March 17, 2009

Ok qualifing day today and when I first went downrange for our practice 20 rounds my weapon broke. The charging handle had a part that popped up and prevented the bolt from engaging the ammo and firing. So off the range I had to go, high ho high ho high ho. Then one of the DS's said to take a charging handle from someone who was not shooting, but the bolt would not go forward so I could not disassemble my weapon to take the charging handle out so the DS took a gerber and broke the piece off so we could get me taken care of and back down range. I went and fired my practice shots, did not do really good, but not too bad either. Then I went back to be roostered back on the range to qualify. I was on lane 3 first firing order out of 240. BTW, I qualified! YIPEE! on my first try. This is really pre-qual. I shoot marksmen, but I want to go for sharp shooter or expert. I get atleast one more try, but the best part is I'm done so if I don't do better I am ok. Then I had the rest of the day done so I was on duty for lunch and serving and today was wierd because we did not stop anyone downrange just cycled them through. So I served for like 2 hours instead of 1/2 hour which was cool cause we got to eat as much as we want. Chill out then back to the company to perform weapon maintainence and eat chow and off the bed with us again. WOW what a cool day. Hopefully tomorrow I will shoot sharp shooter!

March 15 & 16, 2009

15th...Lazy day ate tons today, got my junk food. Ate two pieces of german chocolate cake, one streusel cake, and 2 things of frozen yogurt!
16th...Well long ass day today. We had a 6-7 mile foot march I feel down twice walking with 50 pounds of gear in the dark in the rain on the side of the road. It was bad for my ankles and I made this graceful (LMAO) girl fall. Luckily I was able to finish the march. Thank goodness because it was required. We had our practice qualifing. I did good, got to go the 1st time in kneeling position (hardest) I only missed one. I was pretty proud. I guess those extra days zeroing really helped. We were all soaked all damn day. It was miserable and we have pre-qual this morning and if we do good and if we do good they will count it as qualifing. Well I got to go to PT then off to the range.

March 12, 2009

Well another day on the range. Only today we have to mini-qualify. We have to hit 8 out of 10 at 75m, 14 out of 20 at 175m and 5 out of 10 at 300m. I don't know if I passed yet. We had out PT test today. I improved pushups from 18-24 and 15 is passing. I passed my situps too, YEAH! Last time I had 28 and this time I had 55 and 42 is passing. And believe it or not I improved my run time with hurt ankles. I went from 20:42 to 20:11 a 31 second improvement! I am pretty excited about it I passed it all and in points or percents I got 74 in pushups, 75 in situps, and 63 in the run. I aim to get 100 on both pushups and situps. I know I can't run so I don't think I can do that, but I will do my best, it's only for a few minutes of running. The higher score I get on the PT test the faster I will get promoted. Let me tell you about all the terrian around here. It is flatI have seen no mountains and no real hills either. I mean there are rolling hills, but the skyline is flat. The trees are scrappy pines none are very tall or big. The woods have little scrappy trees all over them so its very hard to break brush walking in the woods.

March 11, 2009

Another day on the range. When I say the range I mean when we leave at 0800 and get back at 1700 it makes for a long day. It is running in the 80's here with our groovy ACU's on it makes for a long hot sweaty day. BUT I did zero so that is cool. We zeroed at 25m fir 300m. Tomorrow we have a PT test and we are zeroing 75-125m

March 10, 2009

Well we are going to march back to the range to zero in our rifles. Well made the march, but sucked at it with my ankles. We have a PT test on Thursday, I hope my ankles feel better. Well I did not zero I have to go back tomorrow and finish. Darn Darn Darn, my shoulder hurts. I have fired 140 rounds over the past 2 days. I am hoping to get it done quickly today so I can rest my arm. Gosh I sound like a sissy LOL. I did get in trouble for cussing on the range from the only DS who does not cuss and I had to write a 500 word essay by am on why I should not swear. ARG!

March 9, 2009

Well I got to shoot at range. Did pretty good, not as well as I wanted, but pretty good. A good day today, we as a platoon got our streamer back (our DS took it away and told us not to sound off like a week ago we had to earn it back) and I got relieved as squad leader today. I was also the only one (everyone got replaced) that got a "good job" from the DS that felt pretty good. But being able to relax a little and just be a soldier feels pretty good. I am sure I will hate it soon because I am so bossy LOL. Well I got cough syrup and I am looking forward to a good night sleep. Tomorrow we march back to range and zero our weapons . I am pretty excited. I love shooting.

March 8, 2009

Well daylight savings time messed up all of today. The DS did not wake us up till it was time to go. Which was good because we got sleep, but I missed Bible study because I could not get ready in 1 minute. So we got to move all the lockers and beds and clean behind them all. That was no fun. Tomorrow we go out on the range and actually get familar with how our weapons feel when we fire them. I don't remember if I told you, but I am still squad leader which is good and bad because now if I mess up I get wrote up for lack of leadership, even if someone in my squad messes up I get wrote up. FUN FUN! Some side effects I have been noticing black hands from pit and weapon oil this stuff does not come off. My hands are so cracked they are almost black. We are starting to weed out the soldiers that did not so certain trainings or ones that keep breaking the rules which I can't wait for. I hope I lose atleast one soldier. He is the one that does not listen and keeps breaking the rules. I have another soldier in my platoon that keeps lying and getting caught so I am sure he will be getting in trouble. I just got my phone calls, I got ahold of all 4 of my children. YEAH! I miss you kids.

March 7, 2009

Well did some more slide shows about clearing rooms. ARG, we already did this in the field. One platoon is ahead of everyone on that. Then we went out and did some precission room clearing. I worked with another group to help them out and learn it then we got smoked as a company because someone moved in line at attention. Darn it. Then we went to pit and and did that for 45 minutes right after chow. I thought I was going to puke. Then we cleaned our weapons for an hour and only had 20 minutes of personal time to get a shower and bed so I baby wiped it because I did not make it to the shower before the other 60 females. Then we got woke up at midnight because someone did not lock their locker. That sucked getting smoked form dead sleep in flip flops.

March 6, 2009

Today we went from Red phase to White phase. I am not sure what the difference is yet supposedly we won't get punished as a unit only as individuals which is cool because my stuff is squared away. We are learning more weapon stuff today. It is fun! We are playing well training on a computer simulator shooting. I am outside waiting to go in and have my turn. I turned my ankle on the road march and its still not better. I need to go to the doc and get some ankle braces.

March 5, 2009

Well we spent our day in the pit doing hand to hand combatives. I can't wait to get home and show my oldest son Sebastian (he is 15) that mom had a couple moves too LOL We also took our platoon photos it was warm outside. But with the hand to hand combat I got my ass kicked I had to graple with males and they were far from easy on me. I was body slammed, choke hold, arm barred, but I did the same thing back so all is well. I was so tired. Then we did PT at night till 20:15 I am sooooo tired!

March 4, 2009

Well today we had 5 mile foot march. I did awesome, did not even slow down and no new blisters. YEE HAW! We did a lot of training in the field today. Squad formations, crossing roads, how to clear rooms, again fun stuff. The day went really fast. Hey they finally gave me my hormones. I am going to live! 9 days without them I was getting a little crazy. Well since some females left their lockers unlocked again we have to sleep on the floor tonight. So I am sore as hell and have to sleep on the floor. ARG! the PT mat is not good for sleeping.

March 2 & 3, 2009

2nd...Well today was gas chamber day. It was not to bad. It sucked don't get me wrong, but not too bad. 4-5 minutes of shit burning your throat and lungs oh yeah and whole body. That stuff is brutal. Us coming out all covered in snot and all on video YIPEE! When in there some people try to get out and the DS's have to restrain them. It's kinda crazy. The little women took a large male and slammed him into wall, that was impressive to watch. Learned how to do some cop stuff today. Precission room clearing. Going room to room and clearing them. It was fun but freezing outside today.
3rd...We got a little talking to this morning. Our DS told us week 3 is when males and females start flirting and noticing each other (we are here 3 weeks) and we need to refrain because if not by week 5 or 6 we will be fucking (verbatum) it was so funny the way he said it all because he does not talk like that. We will be playing in the woods tomorrow. We have a PT test in a couple hours. I have to run 2 miles in 21.42 minutes, 15 pushups, and 42 situps. I feel pretty confident about it. I just wish I felt better and its frickin cold. I think that is why we aren't doing it early in the morning. I am ready to do it. Now we are just sitting here going over more first aid.

March 1, 2009

Yeah another Sunday, my day to be lazy lol yeah right! Well we got issued our gas masks today. We are going to the chamber tomorrow. I am not sure if we will still be doing the PT test because of the winter warning lol It may snow 3.5 inches tomorrow and I guess there is never snow here so they freak out. I guess they are replacing all squad leaders I am happy and sad it will be nice to not have the responsibility, but that means someone else will. They even are replacing the platoon leaders which sucks because we have good ones now and the two they picked (we know who they are) are both loud and bossy. I am not sure how I will react to someone being a bossy bitch to me in front of the entire platoon. I just look at it like they will see their colors I don't need to say a thing. Here we live chow to chow and sunday to sunday.
Well our nice sunday got taken from us. Someone made jackoff motions at DS today in chow line so we had to low crawl in pit don't forget it has been raining all frickin day. So we were all really wet and black. We got issued our gas masks tonight for tomorrow. I can't wait to get it done. I am not worried about it, just another step closer to being done. Then we had more damn drama in the female bay. The "bay boss" went to DS about all the damn talking after the lights out. So we all got to stand at attention for over an hour but it looks like it worked because it is quiet. Yipee! Oh yes there was a great bright spot in my day. I got two and a half chocolate granola bars today. They were served at dinner. It was AWESOME! You don't even know how much you miss sweets and junk food till its gone. Hell I would love to watch some news or get a paper. I don't even know whats going on so if want to write me a letter talking about the news please do or print off a news story and mail it to me. Now my cold has moved into me. Coughing should be fun tomorrow with the gas chamber LOL

February 28, 2009

We started our day just like every other day yesterday with PT, we do PT every morning for 1 hour some days we run, some days we work on abs, some days we just bounce all over the place. We bounced today. We took our first aid test today that will certify us as combat life savers. I was the first one done in 240 soldiers and I passed of course and the instructor told me that she knew I would and for remaining 1/2 hour - 45 minutes I graded tests. We had a lot of ppl fail. It was insane. The test was so easy they really only covered the 40 questions on the test. Then we did suicide prevention interactive video. FUN FUN! Then we went to the pit and practiced hand to hand combatives. Then everyone else went to the classroom to do some stuff. We stayed in the pit and worked on strategies and he taught us to low crawl and high crawl properly. Oh and did I mention the rain and how wet we all are? and some of us (like me) are trying not to get sick. Oh well, another fun day with my platoon. Now the females are getting worse in my platoon. I am so tired of being thrown under the bus, especially by my battle buddy. Arg! I forgot to tell you my friend Allen, the one who broke her foot, got sent home finally!

SCHEDULE!

0415-0500 Wake-up and barricks maintainence
0500-0600 PT
0600-0630 DS Time (whatever they go to do)
0630-0700 Chow Time (250 soliders)
0700-0740 Change clothes for Rd March
0740-0800 Form in Platoons
0800-1100 Rd March, Gas Chamber, Rd March back (wearing about 35 lbs of gear)
1100-1200 Chow outside (still stinking of gas)
1200-1240 Shower (not normal)
1240-1300 Form into platoons
1300-1400 Turn in gas masks
1400-1700 Trained outside percission room cleaning
1700-1730 Chow
1730-1900 In classroom squad road configurations
1900-1930 Mail call (I got mail today, 120 push-ups worth)
1930-2000 Weapon Cleaning
2000-2040 Personal Time
2040-2100 Tow the line (wait for DS to count ppl and weapons)
2100-0415 Sleep

February 27, 2009

Well today we did our 3 mile rd march. We marched one hour and we had plates on, we were the only unit that did. I have blisters where I didn't think you could get blisters, like between my toes, my poor little feet are so sore! We get there and got to eat an MRE for breakfast. WOW my first MRE! I had chicken pesto noodles. It was pretty good, but the best part was that our platoon got to eat dessert. I got vanilla pudding and pineapple. It was alright. One of my battle buddies got reeses and we shared so that was cool. Then we did bayonet training and an obstacle course carring a weapon w/ a bayonet attached. (I know picture me with a M16 that has a 6" knife on the front) No, I did not fall, LOL. That was alright, would have been funner if I didn't have tons of blisters. Oh well, life goes on. Then we did the pugles, they are the Qtip looking things that you fight each other with. I got called out by the female and told to stop flirting with all the boys. She is like 20 and fights all the time so I was like well I might as well take my beating and move on LOL. Well I did better than I thought. I did not fall down and landed a couple good shots. She ended up fighting for our squad as light weight female so I did not feel so bad that I got my butt kicked. Our platoon should have won, but it came down to a cheer off with the two not in contension and since we just kicked their ass they did not cheer for us like they were supposed to. So the other team won, but their DS refused to take the ribbon or the win because the team that was supposed to cheer didn't. He thought it was BS so that streamer didn't go to anyone because we refused to accept it also. It rained the whole time we did pugles so it was cold and we were soaked too! I have been here 2 weeks and away from home for 1 month now. This last week flew by! I hope they all do. Decided that I hate females from 18-23 they are so undiciplined, I could scream! Right now I am on fireguard. I have it from 1-3am arg! Oh well it just means I don't have tomorrow and I can sleep in sunday like everyone else.

ADDRESS!!!

PFC Tils Marie
ACO 2/39 INF 3rd PLT
10402 Hampton Pkwy
FT JACKSON, SC 29207

Please write a big 3 on the back of envelope!!!! (VERY IMPORTANT)
It is easier to sort that way and if it isn't there I have to do push-ups!!!!

February 22, 23, & 24, 2009

2/22/09 Well it's Sunday so we did nothing all day. I went to church, but we stayed in bay all day. We did have a couple females come out of the closet and tell people they are gay. It should be interesting the next couple days.

2/23/09 Well I was suppose to go into gyno today to get my hormones, but we had a required land nav today that you can't make up so I sent an SOS letter to my ex Bill and asked him to overnight me my prescriptions after he filled it. I am out of estrogen and I have a gun LOL! I hope he is quick!
We had the march to the land nav course. We had to complete it in 3 hours. My group of 4 finished in 40 mins. We were even a little messed up in the beginning, but we worked together and figured it out.
We had a soldier in our platoon leave her weapon in the bay and we got smoked for 1 hour while she was gone, then for a half hour when she got back because she didn't have an excuse.
We did more practicing with our weapon, on getting in different positions and firing in different positions.
Tomorrow we start first aid and at some point we will have to put an IV into each other! WOOT! I can't wait!

2/24/2009 We did put IV's in each other today. Me and the other female got to put them in and we are both going to be LPN's so it was cool! I put in her IV and she didn't bleed one drop and she put mine in and I only bled like one drop. It was a lot of fun! There were some soldiers bleeding like stuck pigs. I was so lucky. They video-taped some of me putting my battle buddy Acuna's IV in and we got photos taken too so hopefully it won't get cut out of the footage.
We did some practicing with our riffles again today ao we are getting better. We get to go to PX tomorrow, I can't wait! I need a few things. Alright I need to sleep...TTYL