BCT Day 48

The following information is a portion of “Marck’s Boot Camp Diary”. The information contains a straight-forward look at Basic Training Life on a daily basis. The information contained within this page is used with the express written permission of the author. For more information about the author view the “Author’s Information” at the bottom of the page. Some choice phrases have been censored.

September 10th, 2002

Today is the last day of training before FTX. It’s going to be a long day. ITT is scheduled from 0730 to 2300. We’ll be out in the field all day. I’m assuming we’re doing night infiltration.

Damn. I just received bad news. We do have training tomorrow and we’re coming back late at night again. The guy who made the schedule didn’t put it there. Also, the D.S. himself told us today’s going to be slow and boring as hell. Also he said that until the last day of training we’re not allowed to go to the salad bar because we don’t side step through it right and we “bullshit too much” on it. And he said that right after saying he’s proud of us for the discipline we show in the chow hall compared to the other three platoons. I do not understand D.S. Boston. Will someone please explain him to me?

The worse part about today, of course, will be the boring metal bleachers from hell. I’m on them right now. They’re every damn where we go! It’s horrible. When I come back home I’m never sitting on anything metal again. Grrr. Maybe if I set my mind to today going fast, it will. Today will go fast today will go fast. 16 days left. Damn I should have brought the three letters I got yesterday so I could reply.

I lost my watch. I’ve learned to tell time by looking at the sun and listening to my stomach. You see, my platoon is not allowed to wear watches, but I always carried mine in my pocket so I could sneak a peek. After we shoot we always have “shakedown.” That’s when the DSs gently search our bodies for ammo. I always stick my watch in my boot so they don’t find it. This time I forgot to put it back in my pocket before we marched off. That’s ok. I’m buying a nice ass watch when I get to AIT.

What else do I want in AIT? IF I can have it in my room, I want my TV, Playstation, computer, stereo, CDs, a DVD player, a bunch of movies, my civilian clothes, contact lenses, magazines, books, and most of all, a roommate I can be friends with. I do not want someone like the battle buddy they gave me here.

Samson is nervous and freaks out. He freaks out when he can’t tie a knot right, or when he can’t take his weapon apart to clean it. He will leave my ass upstairs when I’m running late to formation and ask him to wait for me to save his own ass. He kicked our tent over when the two of us couldn’t get it up as fast as everybody else and we had to start all over because his nervous ass got frustrated. He quickly gives up on obstacles in the courses to go to the next one, and other annoying habits. He’s the kind of person that would get me killed in the battlefield.

Damn, how the **** do these people in the bleachers smell like feet? We’re wearing boots. No one has them off.

There is one guy I’ve made friends with. Shaun Smith sleeps on the bunk next to mine. He’s from Minnesota, so he has that accent. If you ever saw the movie Fargo you’d know what I’m talking about. We try to sit together on bus rides and run together during PT. He’s the kind of guy I know would have my back when shit gets thick in the battlefield. He’s staying right here in AIT to be a tank mechanic, but we’ll definitely keep in touch.

Damn, I’ve been sitting on these bleachers since it was dark, and now the sun is out. And we still haven’t done a damn thing. I figured out where the foot smell is coming from. It’s Wilson. I need my gas mask.

Damn. Once we started training, time went by fast. Lunch time snuck up on me like Oprah on a Twinkie. We did concealed movement, crossing a road while keeping security, hand signals, and shooting, shooting, shooting. For the first time, we took a long walk in the woods using movement tactics. It felt war-like. That’s the kind of stuff I expected and looked forward to doing in BCT. Now we’ll get some more practice with the claymore mine and AT4 rocket launcher. Tonight, we’re doing the same course, but in the dark.

Man, the D.S. wasn’t joking when he said today was going to be long and boring. Dinner time just rolled by, but it’s still hours until the sun goes down. They brought us some hot food for dinner. It’s called marmite. I had a mystery meat patty (I really could not identify it), noodles with no flavor, salad w/ranch, a slice of bread w/butter, apple, two big soft chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate milk. Now we’ll keep practicing/studying for our End of Cycle Test (EOCT).

Booooring. I know this stuff we’re reviewing left to right, up and down. This really really does suck. Time to think about graduation day. I want to go to a steak house and eat real meat. Hell, I’ll pay since everyone is spending so much to come here. I want to have a beer or two. Newcastle. I want an entire box of chocolates. I want to get an Entertainment Weekly and a Maxim to catch up. I have no idea what my people want to do and I don’t know what’s around here. You all who’re coming should search the net or something. Or we could be in the hotel the whole time and chill. That’s fine by me. I need a massage though. If you’re really coming, Erin, you can hook me up. You still owe me one from my b-day. I can’t wait to leave this hellhole. La la la la. I feel like I repeat myself a lot in these entries. I don’t anything else to think about though. We’re just sitting around now. At least we’re in a nice shady grassy area.

Oh man! This night fire **** is awesome! It was worth the wait. There are flares in the air and red tracer bullets flying all around. We started a fire in the forest from so many bullets.