BCT Day 49
The following information is a portion of “Marck’s Boot Camp Diary”. The information contains a straight-forward look at Basic Training Life on a daily basis. The information contained within this page is used with the express written permission of the author. For more information about the author view the “Author’s Information” at the bottom of the page. Some choice phrases have been censored.
September 11th, 2002
We’re getting our refitted class A uniforms today. I can’t wait to show it off in just two weeks. That’s right, readers, that’s right. Two weeks exactly until family day.
The afternoon should be pretty chill. We’ll be studying for EOCT. I’m using the down time to talk to D.S. Boston about the sergeant that came looking for me on Friday. Hopefully I can get my finance thing fixed today. See how long it takes for things to get done in the army?
Tonight is night infiltration. I think that’s the one with bullets flying over our head. We haven’t done incoming fire yet. It’ll be good to know how to maneuver around it just in case. So today is the last day of training before FTX. Joy.
JP, the reader from Washington, wrote me again. Thanks for the military.com thing. I actually had time to enjoy it. We had two hours of personal time Monday. Not one, but two. Blue phase rocks. To answer your questions JP, I did not have my eyes closed while qualifying with my rifle. I was studying the inside of my eyelids. I am a weekend warrior. Regular army is not my thing. Thanks for the tip about extra G.I. Bill money. I’ll look into that. I think that’s all. I don’t have your letter with me. I’m in line waiting for my class As. Thanks for writing. Oh. You asked when my AIT is. It’s right after basic. Sept. 27th. Boom. I have to be there. Class starts the 30th. It’s in Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. If anyone has any info about that place, I’d owe you so much if you could send it. Specially info on 63W. But any info, good or bad, is useful.
Here I am at the bleachers of the night infiltration course. I told you they’re everywhere. Good news, though: They’re wood. That’s a break on my ass. Bad news: That sergeant was not here according to D.S. Boston. Looks like I’ll be E-1 for my next paycheck. More bad news: We’re done firing live rounds. The D.S. said if we wanted to shoot him, we should’ve done it last night. Damn, that sucks. I hope I can take Isabella to FTX just to have someone to sleep with.
The bullets going over our head in the course tonight are 36 inches, or one meter high. The three M60 machine guns fire hundreds of rounds a minute. We did a dry run during the day. No bullets, just sound effects. While waiting for dark, we had marmite dinner. Oh man it was good. I had one and a half T-freakin’-bone steaks and two pieces of cake. T-freakin’-bone steak. On entire one and then half of one. Unbelievable. The army has A LOT of money.
If Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” started playing in the room, I’d walk in. I’m sandy as hell. Low crawling on sand ain’t no joke. And I get to do it again under meter-high live machine gun ammo. Yay.
