Sept. 9th, 11th 2010

The time here has been moving a little slow. With 2 fireguard shifts a night I have been very tired. It has made the days go slow. It's hard to pay attention when all you try to do is stay awake. There were 18 out of 52 in our platoon that failed the PT test. They have to do 35 push ups and 47 sit ups and run the 2 mile in at least 16:30. If all of them don't pass this next Monday then we keep these fireguard shifts until the end. At this point I know there will be 3 to 5 that won't pass. It's like they have no heart. On guy cries almost every night when we try to motivate him to workout. When they act like that it makes it hard for me to care if they make it or not. If they are that week then I don't know if I'd want them fighting beside me. It's sad because these guys have had 7 weeks. If they can't move themselves around, how could they move anyone off the battlefield? Almost through this week. Next week is Hell week. We only have a the last couple of marches, the Raider challenge and some Battle Drills left. Then once we make it all through that we will start turning stuff back in. The DS are having us strip the paint off the kill zone and repaint it and the door. Next cycle our Barracks will be the "Black Panthers."
Today was a total waste of time. Well not completely. We got up and did PT for about 1 1/2 hrs. But from then on all we did was clean our weapon and one one hour class on the 50 cal. Machine gun. So all day we pretty much cleaned our weapons. We haven't fired our weapons for about 4 days. The past 4 days we have cleaned them probably 8 hrs. not counting all day today. So today went slow:( Tomorrow makes me a little nervous. We go to the range and do battle drills. It is where we bound from one place of cover to another while shooting targets. This will be the first time with live rounds. The part that scares me is you get paired up and some guys don't hold their weapons in a safe direction. Some don't realise that when they get down and roll they wave their weapon over in your direction. There are mistakes all the time in practice. So you can see why I'd be a little scared that we have live rounds shooting targets. The good part is there will be a DS behind everyone while we do this. That way if anyone gets flagged they will tackle them.
Well here it is 9/11. I still remember on my mission we were teaching a family and they showed us on T.V. what was going on. I still can't believe they did that on our own soil. There is a concert tonight somewhere on base. They came in and did a locker inspection and whoever had clean lockers and passed their PT test could go. (My locker is always clean) We were allowed to buy pop and "real" food. I'm so excited.
OK, You want some real dirt? We had a 12K ruck march. That's about 7 miles. We always have 2 or 3 people fall out. The fake injuries are to many to name. Always 2 or 3 people trip and fall. It's only 40 lbs. on your back. When we do anything there is always a first formation. And its crazy how if we're doing something that everyone wants to do we have about 195-200 guys present for training. when we do anything hard there will be 160 to 170 present for training. (unless it's required) Only the last ruck march is required. There is no talking because we always try to be silent when moving. We walk 3 to 5 meters apart and we're staggered. It's so the enemy can't shoot a lot of us if we come in contact and so that one grenade will only get one soldier. My legs and back have been fine, but the first ruck march my right shoulder hurt so bad. I don't even know why. It was one of the worst pains ever. That was the shortest march, but it seemed like the longest because all I could think about was my hurt shoulder. Thank the Lord my shoulder has been fine for our last few longer marches. It hasn't hurt at all. We always carry our weapon in our hands too. I qualified expert with the hand grenades today. 7 out of 7! The 1st throw 30 meters you throw it into a circle and it can't roll out. The 2nd you crawl up to a bunker and toss the grenade inside and role away. The 3rd you throw it inside a sand bag circle 30 meters away on one knee. The 4th you are laying down behind a log on your back. You throw it up hill and aim for a dummy. The 5th you trow it at a truck about 40 meters away. The 6th while laying down you stand up fast and throw it about 30 meters. Then the 7th they ask you questions about the grenades. We threw the real live ones and, boys and girls, "it was so loud".

Here's a list of the kinds of grenades we've learned about:
Frag: Kills and Mames
Red: Starts fires and destroys weapons
CS: Gas for riots
Smoke: Marking and signaling
Silver: Smoke concealment and screening

You will never guess what I got to do tonight. It's Sept. 11th and Fort Benning had a concert. I just got back. I ate Pizza, candy bars, Ice cream and drank Soda. IT WAS GREAT:) I might be sick tomorrow and then I will join the sick call Rangers club. j/k It was good and worth it. There was a country band they were ok. Nothing to special. Then a female country singer. A little better, but she sang with her nose. The hard part for me was seeing the Dads playing with their children and men with their wives. I miss you sweetheart. Two more weeks!
This next week is Hell week. It cant be that bad we're already done with all the hard stuff. (Shani: I'm guessing the Army's definition of Hell is cleaning your gun over and over for hours non stop lol) I have heard after the last ruck march is when they finally call you a soldier. Maybe then we will be allowed to say Hooah?
I will probably call you on Sunday, but just in case I don't (they have done that to us before) You can write me now up to he 17th. After that don't send anything. I'm so excited to see you. I keep thinking of you under my arm for 2 whole days. Won't that be nice? By the way, we had a moment of silence for all the people we lost on Sept. 11th. It was a real touching moment. Then we all enjoyed a good time. I miss you. It won't be long now.