White Phase: Week 3 - Day 4

Today was a very eventful day. It started off in a bad, bad way. During our hours of down time yesterday, a member of our platoon made a comment that we aren't good at drill and ceremony because we spend so much time cleaning. This, of course, made it's way back to our Drill Sgt who has a rule that we do NOT talk about the platoon to anyone outside of the platoon. So, to make a long story short, we start off the day with push ups, yelling, more push ups, drill and ceremony, push ups again and no shower. As you can see, just a fantastic start and it's not even 8 am yet.

Luckily, we had RBT today. RBT is Rifle Bayonet Training. The actual bayonet training is rather boring. It consists of stabbing/smashing at invisible people and whirling. A lot of whirling. But, after that we had the peugil sticks. This is exactly what you would imagine. Man vs. man with a peugil stick, protective gear and 6 weeks of frustration. It was 1st platoon vs. 2nd platoon. I was put in the middle weight division. It uses a 2 out of 3 points wins scoring system with one point per round. I would be going against a guy about my size but younger (of course). We start off about 20m apart, charge one another and engage. To start off, I went with an attempt to run the guy over. He had the same idea. It was a draw. A little skirmish ensued with me losing the point. The 2nd round was judged a draw and we had to start over. At the restart, I got the better of the initial charge and actually got him on the ground. I kept up the attack and wond the point. Score tied. Third round. By this point, I am gassed. It's amazing how 45 seconds of exertion can tire you out when you are simultaneously trying to beat the crap out of someone and trying not to let him beat the crap out of you. I didn't figure to win another brute force exchange. Not much time to think. We face each other and start to close. We both are now glaring down on one another, glaring at each other as though he had slapped our mama. I can see that for at least this moment, he hates me. So I sidestep, turn and knock the ever loving stink off the back of his head. Point - Boatwright. Score one for the old guys. Honestly, I have to say it felt good to win. Mostly, because I didn't want to let the platoon down. Also, because I got my lip busted a little and was mad. Then, the temp hit 105 and we had to shut down training for the day. Back at the bay, Drill gave us a good talking to. We had showers and personal time. Turned out to be a pretty good day, afterall.