#115 - Preparing for Blue STX

Last night I was able to call my husband. I miss him terribly, even moreso that I got to talk to him. It was nice to hear his voice and know that I am going to be able to see him in only 2 weeks. This experience is nearly over!

We are scheduled to have MOUT training today, and tomorrow morning will be stepping out for Victory Forge. The week is going to suck, but at least we are near the end.

My battle buddy for Victory Forge is going to be Newman. I think White was disappointed that I didn't choose to share a hooch with her. I didn't mind sharing one with Jackman for White STX, but her buddy, Highe, drove me crazy with her constant whining and complaining. I can deal with Newman just fine. Actually she is one of the few people (besides Jackman) that I like in our platoon. It will be nice to be back in a 2-person hooch, too, for practical reasons. Though the three-person setup was very spacious, a two-person hooch affords better protection from the elements. And from what I heard, it may rain on Monday and Tuesday of next week...

I wanted to call my husband earlier, but the Drill Sergeant on CQ duty cut into our alloted personal time. Apparently he was bored and decided to stage a version of American Idol that he called "Military Idol". He made two people from each platoon get up and sing in front of the entire company, some of them against their will. A few folks were good, but most of them were terrible. Our course our platoon had its own version of William Hung as one guy pitifully try to sing like Eminem. This guy is always picked on by the DSs, but he mostly brings it upon himself. Yesterday in the DFAC he had the cojones to tell a DS that he thought he could beat him in unarmed military combat. The DS punished him by making him do pushups, but then devised a more creative form of punishment. While we marched back from the DFAC to the company, this guy had to continually run around and circle the platoon, his M-16 held high above his head, screaming, "I am the unarmed hand-to-hand combat champion!" over and over. Of course trying to run around a large moving group of 50-odd people is hard enough, so we expected him to trip and fall (he's not very coordinated), but he surprisingly made it back unscathed.

I am now working a late-night fire guard shift. These middle-of-the-night ones are the worst. Fire guard, however, is preferable to CQ or staff duty, both of which have two hour shifts. I haven't yet been assigned to staff duty in BCT, which involves having to work at the battalion HQs across the street.

...

It is now 11:33am, and we are in the midst of packing and preparing for Victory Forge. In my duffle bag I'm bringing a sleeping bag, extra pair of boots, field jacket, two sets of polypro underwear, a PT cap, camoflague pile cap, black gloves w/liners, tent poles and string, tent stakes, an extra set of ACUs, and seven day supply of socks and underwear.

On our body (besides the uniform) we will have the kevlar, LCE/LBE (load carrying equipment/load bearing equipment) pistol belt and suspenders, two 1-quart canteens, the protective mask (uncomfortably hanging from the side of your leg), crap hanging from the LCE, and we will be carrying our M-16s. On our backs in the ruck sack are a poncho, wet weather top and bottom, entrenching tool and case (a heavy sucker), PT mat (for sleeping on), two quart canteen (also heavy), t-shirts, socks, underwear, a washcloth, towel, and personal hygiene kit. Actually I cheated a little and threw some of the personal hygiene items in the duffel bag (which will ride in a truck) like cough syrup, baby wipes, and sunscreen. No need to lug that junk on my person for the road march. A lot of people push the cheating a little further and do things to cut weight like emptying their two quart canteen, leaving the E-tool out of the case, and only putting a few light clothes in the ruck to make it look like it is packed... but they are courting disaster if the DS decides to check them out, which is always possible.

The weather tomorrow is supposed to be cold again, I believe in the 30s. Someone claimed that we were going to get a snowstorm, but I think that is highly unlikely, especially since the temps have been rising to the 70s or 80s in the afternoon.

Everyone is still packing, but I already have most of my stuff ready, so I have a little bit of free time. I don't anticipate having much of it (nor sleep) at Victory Forge. Oh well. The way I see it is that we now have 1 week and 6 days until graduation. No matter how crappy it will get, I can find solace in the fact that this is truly almost over. Soon I will be able to see my husband, and return to a saner existence with phone calls and other such "privileges". I believe that just being able to talk to my husband every day when I'm at AIT is going to make a big difference.