Swimming and the Pit

Hard to believe that almost one week has gone by. The past two days have been interesting to say the least. Yesterday started out with our swim test. 61 people all in an enclosed area where sound just bounces off everywhere...maybe you can already see where this is going. We were excited to be doing something new so were a little chatty, even after we were told to "close it up." Since we didn't exactly do what we were told, we paid the price and I'll get to that in a second.

The swim test itself was actually a lot of fun. We learned how to inflate our clothes so they could be used as flotation devices and it actually worked. I have to admit, I was amazed at how easy it was. After that, we ate lunch and did our first PT session with LT Brewer. To put it mildly, it was a very humbling experience as I thought I was in decent shape, but he wanted to show me otherwise. I held my own, but there is certainly a lot of improvement that can be made.

We came back to King Hall, showered and changed before heading to the back of King Hall for what we thought would be drill practice. However, due to our previous lack of listening skills, we were introduced to our new friend: the Pit. An old volleyball court that could easily be renamed Satan's Playground. I did learn a new exercise though: the Bear Crawl. Unfortunately for me though, I also learned that I suck at it. For those who don't know what this is, you are on your feet and hands crawling from one end of the pit to the other...sound easy? Try it yourself and don't let your knees hit the ground. After almost collapsing from shear exhaustion and from holding a water bottle over my head for five minutes (much hard than it sounds especially after three or four bear crawls) it finally ended.

Today was a different story. We picked up our uniforms in the morning and prepared for inspection. Everything has to be measured exactly and that takes a lot of time. None of us knew what the inspection would be like, but we soon realized it would hurt. We stood in formation and at attention or parade rest (which really isn't much of a rest at all) for over an hour in brand new shoes. While we were doing this, Sr. Chief Boyd looked over us and asked us a question about something we were supposed to memorize. I got asked about a general order and I got it right after hesitating for a second. We all did well and were allowed to use our cell phones for a little bit on the weekend. You sometimes take for granted how nice it is to be able to call home and hear a friendly voice on the other line.

That's all for now! Gotta get some sleep.