Boot Camp Redux?

Not quite.

As it turns out, this place is most definitely not bootcamp 2.0, or bootcamp in any way, shape, or form. No, the only thing that this places bares a resemblance to bootcamp in is that we have open-bay living conditions. What this means, to all you non-military types, is that we have a big bedroom, with a lotta bunks in here.

So all my Navy readers, sorry, I ain't gonna use Navy terminology if I can avoid it. I don't have much time to go in the Navy at this point... just another three years... and I plan to do my time and get out. Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear, but I've had it with the Navy in these past couple of weeks. Three different sets of orders within the same number of weeks can really get under your skin, as can the rest of the joy of the processing for this whole shebang-abang.

But I digress.

We only had to muster at 12:45 PM today, so I slept in until 10:00 AM.

"Man, you must've gotten a good nights sleep," the guy in the bed next to me said, "You slept damn near twelve hours..."
"Actually, a bit over twelve," I told him, "Which is odd, because I usually max out at twelve."

But anyway, I woke up and got dressed. Decided to skip breakfast since I didn't know where the chow hall was, I decided to wait until later and get Scott to show me the way. Read me my book for the next few hours, and then went out to the muster, where we were assigned our platoon number.

But before that, the senior NCO for the training camp showed up and introduced himself, followed by the following inspirational gem of insight: "What's the first rule of first aid? To shoot the fucking motherfucker shooting at you, and to make sure you kill him before he kills you first. I like to call that 'preventive medicine'."

And it's funny, because as I was bitching to myself in my mind about how they were breaking us down, I started to joke with myself about them breaking us down even further. Perhaps into... sub-platoons?

And no sooner had I been assigned to my platoon than the Drill Sergeant was breaking us down further. Into squads.

So there it was. I was now in my specific li'l family unit.

IT2(SW) Terrance Shaw, Charlie Company, First Platoon, First Squad.

And then we were given our goofy li'l chant to call out when we were told to assemble.

As a company, we're to yell out, "One team, one fight, hooah!"

As a platoon, we're to yell out, "Mad dogs!" followed by barking three times.

Yeah. This is very adult, mature stuff. Rowr.

But anyway, to be honest, the Drill Sergeant is actually pretty damn cool.

"Don't get offended if I call you 'high-speed'," he said, "Because you're only here for like, three weeks. So there's really no time or point in getting personal. It's not derogatory, it's simply a name that I've come up with for all you guys coming through here."

Anyway.

After that introduction, we were re-introduced into some basic facing and marching maneuvers, followed by a brief rundown of what was happening this week, and then... yeah. Went and did still more medical and dental processing, and then came back to the barracks, where I read up some more on the book, and then had Scott come by and show me where the chow hall was. We went and ate, and then went to the mini-mart to pick up some things.

And here I be.

Tomorrow we get more gear issued out to us (three sea bags full, they said), and then the following day, our weapons. Turns out I only get an M-16. Not as cool as dual-wielding an M-16 and M9 would've been, but less to worry about as far as accountability goes, so I think I'll live.

And of course, our first day of PT in the morning. I wasn't worried about it to begin with, but after hearing what the Drill Sergeant had to say on it, I'm now even less worried (if that were even possible) than I was before.

"I'm not here to whip you into any kind of physical shape," he said, "No, I'm here to make you into a competent combatant. So the shape you're in now is the same shape you'll be in when you leave in three weeks, unless you go out and do your own PT throughout the day."

lawl, bootcamp 2.0 indeed.