Joining the Army

Well, for a lot of reasons I won't go into here, I enlisted in the United States Army. Since I've got some college I get to go in as an E-3 (Private First Class) instead of a basic Private.

Also, the MLP movie and the new Bladerunner are both great. Go see them.

Comments

[Xzeron2000]

Ayy, good ol' Fort Sill!
Make sure you wear your waffle top. Weather's apparently pretty bi-polar in Oklahoma, but it definitely got a bit nippy when I left in November last year, so yeah. Plus, it's windy, so it always feels colder than it actually is. The greatest thing about BCT at Sill is that you don't have to dig any holes. Uhm... Do what they tell you to, don't stand out, don't take any more responsibility than you have to (so it isn't your ass on the line) don't steal your bunkmates' uniforms, and you'll be alright. Oh, and don't fraternize. That'll get you kicked out faster than anything else. Drink water. Don't get the ice cream.
If your DS says "Who the fuck is [insert your last name here]? Do we even have a _____?" about halfway through, you're doing well.
Good luck, run fast, and for the love of God throw your grenades better than I did.

-PFC K-B

p.s. if you see a DS Eriacho-Sherbody, run like your ass is on fire. She'll smoke you faster 'n anything. Or a DS Luadzers. Not sure about the male type, but the female type is insane.

[TJAW]

4701064
I pretty much started wearing the silk top out of habit because fuck the cold. Silk top and bottom, sometimes with waffle top too; I've gotten conflicting info on whether combing silks and waffles makes the waffles more or less effective. Never worn the bottoms. Honestly, I can deal with everything else more or less okay, but I hate the damn cold. I've been home on block leave since Dec 19 (going back Jan 3) and I haven't even seen a day below 40. Unusually warm for this time of year, actually.

Also, every DS has had trouble pronouncing my last name, which I'm used to. People in my platoon picked up on it fast enough though and my platoon's DSes picked it up by week 3 or so. I actually have pretty cool DSes, I really lucked out there, especially compared to 3rd platoon. As for fraternization, none of that's happening since I'm in an all-male training battery, which a DS in Reception said was rare as fuck. It's pretty cool actually, though we've only got 3 platoons instead of 4, and that meant my platoon got double strength tear gas in the gas chamber. It cleared out my sinuses so well there was snot dripping down to my chest.

When I get to AIT I'll have more free time, so I'll blog about my Basic experiences there. But I probably won't get to talk much about my MOS training since I'm doing intel stuff. Who knows, maybe I'll even write all the stuff I want to write instead of procrastinating!

By the way, what's your MOS?

[Xzeron2000]

4765165
13D (soon to be 13J) Fire Control Specialist. The only difference between the two was that 13D was just cannons, and 13J does that plus rockets/missiles. If you want a short summary of what a 13J does: We're artillery nerds. We sit behind a computer or a radio and make sure the forward observers get what they need. Of course, there are plenty of other positions a 13D fills in their unit; I could've been the 1SG or the SGM's driver but I ended up in S3 staring at a piece of equipment I wasn't taught to use in AIT.