Basic 9 David's Journal July 19 - 22th

July 20th (Day4) Monday

Today we did BTT, I forget what it stands for. The object of this activity was to work together as a team, and to see which stand out as leaders. There are a lot of people in my platoon that want to be leaders, but the DS at our first station make me be the leader because I am going to be an officer. This DS doesn’t seem to like me very much, and I think the main reason is just because I am going to be an officer. It is hard to tell sometimes if a DS likes you or not.

The first course we had to figure out how to get everyone across a series of posts using different size 2X8’s. We also had to get a dummy in a stretcher across. We almost figured it out and we did better than the other team, but did not finish in time. I think that is because it was our first course.

The second course was called the “Chaplin’s Bridge”. It was a thick cable going from one platform to another. It was about 15 feet high. We had some rope and D rings we could use to hook to a pulley that slid from one side to the other. On this event I did not take the lead, but I was probably the biggest helper. Me and Private M. were able to figure out a way to get the dummy across using the rope and D rings. I did okay with my knot tying, but wish I could remember them faster. While we were setting up the dummy to get across some of the stronger members carried themselves upside down across the cable had over hand. We got the dummy across very easily. I went right after the dummy which was a mistake, because they needed some time to take the dummy down. So I was stuck out on the cable for another minute or two. This was very tiring. I had to wrap my leg around the cable to stay on. This left a nice burn and bruise on the inside of my leg. I finally got to the very end, and I heard someone say I was there so I brought my legs down, but I was not close enough for them to catch me and my legs hit the ramp going up to the platform. That disqualified me and I had to start over. This actually helped us finish and win, because when I got back there were mostly females and weaker males. I figured out a way to tie a rope around their rear and use a D ring to hook to the pulley. This helped them get across quickly and easily. We were running out of time though. I didn’t have time to use the D ring and had to go hand over hand again. I was exhausted by this time and the last one to cross. When I crossed, everyone was super excited because we won the completed the task.

On our way to the next task the DS got mad at us because there were people in my platoon arguing with each other. So you can only imagine what happened to us next. We got smoked really hard. It was probably my least favorite smoking so far, because it has given me the most pain. We probably ran about a mile in our ACU’s (Army Combat Uniform). This hurt because we were running in boots. Then he had us do “Iron Mikes”. This was very difficult. We had to do forward lunges with our hands over our head. We probably went 300 m doing this. It hurt a lot. Now I have a sharp pain in my right leg.

We did two other tasks after that, but I was to exhausted to remember much about them. I do remember that my group won in each event.

July 21st (Day 5) Tuesday
Today we learned how to use an Army radio. It was a little boring going through the class, but I think it would be fun to use one. They said that each radio cost $10,000. They held information on them so there needs to be total accountability for them. The teacher said that the only thing that can stop a war is losing one of these radios or if some special turtle crawls into camp that is endangered and dies suddenly if they are scared. If they lose a radio then they need to police the desert until it is found.

In the afternoon we did the PEC (Physical Endurance Course). The weather has been wonderful the past few days, but this morning it rained and made our PEC course real muddy and wet. It was a lot of fun. I was worried about going across the monkey bar, but I went across with no problem. Another cool part was jumping in a puddle and crawling under a log. I came out so wet and muddy. The last part of the course there was a rope about 30 feet high. I thought there is no way I could get up to the top. Maybe only 10% of the privates made it to the top. I didn’t think I would make it because of the burn I have on the inside of my let from doing the Chaplin’s Bridge. When it was my turn to climb I started and thought about how wet it was, but I still tried and was able to make it to the top. The whole experience was a huge sense of accomplishment. The hard part was when we finally finished our drill sergeants began yelling at us for things we had no control over. I got really mad about this, but was able to cool down a little on the march back. When we got back to the barracks there was a huge change in our platoon. We began to work closer together and sound off even louder. It was a strange transformation.

July 22nd (Day 6) Wednesday

For physical training today we were separated into different running groups. I made it into the fastest group, the A group. Our DS calls us the A-train. It was the hardest running workout that I have had in a long time. I was proud to go strong the whole workout. Our DS averages a 5-minute mile when he runs so he had us moving fast. We did sprints and hills and then both. In total we probably did over 3 miles and non-stop.

Luckily the rest of the day we were able to relax a little while they briefed us on some boring stuff.