EPTToday is Karaoke night. I arrived here too late and the only place to sit down is right by the goddamned speaker. Yes, as I am typing this I am listening to people horribly lipsync their favorite rap/hip-hop/R&B (I don't know, and I don't care about the differences) songs while drunk off their ass, and they think they're awesome. So I'm writing this in an attempt to distract me at least for a few songs. Also, to give you a better idea of what this place is like, it's a sausage fest.
As I've stated before, because this is off of memory, there will be some chunks of time that are just missing or vague. Also, since most of what I write is off the top of my head, parts may be longer or shorter, and I may just decide to continue in a different blog post if it drags on too long. Please try to bear with it.
Some things in basic to remember are as such:
Hurry up and wait.
If someone in your flight got in trouble, you all did. One team one fight.
Do what your TI says, and they have no reason to bother you.
Arrival:
August 28th, 2006, I landed in San Antonio, Texas, and the beginning of my military career began. As I said in the last blog, I had just stirred awake when the bus from the airport had started to slow down. I peer out of the window (which was slightly difficult considering how much baggage everyone had, and that we had to keep them with us, on the seat). I saw about 3-4 people in uniform, wearing black brimmed hats. I didn't get to see much before the bus came to a stop and I heard
"GET THE HELL OFF OF MY BUS!"
And.... we scrambled. Every seat on the bus was filled with either people and/or baggage, and shit went flying everywhere as we tumbled out the single exit. It was a blur, a mishmash of various colors flying in and out, and screams of pissed off individuals telling us how slow we were.
Fast forward a few seconds, we were off the bus and standing in more or less a formation. We were told (Read: Yelled at) to stand on a dot in front of the dormitory (Or I assumed it was at the time), filling in from the front to the back. I made it to my dot, and dropped my bag (full of damn near nothing I was allowed to keep anyways) next to my right foot (They were pretty explicit on their instructions) and gazed at some of the people around me within my peripheral vision.
There were a good variety of people who arrived with me. People of all ethnicities and styles of wear. I don't like pointing out races, but it was noted anyways.
I had asked my recruiter prior to leaving if there was anything in particular I needed to bring. She had given me a quick list of stuff I could use while I was there, and to dress as conservatively as possible. You don't wanna get pointed out for stupid shit right off the bat, because stupid shit will stay with you until you graduate.
Well, a good chunk of us got pointed out anyways. I guess not all recruiters gave them the same word of warning. The Caucasians were dressed conservatively. Jeans and plain t-shirts and the like (Except one guy, who showed up in flip flops and a surf board. Yeah, he got shit for it). African Americans on the other hand, had bandannas on, jeans sagging halfway down their crack, T-shirts that covered down to their knees. They were the first to get picked on.
After some rather amusing sessions of a combination of getting yelled at and made fun of, (Kinda like this), we were herded into what I thought was the dormitory (well, we were more like chased into there). it turned out to be some office type area with rather pissed off looking people in uniform. They weren't yelling at us, but more like irritated that they were there (it was damn early in the morning, like 2-3 at the time).
We were told to sit down in a chair and shut up. A few of us get put against the wall and they thought they were clever, leaning their heads against the wall and starting to get sleepy. Well, they weren't. They got caught, yelled at, and shooed outside to get yelled at some more.
We were called up one by one to sign some papers before told to sit in a hallway, where again, people tried to be sneaky and catch some z's. They met the same fate as the last group. Eventually we were told to stand up and we were separated. Some of us got told to get into a formation (which was more or less a cluster, as damn near none of us knew what a formation was at the time), and some of us got told to get our asses over to the building next door, which turned out to be a dorm. I was in a "formation" and we marched (more like walked quickly and tried to stay out of sight of the uniformed peopled) to another dorm that felt like it was halfway across the base.
We arrive with another formation on our tail.
"When we say to, one line at a time will get their asses up the staircase. DO NOT FALL ON YOUR ASS GOING UP THE DAMNED STAIRCASE, PEOPLE ARE SLEEPING. When you get to an open door, get your ass in there, find a locker that someone isn't standing at, and stare at that crap."
And.... that was our instructions, more or less.
"FALL OUT!"
We bolted. It was a blur going up to the staircase, and up the steps. It was kind of like the experience getting off the bus. A straight up rush of clueless individuals all getting yelled at for doing absolutely nothing. I arrived at my locker.
I don't remember what number it was. It's not important. After some period of time, I gazed out of the corner of my eye again (This would become a recurring thing). I saw guys staring right at the locker, just as I was. These guys would become my best friends and worst enemies for the next 6 weeks, and I didn't even know it yet. We were told to put a finger on the number on the locker. I did so. This number would apparently be our locker until otherwise told. The corresponding bed number would also be my bed until otherwise told. I suppose that people tried to trade or something, and that shit wasn't flying this time.
I was told to jump in bed and to get my ass to sleep. Yeah, cuz after all that crap I went through, I was going to go to sleep just because he said so. Well, I did.
A typical day:
Week 1 broke down as administrative week. We were there to get shots, sign papers, and set up our bank accounts so we could get paid in the future. We were also to be issued uniforms, so we would fit in with everyone else. People still walking around in civilian clothes were referred to as "Rainbows", in reference to the varying colors of the clothes they wore. As I continued on in Basic, I would find smaller things that identified what week of the program that people were in.
I woke up on that first day, but didn't dare move too much. I slowly opened my eye a crack to take in the environment around me. I in fact had enlisted in the military, and I was not dreaming. I was screwed and I could only think "What the hell was I thinking?"
I saw some uniformed people walking up and down the aisle between the beds, occasionally stopping to tell someone to go back to sleep. I had no idea what time it was, but I saw light flooding into the room. I could only assume that it was some time during the day, and I had actually slept a few hours. I was honestly scared for what else could possibly happen during the next few minutes. I have no idea how long I laid on the bed with my eyes barely open to try and see any changes in the environment when I heard it.
CLANKCLANKCLANK.
"GET YOUR ASSES UP NOW. GET YOUR CRAP ON, AND GET IN THE DAY ROOM"
And so I complied. The dorm was split up into 2 halls, and considering how I was surveying the area around me, I could only assume that the sound was made in the other half of the dorm. I had no idea where the day room was, or what it was. I did as much as I could, and we moshed into a small room down the hall.
We all crammed into the room and stood around a singular desk in the room. The only things I could hear were the shuffling of shoes and eventually the individual I would find to be my TI came in.
"Move."
I guess having about 40-50 people in that small of a space, it was hard to move without causing a wave of movement. So we shuffled out of the way and he sat own.
His speech was more or less an introduction to how things were gonna work the next couple of weeks. He broke down specifically how to get food in the chow hall, what a formation is supposed to look like, and of course, a brief rundown of his history (honestly, not like it mattered).
Looking back, this was the first time we were introduced to the idea of resocialization. A lot of the typical mannerisms and phrases that we used were met with yelling and sarcasm. Stuff like:
WRONG:
Use the bathroom (Met with "There are no baths on Lackland")
CORRECT:
Utilize the latrine (You have to ask for permission, it may or may not be allowed)
WRONG:
Is it OK (Met with "It's never OK")
CORRECT:
Is it authorized
WRONG:
Yeah (Met with "Yeah? YEAH? YEAH?")
CORRECT:
Yes, sir.
I believe there were others that I just can't remember off the top of my head, but anyways. We eventually were told to use a reporting statement before talking to any TI (anyone with that black brimmed hat), and to use "sir/ma'am" where applicable. This was harder than people thought. It was stumbled on the entire time we were there. It didn't help that my little rag tag flight was full of hicks that barely passed the ASVAB to come in the first place. It didn't hit me until about the time I sat around with everyone else on flight that there was an incredible diversity in there.
Coming from a 50/50 split of Asian and Hispanic high school career, it was slightly odd seeing so many Caucasians and African Americans sitting around me, and it didn't occur to me until later that because of my interests, I was gonna be an outcast anyways.
But that's aside from the point. Our TI eventually got done with his shpeal and rushed us out to to the chow hall, which wasn't further than downstairs. But, it was clear that people were not paying attention. The basic procedure was to wait outside in formation, eventually your flight would get called in and you would go in line by line. While you're in there, you are essentially crotch to ass, while you crawl forward to the servers. Whenever you move you're supposed to be doing facing movements, which made it somewhat difficult to move without knocking half your crap off your tray. You tell them what you want, and sit down at the closest available table that the monitor directs you to. You stand at the table until all the seats are full, you sit down and eat as fast as you can to get the hell out of there. I could go into more about the layout, but it's more or less irrelevant, except to mention that the TI's sit in the middle of the chow hall and can see everything you're doing, stupid or not. We called it the Snake Pit. If you could make it out of the chow hall without getting called over to it, you were lucky.
That's how it's supposed to work.
I made it to my table the first time and heard muttering coming from the table behind me. I can't remember what I was eating, but I scarfed it as fast as I could before a TI appearified at that table and utensils started flying everywhere. I finished as a fork landed on my tray. No talking in the chow hall after all.
I stood, carefully made my way around the raging TI, and I dropped my tray off at the dropoff area, and scurried my way out of the chow hall to stand in formation again.
After some time, everyone made their way out of there more or less intact. It was truly an experience in itself just to eat those first few weeks. After a bit, the TIs just stopped caring, or something, as it was mostly the first 2 weeks that you got screwed with the hardest. Probably had something to do with resocialization, I dunno.
We marched (Or attempted to march, however you wanna look at it) to more administrative stuff. Most of it was just paperwork, and the haircut (we got 3 while we were there). I had already gotten a haircut in anticipation of it (had fairly long hair, come to think of it), so it was more or less a trim. However, they did warn us that the barbers there weren't there to do a crazy hairstyle for us, they have a job too, it's to shave your head pretty damned fast, and get you the hell out of there. So, if you had a mole on your head or something, it would behoove you to point to it ahead of time, or they would cut your head open (whether or not it would be intentional, I have no idea). When you were done, you would walk over to a member of your flight that went before you, and you would brush all the excess hair off and hand off the brush. Then you go back to standing around. Hurry up and wait after all.
After some time, we eventually trudged back to the dorm. We were again herded into the day room, where the TI described to us how our living area should be set up, as well as teach us how to make our beds. A lot of you might be like wtf, but there ARE room inspections, and they do dock you if your bed is not made the way they want it made, or if the uniforms are in the wrong order, or hell, if your toothbrush is 2 centimeters off center from the drawer you're supposed to put it in. Yes, they're pretty damned specific. They kept harping Excellence in all we do. Including setting up rooms.
We were given study materials that we had to read over and know by the end of week 5. Thinking back, I studied pretty damned hard for something that wasn't really difficult. A lot of it was regulations and rank recognition. Memorization and stuff. We were expected to pull out our study materials out of a folder we were told to carry with us, whenever we weren't doing anything (ie, standing around in formation waiting for who knows what).
We were also to carry a canteen with us. I really didn't want to drink out of it. I mean think about it. You're not the first person to go through the course and hate it. Knowing my luck, the guy before me pissed in this thing, and they sucked at cleaning it out. Anyways, we were to carry this everywhere, and it would be filled whenever we could. We were in San Antonio, Texas after all.
By the way, it was humid as SHIT every day. I was either freezing in my dorm or sweating bullets outside. Hell, I would be freezing outside too if it was too early. Weather in Texas sucks.
This was more or less a typical day in the coming weeks. Changes did come about, and I'll briefly mention them as they come. Describing each day over and over again would be rather silly, so I'll just go over some interesting stuff that happened during these weeks.
Day 2:
It was the first piss test we had to take. God, I was nowhere near ready for it, I had gone pee or something earlier, and the TI was very good at not telling us what we were doing next. We didn't need to know, we just needed to do it.
So with my luck, I was either the last one or second to last one to pee. I must have drank at least 2-3 gallons of water, which, if you didn't know, is clearly not good for you. I finally went and stood out in formation, waiting for our TI's instruction. It was at some point at night, and I was trying to read the study material in the dim light. I noticed that I was reading it closer and closer, and suddenly, I realized I was staring at the ceiling with some medic and my TI standing over me.
Apparently I had passed out. Overhydrated. Go figure. I did feel bloated I guess. But my head didn't hurt, nothing, I just passed out. So much for keeping a low profile. Anyways, after some quick questions, they just brushed it off, and we went along with our day.
Uniform Issue:
The day we got our uniform wasn't anything special. It was a normal day, I believe it was halfway through week 1. They shooed us into a large room, where there were numerous containers were clothing in there. Stuff like socks, t-shirts, underwear, and other various things that we needed (stuff like a large bag to carry it all in). When we picked up the actual BDU uniform (It's currently ABU's issued now), it had no name tags or identifier. We picked up our hats/boots at the same time, and we were on our way.
The only thing that was worth mentioning that I can remember about that day was the march back. At this point, we were able to actually march somewhat decently after some practice, but the problem was that we always marched normally without any weight on us.
Needless to say, it was a huge pain to march that far with all that weight. It was roughly a 40 lb bag. It probably sounds like bitching to a lot of you gym rats, but I don't work out. It was hard to me.
PT:
PT was everyday. Except Sunday, where they give us time to go to church of your own religion. PT was split every other day between running and aerobics. Which was more or less Pushups/situps and getting yelled at.
They split us up on running groups, from fastest to slowest ABCD based on our running time. Our first PT running day, they made us run the mile and a half, and based on our time, we were put into groups. Our groups were more or less not relevant except for the slowest one, where the TI's picked on them the entire time and essentially made them run at an accelerated pace. The rest of us were just jogging around the track and trying to stay away. (I was in B group, in case you were wondering).
On aerobics day, except we all went through that at the same time with no special additions based on if you suck at pushups or not. We also did a mock PT test to see where we stand to know what we need to focus on.
This more or less didn't change from day to day.
Leader selection and job assignment
About halfway through 1st week or the beginning of 2nd week we were called into the day room to select who would be the Dorm Chief and element leaders (read: position of power when the TI wasn't around). Who actually made it wasn't important. It was who volunteered.
I wasn't the most in shape person, but I was somewhere in the middle in terms of fitness when it came to the flight. However, there was one guy, who failed to even do 1 pushup. He volunteered to be Dorm Chief and we promptly put him down.
Next up was job assignments. This probably occurred somewhere in the middle of the first week. It's more or less what we do to keep the dorm clean during the end of the day. It was anything from cleaning chromes, to sweeping up, to cleaning the room where the TI stays (We called him the House Mouse).
The dreaded job was Latrine crew. You wouldn't want to clean up after other people's shit either.
Guess where I ended up. I had toilet duty, specifically, if you truly wanted to know.
Church:
Every Sunday, a representative from each religion would stop by our dorm to take those people of that respective faith to church. A lot of people who weren't actually religious went to church anyways to get out of the dorm (and away from TIs).
I did this once. I'm agnostic so I'm more or less open to religions so long as I'm not being pushed into it, but I still didn't feel comfortable being in church.
If you're not going to a church, you essentially stay in the dorm and you clean up. I ended up waxing and sweeping floors the first couple of weeks. After a couple of weeks, I ended up just kinda sitting around and not do anything. I wasn't the only one, but most people were gone for the mornings on Sunday. After a little bit, everyone trickles back into the dorm and we do a normal day.
Weapons:
I think it was the 3rd week or something. Our TI informed us that we were gonna go get weapons. Not real ones, but it's to get us used to carrying weapons in general, even if you don't carry it in our regular job after Basic.
It wasn't anything special, we carried it around everywhere. We also learned how to take it apart and clean it. It wasn't until the 4th week, aka Warrior Week, that we got to fire them. It wasn't important to me, it was more or less a necessary paperweight.
Warrior Week:
Today, it's called the Beast, and it's 2 weeks long, but when I went through it, it was called Warrior Week.
It's essentially a simulated deployed location. You stayed in a tent, and you were taught various things like team movement, setting up tents, eating MRE (Meals Ready to Eat). This is the first time that you are away from your TI, and you are introduced to a new set of instructors, referred to as Cadre. There were some things that occurred there that I remember.
CS Gas:
AKA Tear Gas. They taught us how to put on a gas mask, and eventually put is in a room with our masks on. There was a chimney in the middle and after a bit, we were ordered to take our mask off.
Not the greatest experience in my life. In a shitty analogy, it's like having straight salt thrown in your face. Repeatedly. What you were supposed to do is maintain your bearing and answer some questions. They went one by one so it sucked for you if you were at the end. Not only were you further from the exit than you wanted to be, but you had your mask off the longest.
The questions asked weren't anything difficult like a math problem, just some simple questions like Where you were born kinda thing. The problem was this. You had to maintain your bearing while getting Tear Gassed. You didn't necessarily have to answer the question, but after you did, you were allowed to leave. However, if you ran out of the room, you would stay and go the end of the line, starting your process all over again.
I was at the end. Unfortunately. Someone I assume that was a TI in a chem suit got to me and I remember seeing nothing but straight tears. He asked me where I was from, and I answered. He asked something else, I can't remember and I was allowed to go.
When you got out, you were told to not touch your face, even though it's covered it tears. Essentially what they told us is that the tear gas crystallizes, and it's possible for us to spread the burn even further.
Tent setup:
Um. The only reason I remember this at all, is because during the instruction period, I was fine. Then the second part was the practical part, where you go and set it up yourself, but they only sent half of us to go do it.
I was not one of the ones who sent it build it. And I remember falling asleep. When I woke up, the tent was done, people were patting each other on the back, and I did the shifty eyes to see if anyone realized that I was out.
Tent Guard:
They told us that TIs come by and will draw a red mark on people. If you have a red mark on you in the morning, expect to have the shit PT'd out of you.
Well that's what they told us, and we were told to set up tent guards just in case.
You basically sat outside the tent and studied while making sure no one entered the tent that wasn't supposed to be there. It was like 1 hour shifts or something like that.
No one came, and it was more or less an interruption of sleep.
The obstacle course:
It's what it sounds like. It was an obstacle course. I only remember it because we were told to clean it up.... then we used it the next day and messed it up anyways. What a waste of time.
It was also the last part of Warrior Week, it's what we did to "graduate" from there.
This went a lot longer than I intended, so I'll just stop here for now. Feel free to ask about specifics, I'll try to answer what I can.
