Okay so I’m a dropped out senior, in high school, who got the highest score on the GED you could possibly get, the year is 2007, and I am properly brainwashed to join the military in the biggest American war of my time.
After taking the ASVAB test, basically a military entrance exam, and going through the Military Entrance Processing Station, I picked to become a, “Health Care Specialist” which is just Army speak for a Combat Medic. 68W.
I bid farewell and goodbye to my family, girlfriend, friends, and through tears and goodbyes I went to a local hotel awaiting the bus to Basic.
I was in a room with another guy joining the service and all I remember was writing our initials on our socks and packing our bags to get on the bus.
On the bus we watched, “Flight 93” an All-American selection about how the passengers on one of the flights during 9/11 took down the plane in order to prevent it from hitting its target. Thorough brainwashing.
After the bus pulled up to the un-docking station in Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, we were shouted at high volumes, by brown rounds or Drill Sergeants, to get off the bus and file into alphabetical order by last name.
One of the first memories I have of that night was that we were exhausted as the bus ride was non-stop and very long. We probably got in at 11 PM, and were processing all night long.
The Drill Sergeants at one point told us to put our heads down on the desk and close our eyes but not to sleep. Literal torture…
We finally got back to our bunks at around 3 AM and had to be up at 4 AM. I passed out sideways on a bunk for an hour and woke up to a Drill Sergeant that looked akin to Smoky The Bear screaming us out our bunks and outside to do Physical Training and start to learn basic marching drills like, “Left FACE” “Right FACE” About FACE” and the infamous, “Half-LEFT/RIGHT FACE.”
See a “Half-LEFT/RIGHT FACE” we learned quickly would usually be followed by the command, “Front Lean and Rest Position!” which meant to get in the pushup posture, and was usually followed by profuse push-ups, or just leaving us in the front lean and rest until our arms collapsed after say a half an hour or so.
Another favorite discipling trick we learned was over-head hand claps! By 4-count, which means, “1-2-3-4—-1! 1-2-3-4—-2!…” so on and so forth, each 1-2-3 or 4 being raising your hands over your head from by your side and clapping over your head,…and we would do thousands of those! As well as flutter kicks, lots of running, and tons of strange physical fitness maneuvers.
Before I joined I weighed 260 and lost 30 before joining and another 50 in Basic, AIT, and Airborne School!
I remember the first time I saw steam coming off of some ones head from running in the cold was in Basic. It mystified me.
Also it was so cold in Fort Sill during February that they allowed us to bring our civilian jackets to drill the first morning we were there….it was bitterly cold.
They had running groups like A, B, C & D for the faster runners in A and the slowest in D. I was in C & B alot. I tried running with A group one morning and it was so intense I fell really far behind!
I remember the day we got our gear issued to us in Basic. It was literally thousands of dollars worth of backpacks, canteens, and all kinds of military gear that they told us would get docked from our paychecks if we lost. I think I kind of disassociated for a few minutes. It was the most responsibility I had in my whole life…to hold onto this extraordinary amount of gear. Little did I know the responsibility that would be placed in my hands and eyes later on in my short 2 years in.
The obstacle course was fun, the shooting range was really cool, and I learned I love the smell of gunpowder! Also I was a terrible shot! It actually took me extra tries apart from everyone else to qualify with a rifle, but I eventually got it.
At the range we would get a little notebook and try to write down and memorize the order and direction the targets were coming from. It was fun and I still have some of the notebooks!
One other memory I had of the range is they picked one guy to shoot the rocket launcher! Only hitch was, was that it had no rocket….just a tracer bullet for accuracies sake! Kind of funny seeing a huge rocket launcher with a puny single tracer round come out of it!
Either way I qualified with the rifle, kept doing pushups, flutter kicks, and over head hand claps, completed the obstacle course including climbing the rope at the end and I was moving through Basic like a breeze in the wind.
Chow hall was an experience that I think every civilian should have to experience at least once! They pack you like sardines into the chow hall until the brim of your hat is touching the back of the guys head in front of you, and the guy behind you has his brim on the back of your head. Nuts to butts is what I believe it was called! Maybe clits to shits for ladies? Either way it was packed.
You would line up on the drill pad every morning and recite the Army Creed and get, “Smoked” which means forced physical fitness like pushups and flutter kicks and from the Drill Pad we would go about our daily activities.
One of my favorite things was when we did Combat Simulation training. Which was similar to SWAT training I would assume. They had a fake Iraqi town with buildings, stairs and fake objectives and we would line up by 4 and kick open the door and raid the rooms, learning which turns to take and which to avoid.
The yearbook actually has a picture of me at the head of the team about to raid the room! Exciting stuff!
We got to throw grenades! I actually made the mistake of trying to see where the grenade was going to land, which they tell you not to do, and I got dirt planted by a Drill Sergeant into the ground!
Another thing was this CO2 powered fake rifle range that was indoors where terrorists or enemies would run at you and you would have to aim at this massive 50ftx30ft screen and shoot the targets accurately. I always thought they should have some of those in the states for civilians to get drunk and have a great time!
I still remember the day I called my at the time Girlfriend at the phone booths, where you have limited time to talk, and I was exhausted talking to her,…and in lieu of pursuing her Scholarship at a prestigious Christian University, she told me she wanted to join The Army during a time of war, and become a Combat Medic like me. I remember taking a tired pause on the phone and telling her that if she really wants to, then to do it.
And she did.
We’ll get around to more of her later…
Either way, I was cruising and bruising in Basic with the best of them!
We did some liminal medical training, just the basics and nothing compared to what I got in Medic school later on.
We had mandatory Rucksack marches like a 5K, 10K, 15K, 20K, and 30K that we had to accomplish in order to graduate and I always loved them.
You learned to march with heavy gear on your back for miles and miles! Also how to keep your feet healthy from sores and blisters. It was the first time I learned about moleskins!
I would always think about the years and years and decades of soldiers who had passed down these very roads…doing the same marches,…for the same reasons.
War games was fun too, we would play strategy against the other guys and try to out wit them and defend our position.
We made tents in the mud and ran around stealing the other teams flags after war games…tons of fun!
I loved to clean my rifle, just getting into the nooks and crannies, and how all the cleaning tools fit just perfectly was so satisfying.
We had one really long rucksack march for graduation from basic,….and after marching through the sand and dirt, we finally made it to the end where we just waited and waited,…and waited some more until they announced we were done and started playing some music and we had a little celebration!
We hung out in the bunks for a few days while we got our orders for our AIT school, which mine was Fort Sam Houston Texas near San Antonio, Texas!
On graduation day, after 9 weeks of hell, pushups, flutter kicks, running, marching, lots of shooting a gun, and tons of training and other things….I got to see my girlfriend and family.
We wore our Army Greens and I still remember the coy look on my girlfriends face with her hand covering her mouth in awe of me in my Greens and looking sexy AF.
My family was there and they were so proud of me and all I had accomplished.
We got one day out of the base to have with our girlfriends/wives and families and they told us not to change out of our Army greens,…and although my family begged me to change seeing that no one was watching I was trying to be a good soldier and was still so scared and shaped from everything it took a few hours of them begging me to change.
I still remember taking my first, “Civilian” shower at the hotel, and my girlfriend being in the next room, and I was waiting for her to come in with me, but we were so young and innocent nothing happened…oh well!
Either way I headed back to base and packed up for AIT in which my family and girlfriend got to drive me to.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for Part 4 where I talk about medical training and getting ready for Iraq!
Peace!
-naj
