Day 24

Day 19 of BCT

     Wake up is usually at 0500 each day, but to get ready in time, we all usually get up at least 15 minutes early. The DS's don't usually come in  our bay either, except maybe once to yell at us that we'd better not be late and make sure the bay is clear. This morning though, we had DS's-in-training all day. So we had about 6 DS's in our bay yelling at us to hurry up.
     We, also, had them watching us during PT. Today was muscle training again. Warm-up, four for the core, climbing drill 1, and climbing drill 2, which is the pull-ups. Then pushups and sit-ups practice. The extra DS's did give me some tips on my form on a few exercises, so it wasn't all bad.
     After PT, we shower and changed, before marching to the DFAC. We got to work on calling cadence. Everyone's mood gets so much lighter when we do cadence. It is way more fun than just marching. Our female DS loves to call it. She really gets into it.We also got to lose some of the extra words we had to sound off with during different movement during formation. We basically said things like "snap" and "1, 2" to help us learn the moves correctly. Not doing them then is like graduating to a new level, where our DS thinks we're doing better.
     After chow, we gathered our gear for the range and had an inspection before heading out to Range 11 for LOMAH (Location of Misses and Hits). It's a computerized range that shows you where each of your shots hits so you can verify that your rifle is zeroed properly. Once we got there, we did the usual hurry up and wait until they were ready for us. I ended up as one of the first shooters. I quickly discovered that I could barely see the target though, and I missed 4 out of 5 shots right off. But after that, I figured it out and was doing okay. They then had print outs for us to show us how we did. Somehow, I got mixed up with another soldier and our company commander started talking to me like I was an expert shooter and how awesome I did until they realized it wasn't me that shot so well. I did end up shooting twice more after lunch, as well as acted as a computer operator some, too. I never saw any of my print outs, so I don't know how well I was really doing. I only ever shot at the 175 m  target, so I'm nervous about how I'll do at the 300 m target.
      Each time we go to a range, we have to do a shakedown afterward to verify each person has no brass or ammo on them. The last thing they want is a negligent discharge with a live round. They line us up and have us empty our pockets and than a DS comes by and pats us down. It is pretty quick.
     We got lucky on the way back and the buses took us straight to the DFAC for chow. We then marched back and were sent to our bays to clean and get ready for inspection tomorrow. The bay inspection tomorrow will determine whether or not we get to change to White Phase.
     We then showered and changed for Hydration Formation. I had 2nd fireguard shift, so I ended up just staying up until my shift rather that sleep for 30 minutes, only to get up in time to change back to ACU's for fireguard. It's better that a shift in the middle of the night though!