Beginning of Basic Training!!!

I received another letter/journal entry from Cory today, here it is...

The transition from reception to basic training was huge! All I had heard prior to joining is that reception was harder than basic training. Bull shit. In reception we took naps. Here, it pretty much has sucked the first couple of days. We wake up at 4:00am every morning and go to bed when the drill Sergent's feel like it, (usually around 9:00pm-10:00pm.) The drill Sergent's here are mean as hell. Their favorite thing to say is "front lean rest position... ready... exercise!!" Also known as the PUSH UP. I've done so many push ups it's ridiculous. My shoulders and arms are constantly sore.

The other day we were having a presentation as a battery (4 platoons; 240 soldiers) and this stupid kid sitting next to me was having a hard time staying awake. He got up to go stand in the back and get the blood flowing. Well the drill Sergent's basically took this as he was sleeping. He was taken to the very back of the room to get smoked. They also had the people who were sitting next to him come to the back for good measure, that included me and another kid. We had to do so many push ups that I reached muscle failure and my arms basically would not work anymore. The drill Sergent's continued to scream at us to keep going. I knew it wasn't going to happen thanks go me paying a little attention in my anatomy and physiology class. I had a puddle of sweat on the floor and couldn't keep up in the position because I was slipping in my own sweat. I wanted to punch the sleepy kid in the face right then except it would have been pointless because my arms were completely limp. I now avoid sitting next to dumb asses.

Aside from that all I really remember doing is push ups, leg extensions, marching, eating, getting yelled at, taking 20 second showers and getting a little sleep. Yesterday was not as bad though. We walked over to this giant tower and went through each obstacle, we had to climb a 40 foot wall, walk across a wide gap using a 3 rope bridge, slide back on one single rope, then back across on a 2 rope bridge. We also had to climb down the 40 foot tower on a giant rope net ladder thing. It was pretty fun.

Here is another address for Cory...

Cory Astin
C 1/79 FA
Platoon #1 Headhunters
5001 NE Rothwell st.
Ft. Sill, Oklahoma
73503