#123 - Victory Forge, epilogue

It is 7:49am Saturday morning, and I am back in the barracks. We got back here about 11:30pm last night. Taking a shower was long overdue, and a wonderful experience.

The barracks reeked lastnight with the B.O. of 90-odd women who hadn't showered for a week. I was gagging. We told everyone to take a shower, even those that are normally personal hygiene-deficient.

The "rite of passage" ceremony last night was anticlimatic, especially after being forced to wait seven hours for it in the cold (30s temps - with no freaking jacket!). It was about 10 minutes long. The Lt. Col. and Sgt. Maj. talked for a minutes in front of the four companies that will be graduating. They changed our phase banners from blue to red, white and blue. We sounded off with our company mottoes, and then our 1SG gave us another uninspiring talk about how we better not screw off or he will revoke our family day and graduation day privileges.

Newman and I were made to march about a mile to the rite of passage site. We weren't very happy about it, as we are on a no-marching profile and were in a lot of pain. We did not march the rest of the distance back, but rode on the back of a four-ton truck. It was freezing, and made for a very miserable few hours. The truck did not go straight back to the company, but followed the people marching at a snail's pace. I think I would rather have suffered with pain marching with them than froze my ass off in the back of the open truck with no jacket on.

I am happy to be back at the company, and thankful that Victory Forge is over.