White Phase: Week 1 - Day 6

Well, what can I say about today? First of all, the only activity we had today was to go to the field and do activities that simulated situations that applied the "combat life savers" techniques we've learned over the past week. Sounds simple, right? The result is me at the most tired and dirty I've been. The highlights are as follows:

The first lane is simulating treating a casualty on the battlefield. First, I'm a casualty which basically entails screaming in agony, lying motionless, and being dragged through the dirt. I nailed it. Next, I was a combat life saver treating a casualty. As luck would have it, I get "50 Cal" Calvert as my casualty. All 6'1" and 247 lbs of him. I can tell you that it's not easy to roll and maneuver a 247 lb man, but I did it.

The next lane was learning about carrying techniques and use of litters to evacuate casualties. Our first challenge was to low crawl under constantina wire with a litter. Oh, and it just happens to have a 247 lb man on it (no, not Calvert again). I can also tell you that it's not easy to low crawl with a litter holding a 247 lb man. Next, we had to demonstrate different carrying techniques. Of course, there is the fireman's carry, the piggyback, the shoulder strap, and the bear crawl. The ugliest and most difficult of these is the bear crawl. Basically, the casualty is lying on the ground and holding onto your neck. You then proceed to crawl on all fours as you drag the casualty underneath you. It looks bad. It feels bad. It is bad. We then raced in teams doing the fireman's carry. My battle buddy and I didn't quite win our heat, but I made a move on the inside late and almost pulled it out. Yes, I'm a failure. I feel shame.

So, that was today. Tomorrow is Sunday which means cleaning, a trip to the PX and phones. Next week is land navigation. That should be fun.

White Phase: Week 1 - Day 4

Sorry folks. Mitch wrote a reallllllllly long (and funny) blog to post today. I had almost finished typing the entire thing and my wrists were feeling like painful noodles. Then, tragedy struck. Somehow, I accidently pushed a wrong key and all but the 1st three sentences were gone. Poof. Just like that. I don't have it in me to re-type the whole thing. Soooo, here's the gist. They spent the day at the grenade range. There was a lot of sitting around and waiting for just a few seconds of "boom". He did well, but was really shocked by the power and loudness of them. Not like what you see in the movies at all.

If there is no blog entry in his letter tomorrow and I can find the time, maybe I'll try to re-type this entry. If not, I'm sorry. I'm doing the best I can.

Donna

White Phase: Week 1 - Day 3

Today was actually a pretty good day. It started off with our platoon receiving the Guidon Streamer for having the best bay during this weekend's inspection. That made our DSs happy. And, of course, happy drill sgts equals happy recruits. We then did PT, got changed and headed out to the COC, or Confidence Obstacle Course. It's a pretty basic military obstacle course. We're not evaluated or anything, but I did pretty well. I didn't fall off of anything and my squad got through pretty quick, so it felt good. That was pretty much our day. We just came back to the battery and showered. They're taking it easy on us in anticipation of the 10K road march tomorrow. Wake up is pushed up to 0330 and we're going to the grenade range. Tomorrow should be an interesting and fun day. However, the day is not ending well. Since a few selfish idiots (it's always the same ones) can't stop talking, we won't be getting mail tonight. That really bothers me on multiple levels. I'm sick of suffering because of other people, which I thought ended with red phase. And I'm sick of the same kids always being the screw-ups. I'll be so glad to get out of here. Until then, I'm going to blow things up with grenades and I'll be getting paid to do it. I love America.