#109 - Shakers and the Rainbow List

It looks like today may be a day of writing opportunity. Right now I'm in the laundry room, and this afternoon I have weapons guard duty for two hours. I haven't been usually doing laundry here, as money is automatically deducted from our paychecks for a mandatory laundry service on Fort Jackson. However, the laundry service lost the clothes of about a dozen people on Friday, myself included. It remains to be seen if the lost articles will turn up, or if they will have to replace my items. In the meantime, Jackman allowed me to throw in some of my laundry with hers.

Sundays usually start with a 6:30am wakeup, and 6:50am formation for chow. The entire company is marched to the DFAC en masse. I understood today why we were cast back into Red Phase when I was watching another platoon in our company. While in formation, their platoon members were loudly arguing amongst themselves, and cursing up a storm (especially this one big guy with gold teeth who is a constant rabblerouser). This happened in front of one of the other companies in our battalion who are in Blue Phase. It was very embarrassing. From what I have heard, my company is the laughingstock of the battalion, and the bad example that the other companies' DSs threaten their soldiers with, i.e. "Watch our or you'll be back in Red Phase like them!" I'm still pissed about losing out on our phone (and possibly internet) privileges. Yesterday I caught a glimpse of those three internet stations, and I felt sick to my stomach. I'd give a lot to be able to dash off a quick e-mail to my husband or my family right now.

I will probably try to chat with Jackman for a bit when she gets back from church. It's actually nice to talk to someone whom I do not have to explain everything to. An example... This morning someone asked me which church service I was going to. I jokingly answered that I was a Shaker. The person gave me a blank stare. I said, "You know, the Shaker religion... the group famous for their Shaker furniture? It is a religion whose members supported the church by engaging in craft and furniture-making, and ran something of a self-sufficient utopian community. The Shakers would not allow marriage nor sexual intercourse between members. The religion nearly died out once the numbers dropped off. The Shakers received their name from the feverish state of trembling they would fall into while in a religious fervor." I received another blank stare, then "You must be making this shit up!" *sigh* Jackman was the only one who knew what I was talking about. I find myself unable to usually carry out any conversations that don't revolve around the mundane aspects of basic training. Forget history, politics, world events, religion, the arts, culture... all off-limits. It is quite frustrating.

...

It is now 1:24pm, and I just returned from lunch to be a weapons guard for two hours. I don't mind, as I would rather do this than some kind of detail outside in the company area. It is hot this afternoon - in the 80s - and uncomfortable wearing the ACUs. One of the differences between the ACUs and BDUs is that the ACU sleeve is not designed to be rolled up - no Swiss tabs.

The shit continues to hit the proverbial fan here. I heard that one of the church services is being segregated by sex because of some specific incidents. Not only were people using church as a venue to hook up with the opposite sex, they were actually... umm... engaging in such activities on the premises. I can't go into details on this blog, but let's just say that what went on in church was not G-rated. People have no shame.

A few individuals have been ratting out the resident lesbians in the barracks. I don't know what happened to "don't ask, don't tell". I guess if someone tells the DSs, then they have to do something. Personally I have never seen any homosexual acts with my own eyes, but there have always been rumors. Most of the lesbians who have been outed are not as upset at the fact that the DSs know, but that suspicious abound that they were hooking up with other undesirable lesbians, i.e. "Smith? I would never get with that nasty ho!". Apparently someone also said that there was some giant sex party in the female barracks. I'll bet that rumor originated with one of the males, as they are always the ones interested in hearing tales of lesbian activity in the barracks, whether the tales are true, false or just rumors. Most of the girls here don't really care, one way or another.

There is currently a lot of drama here. Some of the girls who were targeted as being homosexual are on a rampage. They are threatening to beat up the author of a so-called "Rainbow List" that was anonymously turned into the Drill Sergeants. One of them actually asked if it was me... as if I would care who was gay and who wasn't! People are going nuts around here. Graduation can't come fast enough. I can't wait to get out of this madhouse... these people are driving me crazy.