Boot Camp Weeks 4 and 5

We had been looking forward to Week 4 for a very long time. What is the reason? What could possibly be so great about Week 4 that we quivered with angst? This is the week we are fitted for our blues, we are halfway done, but most imiportantly, we get OREOs when we get fitted. Oreos? Really? Yes, really. Rumors were spread throughout the laundry network that we would actually be able to eat cookies and this was definitely something to look forward to. Pathetic.

By now I am horribly and completely sick. I coughed every night, keeping probably the entire flight awake. They never said anything, but I'm sure they hated my guts. At least I got cough drops! Unfortunately, that's about all they would give me. Cough drops and Tylenol. Oh, and small packets of salt to gurgle with water for my sore throat. Couldn't they just give me some Nyquil??? I will tell you now, I have never been so sick in my entire life. It was that bad. I met the IDMT folks about every other day. I knew them on a first name basis and was basically given VIP privileges because I saw them so often. I didn't have to wait in line. I got all the cough drops I wanted. They'd give me sleeping waivers so I could take naps in the middle of the day. Sometimes they would just let me sleep there. I would cough until I threw up. I lost my voice (EC duty was a real hoot). It sucked bad.

There were 2 things I was looking forward to doing in boot camp: pugil sticks and the obstacle course. They sounded like a blast. I couldn't wait. The night before leaving for the obstacle course, we had our bags packed and ready to go. Anxiously waiting the next morning, TSgt Fisher looked down at me and said, "Trainee Banks, you're not going." Curses! I'll admit, staying in bed that day did wonders, but I was so mad! Everyone came back (and woke me up) with tales of falling in the water, working as a team, how much fun they had, etc. Hmph! Guess it wasn't meant to be.

We were still spending the majority of our day in classes but we were also practicing for Retreat (our graduation ceremony) and drilling more. Drill, for me, was boring and I loved that I was on laundry crew so I got to skip it often. Something that stressed us out this week was our weapons evaluation. We had to take our weapon apart and put it back together in under 2 minutes. I don't know why this was a big deal. Even if you failed, it didn't matter. But there was so much pressure to do this well. Looking back, it's so funny to remember how freaked out we were, but it really wasn't a big deal.

Week 4 was also the week of CBRNE: the gas chamber. Now, this was actually something we were looking forward to...for the MRE. See, MREs have candy in them usually and that's certainly something to celebrate. So, we are all excited for the day to finally arrive. We get out to the sticks where the chamber is. We get our chemical warfare gear, MREs and gas masks. We have lessons on how to don our gear and all that garbage. Finally, it's time for lunch. We tear open our MREs right when they tell us to put all the candy in the middle of the floor. We weren't allowed to eat it. WTF? My Skittles had to be pried from my sickly fingers. They CBRNE instructors put all the candy in a huge garbage bag and took it away. We all wondered where they would take it. Homeless shelter? At home to their kids? I would find out in Week 6.

After lunch it was time for the gas chamber. We basically just put all of our gear on, go into the chamber, do some jumping jacks and then one by one remove our gas masks and give a reporting statement: "Sir, Trainee Banks reports as ordered." This is enough to actually make you inhale and then cough your lungs out. I was nervous. When I was doing my jumping jacks, the neck of my gear came loose and I could feel the gas burn my neck. But I did my reporting statement and walked outside, blinded by the gas and coughing up really unpleasant stuff. It is the worst feeling. You can't breathe. You can't see. Everything burns. It's terrible. We had to walk in circles outside until the effects of the gas wore off. We were really sexy afterward. Later on in the afternoon, we learned about IEDs and got to see some explosions. For us, that was pretty exciting compared to the hum drum life in a classroom.Learning to don our MOP gear. Ha ha, like the gas mask insert glasses?

Learning Chemical Warfare procedures

One of the trainees sweating like crazy in MOP gear.

Getting checked before going into the chamber.

Inside the gas chamber.

Letting the air clear things up. Walking in circles, blind and coughing crap up.

Week 5 I was still sick as a dog. They've bumped up my medication to nasal sprays and some stuff that makes me drowsy so I don't have to do EC duty (my prayers have been answered!). My satchel rattled with pills and cough drops. The IDMT had decided I had pneumonia and bronchitis. I was a hot mess. I was so scared they would recycle me (hold me back until I got better). This is a trainee's biggest fear. Almost everyone gets recycled for being sick or not performing at the minimum standards. We had two females that got recycled in Week 2 because they had really bad attitudes and didn't want to do what they were told. We would end up getting 5 trainees get washed back into our flight. NOBODY wants to be in boot camp longer than necessary. My temperature was at 101.9. At 102, I would have to go to the emergency room where you are almost certain to be recycled so you can recover. I had a heart to heart with the IDMT lady and she didn't end up sending me. :)

Week 5 is considered Warrior Week. We would finally get to fire our weapons, do pugil stick training, build temper tents and prepare for BEAST. Of course, I missed pugil sticks, too, because I was sick. BLAST! But I couldn't worm my way out of temper tents. It's pretty much just a group of people putting up a huge tent. It's a pain in the butt and everyone has a different way of doing it, so it's really about teamwork.

CATUM (weapons shooting) was by far the most fun day in BMT. It was the best! We went out to the range, took a few safety classes and then shot our weapons. We qualified, some would make marksman (definitely not me), and then we would have lunch: MREs! AND WE GOT TO EAT THE CANDY! That was amazing. Nothing could touch us after that. We cleaned our weapons afterward. A guy from our brother flight said something like "Oh yeah, clean that barrel" and he got recycled 2 weeks for that! Retarded! The girl that tattled on him was pretty much ostracized by the rest of the flight because everyone thought she handled it poorly.

We spent a couple of days learning how to handle DFPs (Defensive Fighting Positions). This would be paramount in BEAST. You know that phrase "Halt! Who goes there?" Yeah, that's still used today by your Air Force. DFPs are hanging out behind sandbags, waiting for strangers to come and making them do what you want (or shoot them). It's not very much fun and you don't want to get yelled at for doing it wrong, but at least it's not the classroom.

Waiting to do DFPs.

DFPs

Lots of practice

We also learned CPR this week. It was a boring class, but a little more action packed than what we were used to in a classroom.

Week 5 also leads you to believe you are a badass because your name finally is sewn on your uniforms. You have an identity!

I believe in Week 5, I also started attending the Muslim church. As I mentioned before, we got candy, got to write letters, sleep and take our shoes off. It was a hidden treasure I wish I had known about a long time ago. This was also something I learned from the laundry network. I only went a couple of times because I missed the songs in the contemporary service. Ahh, church.