BLC Day 1

In my 19 years of overnight guard duty, mostly Annual Training (AT), I am one of the first ones up. I try to give myself ample time. First hard time today was 0530, breakfast isn't available yet, do the only thing to do is morning routine and get dressed. A good thing about the Army, is you are very limited on your outfit choices. Yesterday's in brief was 59° & below winter PTs, and our uniform for the day was PT. And it is a cool 53° this morning.

The first alarm I heard going off was 0300. The guy got up went to latrine and back to bed only to have his next alarm go off 45 minutes later. At this point I'm pretty much up and staring at my lovely view.

The next 45 minutes was spectacular, not a soul practicing a stealthy approach to a morning routine. Cellphone flashlights dancing through the bay like a rave party. I crack an eye to roll over only to be greeted by the next. As 0430 rolls around the bay lights are kicked on. The noise just escalated from there.

Once 0500 came around the bay was peaceful. We decided that it was time to head that way. After a brisk morning walk through the compound we arrived at our class about 10 after 5. About 0625 the cadre walked in and we started to do some paperwork. About 0700 they are checking time more frequently and talking amongst themselves. As my stomach started to remind me breakfast should be coming up, the statement was made we are going to be released and be outside your bay in OCP at 0800, no make it 0820. With high hopes this mentioned breakfast. As they continued to talk time was ticking by.

After making the trek to the DFAC it was about 0715 and a line as far as you can see. Some started leaving the line to head back rather than take a chance. I myself wasn't going to miss this. I did however pass the hot line for some biscuits and cereal to save some time. I had plenty of time left after swallowing the food whole to make it back and change.

After a morning of briefings, I have determined that they are now training to the younger generation. No more death by PowerPoint, it is now talk a little and then group discussion. I was excellent at death by PowerPoint! I could memorize stuff and knock out the bubble tests! This new way of training now includes essays. Knowing this and seeing our class syllabus has left me feeling very overwhelmed.

At the end of the day I did get some water that wasn't laced with sulfur. After a bottle and a half of to bed to start it all over again tomorrow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Border to Border Posse Ride '21 The Long Way Home +2-3

Image
 Day two of the trip home was going by Devils Tower. This was on my list to see! Not researching or knowing anything more than it looked cool, it didn't disappoint either! We even saw rock climbers! At Devils Tower, there was another boulder field which Zak and I climbed on with air this time. Somewhere during this excursion, I managed to hurt my back. I believe it was from carrying the camera and camera bag. As irritated as I am over it, I'm glad it waited until the trip home! From here we left the park and the phone service messed up and I turned left at a light and quickly went I don't think this is the right place. I pulled over in a driveway and we pulled out the map. Locating ourselves and figuring out where we needed to be I put it in gear checked my mirrors and noticed Highway Patrol getting out of his car. I rolled down the window to him saying we don't allow parking here, it is clearly marked. I looked up and see a sign on the side of the road. To which I repl...
Read more

What is to come...

Image
So we have been doing our research. In my previous post , I mentioned wanting something to communicate with each other on the trip. This is where the majority of my research has been, and I found out some disappointing information. I found a couple of states that did not allow headphones, others that would allow them if they were for communication. Based on this site , state motorcycle laws 2018, Colorado is the only one that still has the law that we will be traveling through. So to try and find out what our options are I turned to Sena's website , and they have a half helmet with them built-in. It appears that the Cavalry is being discontinued and the Cavalry Lite is replacing it. I watched a couple of reviews from some reputable sites, Revzilla, and such and the Cavalry worked at speeds to around 50 mph. Anything faster you lost some of the performance in the built-in mic and wind noise took over. Zak has been trying on some of my old gear and looking into what his look will be....
Read more

HOG Touring Rallies 2021

Image
 The HOG Touring Rallies are back on for 2021. And from the looks of it, the just moved the ones scheduled from 2020. So the Riding the Ozarks is back. However this is Zak's Senior Year. His interest in riding and 2021 being his last summer before heading off to college, what better way to spend it than going on a motorcycle trip. With that in mind the Touring Rally I have my eye set on is the Border to Border Posse Ride. They have created an epic 10-day journey that takes you from the Border of Texas at El Paso all the way up the spine of the Rocky Mountains to Roosville, MT and the Canadian Border, and then back to Missoula, MT for our final closing party. This 2,600+ mile route promises a once-in-a-life time journey to some places you may have already visited, but certainly don’t mind coming back to experience again. However, you can also count on new experiences and places you’ve probably always wanted to scratch off your top 10 list. Their portion as mentioned above is about 2...
Read more