I hate exercise. To be perfectly honest, I'm prolly one of the laziest people I know. So to wake up at zero dark thirty and conduct PT (physical training), that's pretty close to hell for me.
When I enlisted, I was around 215 lbs. Add another 10 lbs from Reception, and I was a pretty big boy. I would like to say I was big boned, but, dammit, I was fat. Why didn't any of you tell me I was that bloody big? So needless to say, PT hurt. My first PT test, I only did 11 push-ups and 11 sit-ups in 2 minutes. I didn't even finish the 2 mile run. Yeah, I know, I sucked, and I knew there was a lot of improvement that needed to be done. One of clearest memories of those mornings is this: I'm laying on my back doing flutter kicks, looking up at a full moon in a clear, South Carolina sky, and praying to the moon, to Buddha, to God, to anybody really, to make the freakin' pain stop. I also remember thinking that I deserved everything that I was getting, and that someday, maybe someone out there could forgive me and that I could forgive myself.
Talking to the other recruits, you find that the many reasons people joined up were as varied as the people. Evans joined so that he could pay for school and a wedding, Shady joined up so that he could give back something to this country, Hueng joined so that he could pay for schooling, others joined to take care of family, while others joined because it was an option of last resort. I was one of the older ones, but not the oldest one. One recruit was 41, and there was a bunch of us around the 27-35 year old range. In a platoon of 50-60, you tended to hang out with two or three people. I played the quiet game for the first half of BCT, and then started to warm up to a couple of them, particularly Shady, an 09 Lima (native translator). Marriot (petroleum supply specialist) was also another buddy, especially since our stories before BCT were pretty close. So I didn't really feel that out of place age wise, at least not at BCT. Most assumed I was in the mid 20's, which I'm rather flattered at. Guess it's those good Asian genes.
Just as a point of reference, by the end of AIT, I was at 70 push-ups, 70 sit-ups in 2 minutes, and was doing a 2 mile run in around 17 minutes. Not too shabby for an old guy. Need to work on that run time, but, damn, I really do hate running.
It's really funny how memory work. Something that at that time you didn't think was important turns out to be something that somehow sticks into your memory. Sorry about the rambling nature of these posts, but it's just how I'm remembering things.
3 comments:
Most excellent! Keep 'em coming!
PT sucks hard! I hated it! I especially hated it those first few weeks before the day-round pain becomes a dull throb accentuated by periodic bursts of excruciation.
When you say you didn't finish the two mile, I assume you mean you didn't run the whole length? And not that you couldn't even walk it? You should be proud though, when you finished up you were doing more PUs and SUs than I did graduating AIT at 18 years old. I had you by five minutes on the two mile though, of course age would account for that.
It must be weird going through Basic with a variety of MOSs. At Fort Benning, it was 100% infantry. The only variation was between 11B (foot soldier), 11M (mechanized) and some other thing I can't remember now that were the people who fired mortars, 11C?
What does Native Translator mean? Shady was originally from the country he was preparing to translate for? I assume a Petroleum Supply Specialist means Marriot drove a gas truck?
Well, nowadays it's the same way at Ft Benning. A bunch of my fellow medics came out of Benning, and they knew a bench that were going into the mechanical fields (62- and 84- series I think).
Shady spoke Arabic natively (Moroccan I believe) and Marriot was a gas pumper and truck driver. Those are the guys with the most dangerous jobs in the Sandbox.
Thank you for the moral pick-me-up. I'm 39 and am headed for Ft. Jackson in 9 days, and even though everyone says I appear to be in my late 20's, I'm concerned about my physical fitness. I'm 5'7" 158 and am able to do approx. 30 pushups and about 30 situps in 2 minutes, each, but my run time is slow and my cardio needs improvement (I could do the mile in 8.5 min alone but add push ups and sit ups prior to the running and I can only make it about 3/4 of a mile w/o stopping my run). Your words are encouraging, and after passing a band audition that was pretty difficult (I'm a 42R) I'd hate to miss out just because i can't run the expected time for the initial PT test during reception. I have another week to prepare!
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