Day 26

Day 21 of BCT

     Today was a good day, but physically it was pretty tough. We started out with muscle strengthening for PT, same as Thursday. I keep trying to push myself as are as possible during PT because I really do want to get stronger, and I need all the help I can to get my upper body strength improved. Two weeks from today is our new PT test. My goal is to pass all three events, so I need to be able to do 11 push-ups. I can still only do 1 or 2 in good form, so I keep working and praying for God to give me strength.
     After PT, the long awaited phase change ceremony took place! We were able to change our flags from Red to White. With White Phase, we will now have student leadership, can do extra PT on our own, go to church on our own, and hopefully, will have a little more personal time! It was definitely a mood booster to feel like we're at least headed in the right direction.
     After chow at the DFAC, we all changed into clean uniforms to redo our platoon photos. Not sure why. Our DS, then assigned our Platoon Guide (PG), Assistant Platoon Guide (APG), and 5 squad leaders. I'm the squad leader for the 5th squad. I'm glad to know my DS feels I'm qualified for the position, but it is a big responsibility. If anyone in our squad messes up, we get a counseling for it. Our job is to make sure everyone stays squared away and executers direction from the DS's. We also eat last, to ensure our soldier's eat. It will be good practice for me, since I'm going on to be an officer, but a bit more stressful, too.
     Next, we had MAC (Modern Army Conbatives). We put on tennis shoes and emptied our pockets. We started with a warm-up. The first part was easy. We just rotated all of our joints. The next part was another story. They had us do four different exercises that are meant to strengthen us and prepare us if we really were in a combative situation. The first exercise was called shrimping. We did it for 25 m. It wasn't took bad, but not pleasant either. Next was the Eel. It was basically a wiggling of the hips and shoulders while keeping your feet and head off the ground.  My backside was sore from that are! I was in the last group to go, so they made us quit before we had gone the whole way. Then we did the Superman which was dragging yourself using only you upper body, as if you had lost your legs. This one was very hard for me, and I rubbed my elbows raw trying to do it. Again I was in the last group that was stopped before going the whole way. Lastly was the Spiderman or Gator Crawl. It's basically a pushup/crawl, keeping a low profile. It was a little bit easier, but I was still horrible at it. Then we actually started the MAC training. We worked on one more, The Arm Tuck Roll. Basically a way to roll someone over if they are kneeling on you. We practiced a few times and then , you guessed it, we did more of these exercises. This time we were in our platoons, and we all encouraged each other the whole way and made sure to do it as a team. It was awesome to see our platoon supporting each other so well. I'm glad tomorrow is Sunday because I'm going to be super sore!
     Our DS also informed us now that we're in White Phase, we have to do three pull-ups and ten push-ups every time we enter or exit our bay. So when we went to change for chow we got even more upper body workout in! After lunch, we marched to the Troop Store (PX) to get supplies. Yay! I was out of cough drops and kleenex. With this annoying cold that won't go away, I was getting desperate!
     Dinner was a Hot-A followed by platoon time. This was the highlight of the day.... a 45 minute phone call home! I was able to talk to both of my parents and get a quick text in to my closest girlfriend. I cried talking to my family since I haven't talked to them in almost a month. It almost makes me homesick, but I'm trying hard to stay focused. I only have 6 1/ 2 more weeks!
      The day then ended the same again, with personal time, HF, and wonderful sleep.