Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Soon I'll be a Phase 2 recruit!

I just have to pass my MCMAP test (Martial Arts) on Saturday, Initial drill and testing on knowledge on Tuesday. I've already qualified for CWS4 swim qualification (I'm supposed to be given the opportunity to qualify for CWS2 at a later date for my MOS). As a Phase 2 recruit I'll be heading out to the rifle range next Saturday and our platoon will be out there for 2 weeks. After that is Team Week and then Phase 3! It's all starting to go a bit faster now and I'm finally really feeling motivated. Anyway, I should go to work on some more drill. I'll write again soon.

Rct. Garner

Entering Phase 2

Sunday 21 Nov. 2010

Tomorrow will be Training Day 18 and the beginning of “Swim Week” which means that my time as a Phase 1 recruit is drawing to a close. Next Tuesday will mark the beginning of Phase 2 for this recruit. Honestly, it comes as a relief, just knowing that we’ve made it, 60 of us, just over the third of the way through training. Even though our Drill Instructors tell us we’re sloppy and stupid, and rip our squad bay a part when we piss of our Senior Drill Instructor, or send us to the pit for having busted hair-we know it will only get better from here. Boot camp is easy once you stop trying to rage against it. Just do what you’re told when you’re told to do it, sound off, move fast, live Sunday to Sunday and chow to chow and give 100% at all times. Our Senior Drill Instructor constantly stresses discipline and loyalty and the entire platoon is finally coming together to figure out what that means.

Yesterday, we had our Senior D.I. inspection, and some of us did fail but the lesson we took away from it was that sometimes you will fail but you have to learn from it and everything you do should be done with confidence and bearing.

Anyhow, we also had the O course, the Confidence Course, and Pugil Stick 2 this week, so I’ve been awfully busy. I’ll try to write more often but like I said, this week is swim week, and next week Platoon 4003 has testing, Initial Drill and the start of Phase 2. Hopefully the Thanksgiving holiday will give me some time to write.

Oohra!

Recruit Garner.

Veterans Day

November 11, 2010

Today is Training Day 9 and Veteran’s Day, so we get a little more free time, just as we would on Sundays or other holidays. The Marine Corps Birthday was yesterday, and the rumors ARE true, you do get steak and lobster for afternoon chow! We also had a pugil stick showdown with out sister platoon yesterday-I won 2 out of 3 times, and the third went undecided.

A few days ago, my spirits were pretty low (I still haven’t received any letters) but after the platoon has spent a little more time with the Senior Drill Instructor and the Battalion Chaplain, we all feel a lot better. Recruit Training isn’t nearly as bad as I had made it out in my head to be, but it is challenging. Going to the pit and playing the DI’s “f***-f***” games are my least favorite activities, and drill is no cakewalk either. An M16A4 starts to feel awfully heavy after a few minutes.

Recently I found out that Oscar Co. is the most hardcore of the female training companies; we excel in drill, discipline and physical fitness. Drill Instructors from November and Papa Company have all said this. It makes me proud to be an Oscar company recruit; even it’s a little tougher. That’s the way it should be, right?

A normal day for an Oscar Co. Platoon 400X recruit is as follows:0400 wake up, dress by the numbers, morning chow, PT with the series, morning classes or MCMAP, shower, clean house, afternoon chow, drill/marching, evening chow, drill/marching, clean house, shower, hygiene inspection, free time, devotions and then hit the rack. That’s how most days go, anyway.

Write more soon.

Rct. Garner

Boot Camp #1

F2, Sunday

October 31, 2010

Today is Forming Day 2 of Recruit Training. Yesterday, on Forming Day 1 (F1), we met our Drill Instructors for the first time; up until that point we had been with one of two Receiving Drill Instructors, and life wasn’t too bad then. I suppose I should explain…

Let’s start from the beginning: on Monday morning, I took my last trip to MEPS for an extremely brief medical inspect, a final revision of my contract, and to swear-in to active duty. By 1230, all 20101025 shippers were shuttled to the airport. A large group of USMC male shippers went their own way, since they had a flight to MCRD San Diego at 1400, leaving four for of us; myself, a female Coast Guard shipper, an Army shipper, and a Navy shipper. Our fight was to Minneapolis, MN at 2135. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to leave the airport. So, for 6 hours, we hung out or slept in the USO office. Then I was on my own from Minneapolis to Atlanta, GA and again to Savannah, GA. I didn’t get to Savannah until 1200 (ET) on Tuesday.

60+ shippers from around the country made their way to the Savannah airport USO where we waited until 1700 four our escorts from the depot to arrive. The fact that I was going to boot camp didn’t actually hit me until a Corporal came through the doors and started yelling at us to stand at attention.

Some time during the evening (we weren’t supposed to leave the airport for the MCRD until around 2300), ten brave souls (myself included) volunteered to leave for the depot at 2310 in a van.

Sunday, November ?

When we reached the gate at Parris Island we were all told to keep our heads down-we weren’t allowed to look at anything. Then we stopped and the doors of the van were flung open by a female Drill Instructor. She yelled at us to get out of the van and to get on the famous yellow footprints. Then of course, we were sent through the silver hatches. Thus began the all-to-famous “receiving phase”. Most of the time was spent running from room to room filling out paperwork and having gear issued. None of us slept until 8pm the next day and were given boxed lunches to eat some time during the day. It took all my energy to not fall asleep wherever we sat for long periods of time.

From Tuesday night through Friday, it was mostly the same stuff. Get up at 0330, march to chow or eat boxed lunch, go to a classroom or sit on the floor all day at medical. It became routine very quick.

Our IST came on Friday morning and I passed but I didn’t perform as well as I usually do. My run time was almost 14:00. I had a 00:37 second hang and 51 crunches. We started with about 65 recruits in our platoon-two were dropped for not being able to pass the IST.

Then came Saturday. That day we met our actual training Drill Instructor and it would be the start of our 3 days of “Forming”- the time they take to teach how to perform as a basic recruit. (Things from rifle watch to drill formation). It was tough transitioning from Receiving phase to Forming phase then to Training phase. However, now that it’s going on Training Day 6, it’s a little easier to count down the training days left to go (64), although Sundays aren’t included. Most mornings we PT with the entire series on a track and circuit course after morning chow, then go to some type of class. After that we drill, drill, drill. M16’s get heavy after a little while, I tell you what. We’ve started MCMAP and the other day we went on the bayonet assault course. It was more tiring than anything.

We get yelled at for not yelling loud enough, not moving fast enough and anything you can think of. I’ve been sent to the pit once for the hell of it and again today with the ENTIRE SERIES (our platoon (4003) and out sister platoon (4002)) because some recruit from 4002 assaulted a Drill Instructor (or something) and we were al acting like “nasty civilians”. Not one of our finer moments.

It’s not all that bad. I’m homesick, yeah, but I’m okay. I’ll write more soon.

Gone to Parris Island...

...See you in 13 weeks!

No, but really. I'll be heading to the hotel tonight around 6PM this evening, MEPS in the morning, then to the airport and I'll be on my way to Parris Island, SC for 13 weeks of Marine Corps recruit training.

I'm sorry that I've been unable to post as many blogs as promised, but I'll do my best to keep everyone updated while I'm in boot camp. As I previously stated, I'll be sending letters home for someone to post them here on Future of the Corps. If you'd like for me to write to you specifically while I'm down there, you can leave a comment requesting my boot camp address, and I'll have someone send it to your email.

Thank you to everyone for being so supportive, I appreciate it more than you know. Keep me in your thoughts. Good luck to all 20101025 shippers, and to all the future Marines out there.

Final IST

Flexed-Arm Hang: 00:54
Crunches: 55
1.5 Mile Run: 12:24

Hurry Up and Wait. Again.

If you happen to be a friend of mine on Facebook or on the Leatherneck forums, then you already know the unfortunate news: my ship date to recruit training has been pushed to October 25th. I was supposed to be shipping next Tuesday, October 12th, but as Gunny Howard says; everything happens for a reason.

I'll admit for the majority of the day I was pretty bummed out because I had already met some of the other female recruits who were to be shipping to Parris Island on the same date, and I was really excited to finally go. Now that I'm over it, I realize that this will just give me an extra 20 days to improve physically and really prepare myself for this hardcore journey I'm about to take on.

So, original ship date was 20101011, then 20101012, which would have put me at a 20110107 graduation date with 4th Battalion, November Company. With my date moved to 20101025, my new graduation date is calculated at 20110121, 4th Battalion, Oscar Company.

November Company sounded so much sexier.

IST 20100930

1.5 Mile Run: 12:24

Crunches: 54

Flexed-Arm Hang: 00:45

1, 2, 3, 4, United States Marine Corps!

Let's do a little update on me for a second. A couple weeks ago I ran an IST for the sake of finishing my pre-ship paperwork and making sure I could pass this time, and I did! My run stayed about the same, my flexed-arm hang went up a couple seconds, and I finally got a qualifying score on my crunches. Here are my stats:

1.5-mile run: 13:15

Flexed-Arm Hang: 00:35
Crunches: 47

Not too bad, I guess. Also, last week we finally ran the 3-mile; I've never ran that distance in my life, and I finished in about 29:00, which is enough to pass the female PFT (Physical Fitness Test). I was intimidated by the longer runs for a while, but doing that 3-mile really helped break a huge mental obstacle I was trying to deal with. I was so fearful and even began to doubt myself as to whether I could make it through boot camp, and instead of going out every day and doing something about it, I just moped. It was great to finally get out of that funk, but the next day when I went into the office to finish my final pre-ship paper work and weigh-in, Sgt. Brooks had me run a mile and half. Somehow I managed to go over the time limit and run a damn 15:30... Granted, I was wearing street shoes, had barely hydrated that morning (trying to keep my weight down), and I definitely was not wearing a sports bra.

However, today, I managed to redeem myself as far as the mile and a half is concerned: I ran it in 12:12. Too bad we kept running after that and I could barely keep up, if at all. Mile and a half run, indian runs, sprints, walking lunges, formation/cadence jog, then pull-up/flexed-arm hang pyramids with push-ups in between, then max crunches and planks after that. For some reason I only popped out 36 crunches this time, but I figure I can blame it on my sheer exhaustion - NO EXCUSES next time.

1.5-mile run: 12:12

Flexed-Arm Hang: 00:40

Crunches: 35

Tomorrow morning I'm supposed to go workout with the recruiters on Elmendorf AFB at 7:00AM, and I'll probably make it more of a routine, to make sure that I'm prepared.

Oh yeah; around the same time as my last IST, two weeks ago, I had also been helping out at the State Fair, trying to get referrals. So far, none have really turned up as good leads, but my best buddy from high school is actually going to MEPS on Monday to take the ASVAB, so hopefully that will be my second referral (if you get two people to enlist in the Marine Corps, it ensures that you'll be a Private First Class (E-2), a higher paygrade, out of boot camp as opposed to just a Private (E-1)). We'll see how that all works out.