 cough drops, which lasted about three days. I've been sick since January 17th, so I could have used a lot more. We are also constantly hearing about sick call from the 1SG. He says that we have too many people going to sick call in the morning, and that they are "weak, dirtbags, and fakers". I suppose this also includes the folks going for stress fractures, broken bones, severe asthma, and other ailments. Hooray Army of One! Granted, there are a few "sick call rangers" present, so the 1SG's criticism is not entirely without merit. One girl here is trying everything possible to get a discharge. She has so many bottles of pills prescribed that her wall locker looks like a pharmacy.

Our platoon's phase banner was unfurled yesterday, so we must have done something right. The platoons were allowed to sing cadence again, and everyone was very excited about the prospect. I think the cadre punished us on purpose just so everyone would become more motivated. Absence does make the heart grow fonder - even if it's somthing minor like being able to call and answer in cadence.

We saw another company in our battalion at the DFAC yesterday. They were apparently graduating from basic training this week. Of course everyone wished that we were already there. I haven't begun counting down the days left in BCT, as there are still too many, and it would just be depressing, at this point. Right now I'm just trying to take it day by day. The things I am tasked with finishing are often very difficult physically, so it's usually a matter of trying to make it through the next five minutes, or ten minutes, or hour. I take it one task at a time, and make it through via these small victories, rather than thinking of the momentous challenge of the weeks ahead.

Yesterday morning we were supposed to have a motor movement (bus ride) back from the field, but the 1SG decided to make our company march in the rain. It kicked my ass pretty well, but I hung in there. I felt bad for one woman from another platoon in my company who fell out of the road march. She is only 4'6"! I wonder if she must have gotten a waiver for her height to enlist in the Army.

It is almost time for my shift to end, so more later...

It is now early afternoon. Today it is sunny but cold - probably in the 40s with a wind chill that makes it seem much colder. We just returned from lunch at the DFAC, following by a detail picking up trash around the company area. I wouldn't have minded much except for the cold temps.

We're back in the barracks now. Everyone is cleaning, and I've been assigned to guard the weapons rack. The 1SG and company commander aren't here today, so people seem to think they will be left alone.

Today I had a discussion with a bisexual female in my bay. She told me that at least 40% of the females here are lesbians or bisexuals. She said that they are able to identify one another through the mysterious powers of "gaydar". There were some recent incidents where folks have said they've seen fraternizing between females in the barracks. I say "don't ask, don't tell". I have had plenty of gay or bi friends over the years, and this doesn't bother me in the least, though some of the females are disturbed by the incidents.

I started to write a little about some of the people in my platoon a few letters ago, and didn't get a chance to finish. There are only a few females in my platoon that I've bonded with (names of the everyone changed for this blog). Newman is pretty cool. I've talked to her a lot, as she was the assistant platoon guide when I was PG. Waterford is a hyper goofball, but I don't mind her company, as she always keeps me entertained. Unfortunately she is being chaptered out and sent home because of a back problem. There is a girl here named Jackman that I am just starting to talk to. I like her. She is very young, but seems to be very intelligent, and interesting to converse with. Then there is Pvt. Bucking... she is known as the "Army Barbie" or "Barbie" because of the sheer volume of skin/hair/makeup products she seems to have in her possession. This was the girl that I wrote about earlier in Reception toting around three large suitcases. She is, along with me, one of the shortest females in our platoon. I enjoy her company, but a lot of the other girls here are mean-spirited and argumentative. There are two girls in the platoon who ditched their battle buddies (Penny and Manacles). They are fairly attractive, and seem to be cut a lot of slack by the (male) Drill Sergeants. There is also a girl named Gallagos that I like. She is painfully shy and quiet, but a nice person. She is the female that recently tried to go AWOL, so we've talked quite a bit (I've tried to tell her that it will get better, but she misses her kids and doesn't want to be here anymore). There is another girl in the platoon named Pear that usually takes on other people's fireguard shifts... sometimes several a night. I don't know how she exists on such little sleep. Oh yes, and we cannot forget my battle buddy, Pvt. White. She is a nice person, but still has a lot to improve on. She's still always late for formations, forgetting her uniform or equipment, or falling sleep in class. I'm still trying very hard to be nice to her. I've done my best to help White - we all have - but sometimes it doesn't seem like it's making any difference.

Onto the males of the platoon. There is Cameron, a born leader who is always trying to whip everyone into shape. He is frustrated because he was not chosen to be a platoon guide, and few here will cede to his authority without such a title. Tenner is an ex-British military guy who is married to an American. Sometimes it is a little odd to hear a British accent sounding off in an American army formation. There is a guy named Pitt that is always asking me about other girls. He harbors the delusion that everyone here must lust after him. Then there is a guy named Gregg, nice enough, but scatterbrained and always forgetting things. Most of the males here have never been away from home before, which I find surprising.

I still talk to the friends I made in Reception who are in the other platoons - Bedar, Jenkins, Mango, Jacobs, and a few others. The girls often share photos and letters from home. I try to talk to them in the barracks every chance I get. It's just a disappointment that I didn't end up in their platoon, or I might have had a different experience here at BCT.