Day 28

Day 23 of BCT

     Today was not a great day. I think our whole platoon was wishing we could go back to Red Phase. We started the day with 0730 formation, where we learned as squad leaders how to report to our PG. We then changed into PT's, ate a quick breakfast (outside in the cold, temp was around 42 degrees), and then marched to a different PT field for muscle strengthening. Of course, all morning we were getting yelled at for stupid stuff, and we were too slow to form up at the PT field, so we had to keep redoing it. PT was rough today. I don't know if it was just because morale was down or what, but we all seemed to struggle. I know for me, my body aches from Saturday, and I seemed to struggle. I managed to hurt my thumb, so it was pounding, and mentally all I could think about was how much I wanted to quit and go home. But I pushed myself anyway and worked as hard as I could to maintain good form - to do my best. I kept telling myself that quitting is not an option. Things only got worse after PT. We had to freeze outside doing more practice holding our shooting positions. To top it off our DS found out that one person had questioned our PG yesterday. So the DS fired all of us from leadership positions and put the worst people in our platoon in charge. Of course, they all messed up quickly, so he fired them, too. So for lunch, we had no leadership and some people got told incorrectly to go change, so then we were in even more trouble. Our DS decided he's going to give us all an Article 15. I think he's a little harsh, and I hope it doesn't really happen because an Article 15 could ruin my security clearance and chances of becoming an officer. After lunch, he did assign leadership. He picked for PG the guy I thought should have had it to begin with anyway.
     The afternoon was then spent at EST (The Simulated Range) where we got to practice with multiple targets and get a feel for what qualifying will be like later this week. We also did some cross training, which was just practicing more fundamentals and learning how to quickly change out magazines.
     We then marched straight to the DFAC for chow. The one plus side to no longer being a squad leader is that now I have more time to eat, since I don't have to go last. After chow was platoon time and mail call. But no mail for me. Our male DS then started asking us where we were from and what we did before the Army, since he wasn't around when we did it last week. We only got half way before he had a meeting, so we lucked out and got 1 1/2 hours of personal time.
     The females used the time to shower and pack for our next foot march tomorrow. Supposed to be roughly 5 miles. we also tried to help encourage and motivate each other. A couple of out guys came by our bay and let us know that our DS said he could revoke the Article 15's if we did better tomorrow, so that gave us all a glimmer of hope.
      The day finished with a quick HF and bedtime! so ready for March 22 to get here!