Alright, here comes the promised update!
I arrived here on Saturday the 13th of February. We got transportation here and by the time we arrived on base, it was late afternoon. And hot. I was coming from 20-30* and windy as heck to 80* and humid enough to feel it. That was unpleasant. Then we had to carry our duffel bags (and personal bags) all the way over to the company, which wasn't terribly far, but far enough when the stuff is that heavy. We got some counseling statements and a general "Welcome to the base" kind of lecture. Then we were set loose to drop off our stuff at our barracks.
Let me just say that the barracks here are much nicer than they were at basic. Added bonus, it's 2-4 to a room instead of 60 to a bay. In fact, I'd almost venture to say that the accommodations are nicer than they were in [my] college. I'm currently in a room with two other soldiers and we have our own bathroom. We have room for one more, but for the time being, it's just us. In college, I shared a room half this size with one other person and the whole floor had two bathrooms (think stalls and several showers) that everyone had to share. Plus, we're adults here (let's be honest, college kids are not adults), and alcohol isn't allowed for IET (initial entry training) soldiers, so no chance of your roommate coming back drunk in the middle of the night and throwing up on the floor or something. I lucked out with my roommates, both are very well put together, responsible people. I appreciate them greatly! (shout-out to SPC B and PFC D.) We're not supposed to have food in the barracks, but we are allowed to have coffee and breakfast bars or protein bars and shakes. Both my roommates have Keurig's. I'm not much of a fan, but I think it's cool that our commander lets us have them.
The platoon sergeants here are also a much more laid back. We spent the first week freaking out that we were going to get yelled at for something or another and it never happened. In fact, more than once one of the sergeants would give us a funny expression and tell us to relax and that we were being too stiff. The weirdest experience for me was when I was walking back from the PX with a battle buddy and two captains stopped us to ask for directions. My experiences with high ranking soldiers in basic were pretty bad for the most part (except for my commander, CPT M- I loved him). They all had their authority and enjoyed lording it over you, if you did even one thing just slightly wrong, you were toast. So when these two captains treated us like human beings, my battle buddy and I completely freaked out and froze. Finally, I managed to get out that we were new here too and had no clue how to get to wherever they were going. They didn't even comment on the fact that I spent half the conversation at parade rest instead of attention like I was supposed to.
And that's another thing, there are a couple of DFACs (dining facility) here, one in particular always seems to have inordinate amount of officers in it. The first time we ate there, we got there before the officer class got out, so it was mostly lower enlisted. As dinner went on, we saw a bunch of lieutenants come in, then captains and lieutenant colonels and even a full bird colonel. My buddy and I packed up and bailed real quick because we had no idea what to do. My ignorance back then amuses me now. Higher enlisted and officers are still soldiers. They have higher rank, but they are people and for the most part (except in basic training, apparently), they really don't give a darn if you screw up here and there. They know you're new. Just don't forget to pay attention and salute when walking by outside. So far, I've only had one incident, but in my defense, I was looking the other direction trying to read a sign on the other side of the road. It was still a nasty look.
Moving on…. Monday was a holiday (President's Day), so I spent the majority of the day playing Skyim, sleeping, and doing taxes. (what? I didn't have anything else to do and it was hot outside!) Tuesday and Wednesday PT was cancelled for reasons unbeknownst to me. Thursday PT caught me totally off guard though. I completely forgot that AIT PRT is ten repetitions instead of five for each exercise. Boy was I hurting after that.
We spent a few days (Tuesday and Wednesday) doing in-processing stuff. The platoon sergeants keep telling us we arrived a week late, but I don't know what they're talking about because my papers (and the papers of everyone else here, including those who came from different BCT sites) have said all the right dates since June. I graduated on the day they said I would, and arrived at AIT on the day they said I would, so personally, I think the sergeants here are confused. Such is life. We got all our financial stuff together and did the customary SHARP (Sexual Harrassment/Assault Response and Prevention) training and EO (equal opportunity) briefs. Also managed to get my CAC card reset. (yay!)
On Thursday, we finally got our first textbooks and started class. LMED 101- Introduction to laboratory medicine. Phlebotomy. That was fun. Lots of vocabulary, but nothing terribly difficult. I very much appreciated that the instructor, SSG MM had a sense of humor and gave us at least a ten minute break every hour. I hadn't expected them to do that given how much information we have to cover over the course of our six months here. Did I mention that this MOS has one of the highest failure rates in the Army? I think the instructor said it's around a 60% fail rate. Can't find any numbers anywhere though, so I'll have to take their word for it.
On Friday (the next day), we had a company run at 0500. We all sort of jogged the first mile, and then they released us the second mile. I was happily surprised at how well I was able to run it. I passed up people with better run times than me… though I did go at a higher pace than I would for the whole two miles. We had our first quiz in class. Aced it! 100%. To be fair, it was an open note quiz, but when you have 50 pages of notes (not an exaggeration), that's not terribly helpful.
Weekends here are awesome! Our platoon sergeant made sure we all had day passes for the weekend so we could go pretty much wherever on base as long as we showed up to all the formations and signed out before going anywhere. I went to the PX with a battle buddy to get supplies for our room and school, among other things. On Sunday, I went to church with a couple of battle buddies. I even joined the church choir! Apparently, you can get a COA (certificate of achievement) from doing that. I was quite pleased to learn that. COA's can be earned various ways in my company: volunteering, getting high scores in PT, getting high grades, playing on a sports team… These are good because they can lead to promotion points and promotions are [supposed to be] the main goal. Which reminds me, all the sergeants are always going on about how AIT is for earning an MOS, not for finding a significant other. You may laugh, but spending a year around the same people makes it a little more difficult.
On Monday PT got cancelled again because of pouring rain. We also had our first exam. I got a 98% on that one. Only missed one question. To be honest, I feel like we're cheating a little bit because all the exams are multiple choice. College was much harder because it was all fill in the blank/show your work kind of stuff and here, the answers are given to you. I imagine my mind will change as soon as we hit Chem 101. LMED is supposedly the easiest class in the program while Chem is the hardest. The reason they put it first is because the Army doesn't want to put all this money into training you if you're just going to fail out at the end, so they make you fail out at the beginning by giving the hardest class first (well… after the mandatory introductory course). We got a new instructor after the test. SSG S has a terribly dry and monotone voice. I was super excited when I found out they used to work for USAMRIID (my dream job!), but even I struggled to stay awake to some extent. It didn't help that they tended to taper off when they were talking so it basically sounded like they were talking to themselves most of the time. People kept getting distracted because it was hard to tell the instructor was even still talking. I lucked out because I always sit up front, else I might have had difficulty there.
On Tuesday PT got cancelled again, so I took the opportunity to go to sick call since my back was bothering me. Apparently, I can't sit for very long. My body got so used to being active that being immobile causes problems. I think I'm the only person to go to sick call and get a reverse-profile. Most people who go in with injuries get a profile that restricts their physical activities, I was told to do more PT. Thanks doc! *headdesk* Meanwhile, we got to start phlebotomy in class. Let me just say that I'm terrified of needles, but I hate the idea of not getting this job more than I hate needles. And unfortunately, part of this job is phlebotomy. God help me.
Wednesday we started out with a two mile release run. I managed to set a new personal record and got 1746 for the two miles. I was extra pleased because the course isn't flat. The first mile is downhill and the second mile is just going back to the start point on the same road. I fully expected to be terribly winded and dead by the second mile, but magically, I hit my second wind somewhere in the first mile and actually ran the second mile faster than the first. Hooah! I wonder if some of that was fueled by fear since that was our first day of sticking (phlebotomy practice). We had a quiz first thing in class (100%), then practiced drawing blood on each other. I almost passed out, not going to lie. I had to work very hard not to freak out and I was only marginally successful. I did manage to not cry though, so I was pleased about that. (go figure- the soldier cries about a needlestick). Once my partner stuck me though, I was fine. They missed my vein, but apparently their technique was good, so they passed their practice run. I wouldn't know because I was off in la-la land. No bruise though, so must have been good. When I went to draw blood, I got their vein, but didn't anchor my hand on their arm well enough so when I went to put the tube in the hub, I accidentally pulled the needle out of their arm. The instructor said not to worry about it and to try again the next day. Woo. -.- After that we kept going with the study material. The new instructor, SSG B is hilarious and makes a lot of Barney references. Also likes to imitate Baptist preachers. We couldn't stop laughing despite the boring topic (super basic math).
On Thursday, we had an abbreviated PT session. Instead of doing ten repetitions of each exercise, we only did five. I didn't mind too much because it allowed us to do more exercises and still finish early enough to shower before going to breakfast. When we got to the schoolhouse, we spent the first hour on our own. It took me about ten minutes to realize that it wasn't a late instructor, it was free study time. Then we took our final exam for LMED. Yes, we did go through an entire textbook in one week. That was 179 pages of notes! I scored a 96% (missed two). After that, they left us alone for a while until lunch. I used the time to get my stuff together and try to keep my mind off the fact that we had to stab each other again. When we got back from lunch, we waited for a while until the phlebotomy room was open and then we had to do our sticks again. I was freaking out again (internally) so I don't remember anything about what my partner did, but I guess they did a good job because I didn't bruise with them either, though that might be because they also missed the vein. I actually managed to get a good stick when it was my turn though, so yay. I got a perfect draw according to the instructor. We swapped out our phlebotomy textbooks with Chemistry textbooks and then called it a day.
Friday, we did a terrain run (hill repeats) for PT. I thoroughly dislike hill repeats, though my run map looks like a drunken bee, so that at least was amusing. It was a good workout overall. We got a new instructor for Chem 101, SSG W. This one is hilarious and super engaging. Which is good because I hate chemistry. We'll see how well I keep up.
Which brings me to today. I was so exhausted from the week that I just passed out after class last night, so I woke up at 0630 with no issue. Basically wasted all day trying to keep my mind off things, although I did do a little planning for when my family comes to visit in a few weeks. Â I'll update more as things come. In the meantime, lots and lots of studying. Thank god for Quizlet!
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