BCT Day 19

These post are from letters that Jason has mailed to me. Sometimes his writing is hard for me to read so bare with me if some of the terms aren't right. I hope that you enjoy as much as I do.

BCT Dat 19
Oct. 1,2010

We are finally into October. The last time I saw my family was September 7th. It's getting close to a month since then. The time has flown by. Hopefully the next 7 weeks will do the same.
We went back to the ranges to continue grouping and zeroing our weapons. Since I got my grouping down yesterday, all I had to focus on was zero. Everyone got to shoot the first round (we get to fire 15 shots each). I zeroed in with my 15 shots, so I was done for the day. The only ones that shot more was the ones that still needed help grouping. We spent about 6 hours at the range and I fired 15 times. We are going back to do the same thing Monday. I hope that I get to shoot more.
After we got back from the range, we practiced our drill and ceremony (marching). There's a D and C competition tomorrow morning. I hate to say it but my platoon is not very good at it. We have several that just can't get it, myself included. My problem is that I have no rhythm and I'm not very coordinated either. I can handle the basics, but some of the fancy stuff kills me.
Were also supposed to be going to white phase tomorrow. BCT has 3 phases(red, white and blue) Red is the first phase(total control) meaning that the DS control everything we do. Red also focuses on team building, a concept that we haven't quiet mastered yet. I'll let you know how white is if we make it.

BCT Day 18

These post are from letters that Jason has mailed to me. Sometimes his writing is hard for me to read so bare with me if some of the terms aren't right. I hope that you enjoy as much as I do.

BCT Day 18
September 30,2010


We finally started shooting our weapons today. We marched out to the range, which was about 3 miles, had breakfast, and started our day. Today we worked on grouping. We had to get 8 out of 10 shots in a 4cm circle. I got mine on the first try, but still got to shoot a few more times through out the day. We will be going to the ranges and shooting almost everyday for the next 4 weeks. It should be cool. I like to shoot and it makes us feel like soldiers. I've also heard that if you do well, you can get extra phone privileges. You better believe I'll be perfecting my skills if it means I can talk to my wife.
The situation with Pvt Hardcore picked back up this morning as well. The whole company got a short speech about racism and being a team from our company commander. He also questioned Pvt Hardcore, the ex-PG (he got fired last night), myself and the other witnesses. I'm not sure if Pvt Hardcore is actually going to get punished or not. I haven't seen him be punished yet. Maybe whatever they said will straighten him out, if not he may not be in the Army long.
Our new PG was also our bay leader. The bay leader is responsible for our bay (making sure it gets cleaned, supplies for the bay, ect.) and working with 60+ guys in the bay. They didn't think he needed to be PG and bay leader so we got a new bay leader. That would be me. I can't say that I'm very excited about it though. It's a lot of responsibility with no extra benefits. I do get to make out the fireguard roster though. I could leave myself off and get some extra sleep I guess. I'll keep you updated on how that goes and how long it takes to get fired. Everyone gets fired, some sooner than others.

BCT Day 17

These post are from letters that Jason has mailed to me. Sometimes his writing is hard for me to read so bare with me if some of the terms aren't right. I hope that you enjoy as much as I do.

*Sorry guys I'm a little behind with our house flooding and a 2 year old life has been CRAZY!!! Hopefully I can get caught up in a few days.

BCT Day 17
September 29,2010


It was raining this morning so we held our morning PT downstairs in our company area. It's still outdoors, but it's covered. Since we didn't have to march out to the PT field, they had more time to work us out. And they took full advantage if it. It was the most intense workout that we've had so far. It was really focused on push-ups and sit-ups for the most part. I guess it's because we had a lot of people that failed or struggled on yesterdays PT test. My arms felt like jello before we were finished.
This afternoon we had a 4 hour MOPP exercise. This is where we put on all our CBRN gear (gas mask, chem jacket, pants, rubber boots and gloves)and sit in a classroom and learn about what to do in a chemical, biological, or nuclear attack. We had all the gear on over our uniforms, so it was very hot and uncomfortable. The first hour was the worst. After that, I guess my body had gotten used to it.
We did have something interesting happen in our platoon this evening. We were getting ready for formation after dinner and our Platoon Guide (PG) told everyone to stop talking in formation. Before I go any further let me explain what the PG does. The PG (and outside PG) are soldiers that are in our platoon that are in"in charge" of the platoon. They are in charge when the DS's aren't around. So anyways, the PG asked everyone to be quiet. One guy, we'll call him Private Hardcore b/c he always acts like he's so hard but can't pass the PT test, said he didn't have to stop talking. This wasn't the first time he's mouthed off, so the PG told him that he could just take it up with the DS when they got back to the bay.
When we got back to the bay, PVT Hardcore came up the the PG and told him if he get's in trouble that he would kill him (and he was serious). The PG's bunk is next to mine so I heard him and so did many others. So the PG told the DS and the DS talked with several people who witnessed what had happen. When the DS talked to Pvt. Hardcore and his battle buddy they lied and said nothing happened. Apparently, they told the DS something else too.
When the DS called me and the others back into her office, she asked us about racism in the bay. Pvt Hardcore(Hispanic) and his battle buddy (African American) told the DS that we all were racist. We were shocked by this b/c there were many people of different races in the room that witnessed what had happen. Of course we all denied it. I just couldn't believe that these other 2 guys were playing the race card to get out of trouble. Anyways, the DS ended up taking Pvt Hardcore's weapon as a precaution and that was the end of it for the night.

BCT Day 16

These post are from letters that Jason has mailed to me. Sometimes his writing is hard for me to read so bare with me if some of the terms aren't right. I hope that you enjoy as much as I do.

BCT Day 16
September 28,2010

We had our first full PT test this morning. I did ok, but not as well as I wanted to. I scored 230 points out of 300. My lowest scoring event was the 2 mile run. My best event was the push-ups. 230 is a decent score, and more than a lot of people in my platoon. My goal is to get at least 275 on my final test. I'm case you were wondering you only need 150 to graduate.
We also shot our weapons for the first time today, sort of. We went to an electronic firing range, called EST. We used a replica of our M-16's hooked up to a computer to shoot at a large screen. It was almost like a video game, but realistic. The weapons even "kicked" like the real thing. I've shot plenty of guns, but not they way the Army wants us to shoot. It took me a few tries to do it their way, I eventually caught on and did well. W are supposed to be going to the real ranges on Thursday.
I've been so busy telling you about what I do everyday that I haven't been able to tell you much about the people in my platoon. As you can imagine there are about 60 guys living together in one room things get interesting sometimes. I'm going to try to incorporate some of these stories in my writing. I may have to edit them a little to get it rated PG though.

BCT Day 15

These post are from letters that Jason has mailed to me. Sometimes his writing is hard for me to read so bare with me if some of the terms aren't right. I hope that you enjoy as much as I do.

BCT Day 15
September 27,2010

Today was a pretty cool day. We started out with a march to the Fit to Win (FTW) course. FTW is an obstacle course that you run as a team, but you complete the obstacles as individuals. I think the course is about 1/2 mile long. To make it even more fun, it rained all night so the course was wet and muddy. Most of the obstacles were either jumping over something like a wall or crawling under or through something. Four teams ran the course at a time, so it was an unofficial race. My team won, luckily. It was some of the most fun we've had so far. Everyone was filthy and so pumped up after FTW. We ate some breakfast (hot a's) and headed to our next stop, the gas chamber.
We marched from FTW to the chamber, in some light rain. We were already wet from FTW though. Plus, we had more to worry about than rain. Everyone was nervous about the gas chamber. We've all heard the horror stories about it.
They took us in by platoon, so there were about 35 of us in at one time. our mask were on when we walked in so everything seemed fine. Within a few seconds our shin was burning. We still were able to breath fine since we still had our mask on. Then, the fun started. The DS's went up to us one by one, made us break the seal on our mask, say our rank, name and SS#, and put our mask back on and clear the gas out of it so we could breath again. This did cause a little discomfort, but as long as we didn't open our eyes or breath in while our mask was off. Most people were fine, but a few panicked. One guy, everyone calls him Turkey since that's were he's from freaked out. He wanted to get out and almost started fighting the DS's. He didn't get out, though. After our masks were back on they split us up in groups of 10. Each group had to take our mask completely off our heads and say the Soldiers Creed.Once you breath in, it's over. It has to be the worst experience of my life. Your eyes, lungs, and skin are on fire. You can't breath. There's snot pouring out of your nose. You're going and want to puke. They may have made us stay in for 10 seconds or so like that, but it felt like forever. Once your outside, it still takes several minutes to catch your breath and get back to normal.
Even though it sucked while we were in there, I'm glad we did it. I'll definitely never forget it. It's something most people can't say they've done. Plus, it's just another graduation requirement checked off the list. Oh, by the way, this was all before lunch.
The rest of the day was more relaxed. I think they were letting us recover from our intense morning. That and we are ahead of the normal BCT schedule, so we don't have to rush. Our company only has about 75 people in it. The company would normally have almost 4 times that many soldiers in it. So, it doesn't take us as long to complete most things. Tonight really capped off the day as well. I got 5 pieces of mail some letters and pictures from Em and Izzy, one from my mom , and a card and picture from my civilian co-workers. It's hard to imagine letters making that much of a difference considering that they are rarely used anymore. But when it's the only thing that keeps you connected to the outside world, it's amazing to get a simple letter. To make it even better we didn't have to pay for our mail. We have a PT test in the morning, so they didn't want to wear us out. With that said I've got some reading to do...

BCT Day 14

These post are from letters that Jason has mailed to me. Sometimes his writing is hard for me to read so bare with me if some of the terms aren't right. I hope that you enjoy as much as I do.

BCT Day 14
September 26,2010

Two weeks down!! This one flew by. This was an off day since it was Sunday. Worship Services were canceled today because there was a Christian concert this morning. It was open to all BCT and AIT soldiers. Only about 10 people from our company went. Maybe everyone else knew something we didn't, but probably not since there were about 1500 soldiers there. Everyone seemed excited to be there. That is until the music started. It was all in Spanish. That's right it was Hispanic Christian concert. Someone dropped the ball on communicating that important fact. Not only that it lasted until lunch. So we didn't get any personal time this morning.
It turned out not to be a big deal though. The only thing we did after lunch was spend a couple hours cleaning our bay. We had the rest of the day off basically. Most of us used some of the time to write our essays.
Tonight was a huge disappointment. We were expecting to get some phone time tonight. Our DS's never directly told us that, but all signs pointed that way. 2nd Platoon was told we were getting calls., but they got in trouble and lost their privileges. They next sign was that our DS let those that needed to get numbers from their cell phones. You'd thing that they meant for us to use the numbers for something. Unfortunately the day ended with no call. I'm very disappointed. I've looked forward to hearing my wife's voice all day.

BCT Dat 13

These post are from letters that Jason has mailed to me. Sometimes his writing is hard for me to read so bare with me if some of the terms aren't right. I hope that you enjoy as much as I do.

BCT Day 13
September 25,2010

We had our CLS test today. It was pretty easy though. However only one person made a 100 on it, ME. We had 10 people fail, and that means now I have to tutor them tomorrow so they can retake it. It should be easy since they already know the questions.
Our first combative (hand to hand combat) class was today. The Army uses a modifies form of jui jistu, so it's mostly a ground based system. We just covered some basic positions today. We did get to spar some at the end of class. That was fun, but we got a lecture about safety b/c some people got hurt trying stuff that they had seen in the UFC or something. It really doesn't matter what we are doing there's always someone getting into trouble for being stupid, more on that later.
We were issued our gas mask this evening, which can only mean one thing. The dreaded gas chamber is coming up soon. It will probably be early next week. I'm not looking forward to it either. They say it pretty rough, burning skin and eyes, snot pouring out of your nose, vomiting, ect. I'll let you know if all that's true or not.
Remember when I said that there are people always getting in trouble. Well we have some people in our platoon that haven't realized where they are yet. They constantly talk when they aren't supposed to, don't listen to the DS, show up for formation late, and the list goes on. So, thanks ti them, we have to write a 500 word essay on why we want to be in the Army by Monday morning. Honestly, I'd rather get smoked. I bet we have at least 2 people that don't do the essay either. I'll let you know if I'm right or not.
We also got to go to the troop store. It's like a mini PX. I bought an extra PT uniform and a few other small things I needed. All the males had to get haircuts. So, I'm bald again.