BCT Beginning

From journal entry:

We started in Red Phase, which means we are absolute beginning soldiers. Any mistake is scrutinized, and group punishment is the standard. If our battle buddy is not squared away, we're not squared away. We're only as strong as our weakest link.

I'm in Echo Company of the 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment. I'm assigned to the 4th platoon "Terminators" under Drill Sergeants Goode, Latta and Poppell. DS Goode is the platoon sergeant, a small but fierce black woman with absolute command over us. DS Latta is a crusty older former infantryman and also authoritative. DS Poppell is no pushover, but he's a Reservist and is only with us for his 2 weeks annual training, and less prone to jumping down our throats.

At first, BCT is a lot like Reception BN except more restrictive. The first few mornings were very abrupt wakeups when DS Goode walked in on a dirty bay. One of us finally figured out that we should start rolling each other out of bed early to clean before she arrived. We were issued TA50, including LCE belt and suspenders, rucksacks and shelter halves. After that, we were issued our M-16 rifles and shown how to disassemble, clean and reassemble them. The first two weeks were mostly classroom briefings. In addition to strictly procedural stuff, we got a rather graphic briefing on IEDs from DS McDaniel who was deployed to Iraq. IEDs account for over 70% of US casualties there.

I'm a little apprehensive about my decision to join, but even if I wanted to get out now, it wouldn't be easy. They're not letting anyone go just for asking; there's a war going on, after all.