Sand Hill

-SAND HILL

Sat 19 Sep 2009, Ft Benning, GA

Woke up today at 0200hrs, in a fog of sleep went to the Latrine past sleeping Soldiers and those 2 on FireWatch,

"Sign In, Flyinghorse", an 17yr old Soldier whispered to me from the darkness, redLensed flashlight flitting from me back to his writingPaper, I signed in my name on theTapedUp notebook paper posted on the bathroom door before I went into theLatrine,

 

The paper on theDoor was stark reminder of last weeks Indescretions that EVERYONE in thePlatoon paid for, and dearly in PushUps, confinement to theBay after work / training hours and in general, Just being treated like lil' ol' Privates by theDrillSergeants vs being treated like grownUp men,

 

but, it wasn't "US" priorService men that had gone out on 4 hour pass on Sunday and bartered for smokes, come back to Barracks, HID those contraband items and also sold them to Other company recruits, when instead, it was mostly a few of thePrivates (the BCT / Basic Combat Training), theRecruits that us PriorService men had joined just recently, Suddenly the Credo of All For One and One for ALL just didn't sit well with many of us Prior service as we pushed, squatted, sprinted and punished our Already tired and sore bodies an hour or so More to pay for the mistakes of an errant few young men.

 

I stumbled back to my Bunk and climbed back up top, stepping on theEmpty mattress below me and realizing that my bunkMate, whom had already left us just days earlier was Already gone home after having been Processed out of service, for what, I don't know and at 02 in the morning, didn't really care to think about it all.

 

I slowly went back to sleep in theDarkness clutching my new AngleLensed flashlight, the one I just purchased the day before via VisaGiftCard that my parents had recently sent to me.

 

I could have used that Flashlight days ago when theCompany went out on 3 day Field Ex (field exercise) but have already mastered the art of packing bags and unpacking them by feel and muscle memory, and besides, I'm a Native American!!  I'm supposed to see in theDark anyway!! d:oP

 

Which I did btw, when, during our FieldEx we all took turns standing NightWatch over our respective camps as our buddy's near and far in their FoxHoles did sleep.

Which brings me to the name of this blogEntry, Sand Hill.

 

I'm still brushing my closeCut hair and pull sand out of my scalp!!

We dug a big FoxHole, my battleBuddy and I and then we had to scrape out an HastyFightingPosition close by, we slept in that one too the 2nd night and no rain either all 3 nights.

 

I'm old, my body aches, but I've lost weight (238 as of last night) and I've lost my middleSection / no LoveHandles, but wonder if I'll spend the rest of my life limping and in knee pain cos of the constant running and exercise we Infantry trainees do, probably Yes.

 

I'm happy to have moved swiftly through theForest during our groups particular training time, when, as a Squad we walked roadside, came under fire from OpposingForces (blankAmmo) and we fired back at them (blankAmmo!!) and I was part of theSquad that broke contact, moved right and Flanked theOpFor and attacked them "Killing them".

I didn't move so fast last month or even back in Ft Sill, so that means that this Army PT is doing something good for me.

 

Well, my Platoon battle buddies paid my way, via Taxi ride, off of SandHill post and onto the Other portion of the Base,

I'm reporting to you, via blog, from the Bowling center and using this InetKiosk and the last remaining dollars on one of my VisaGift credit cards.

 

It's anticipated that we'll graduate in Oct and move onto our respective DutyStations after that, I've no special interests in mind, or rather, I've no hopes of joining up with Airborne or Rangers etc, cos I need to run faster and do more PushUps and SitUps for all that, but I'm hoping to just graduate (if I'm not sent back to week 5 with the Other PT failures if we don't pass Main PT test with 60% or better) and to move on into the next Unit headed to or Already in combat overseas. We start week 10 soon.

 

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theSam!!