My day started a 6 a.m. with last minute packing and breakfast with my family. My mom then drove me to Yukon to meet my SFC who then took me to the National Guard Regional Training Institute in Oklahoma City. Here we went through the Direct Shipper Program, which is meant to give us a taste of what Basic will be like. We had an actual Drill Sergeant who showed us not only the basics of interacting, but also gave us an idea of how the Drill Sergeants would treat us at Basic, including some "smoking" (exercise as punishment).
We completed lots of paperwork, learned Drill and Ceremonies, watched a video on Basic Combat Training, and ate some good catered meals. We stayed the night there at RTL in hotel-like accommodations. Our Drill Sergeant assigned us information to memorize (rank structure, general orders, etc.) for a pop quiz in the morning. We spent several hours studying that before bed. I was quite tired and sore after all the smokings we had, and I definitely had a moment of questioning what I was getting into. Our group was mixed, with half the group going to Ft. Jackson, some to Ft. Benning, and a few to Ft. Leonard Wood. I thought I would be the oldest, but including the three with prior service, there are two males in their 30's. One of the prior guys has 13 years in the Air Force, and came in as a Staff Sergeant. There are 3 others in the group planning to go to OCS, so it was cool getting to meet them.
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