11 replies to this topic

[Maelstrom]

sup ya'll. I'm spending precious minutes of my 36 hour pass of freedom to write to you all, so listen up.


like I have anything much to say. shit sucks second time through. same old bullshit... cept no excitement because I know all the stuff coming up and it's not as exciting as everyone thinks it is. also ruck marches suck. like... sucking dick for beer money sucks. Btw... enjoy real food while you can. >.>

Also, the military has kept me living under a rock, and buried in the dirt for 9 weeks, so let me know what's been up. I managed to snatch up something about korea ending the ceasefire... and a shit ton of guys in my training company have gotten orders to go to Korea once their training is through. I'm missing stuff in between here and there. as for me... i got 5 more weeks left of osut, 2 days of break, 3 weeks of jump school... and perhaps 2 years of special forces training, if I can hack it. so who knows when I'll be able to actually go home. I won't know where I'll be stationed until I'm either thru special forces training or i fall out of the training before then.

But most importantly... how've you all been?

[Amethyst]

Geez, I didn't realize this was such a big commitment you were getting into. I haven't heard anything about Korea, what the hell's going on down there?

My life has been vanquished by the Pokemon Site again, as it is every summer- http://www.poke-place.com
We got the league back up and stronger than ever so if you ever get back, your badges are waiting for you. Anything else that's happening, I don't know about.

Keep on pushing through.

[Maelstrom]

most active duty contracts are 3 years. a special forces contract puts you in the hole 5 years. I won't know if my decision will fit me till I find out where I'll go and how i end up fitting in with them. at any time i could fall out of special forces training and automatically revert to airborne infantry. But I have the option of reclassing to some other MOS (military job) after a year in service, and another option would be to simply go to OCS and become an officer in some branch of the army. Since I somehow got my degree from the university. After I thought I'd failed the class I needed. Go figure. Well, with the degree, it turns out I should actually be a rank above the one I have, which is just short of being an nco (non-commissioned officer). so they owe me money.

[kspr]

wikileaks bounced out 90thou pages of afghan reports. try not to go there.

[Maelstrom]

yeah... i like reading, but reading that many pages of reports is asking for clinical depression.

hopefully I'll be online a lot more often from now on. supposedly airborne school is a 9-5 training schedule with weekends off. right now I got pass for the weekend until monday night. then I go to a holding area to wait 5 or 10 days for the next training cycle. where I can my laptop and things now. It's only basic training that sucks monkey balls.

[lazlo falconi]

where I can my laptop and things now.

What is this, I don't even.


Also, you're in the Army right? I'm going to BCT in October, and AIT in January. I know it won't be the same (I'm 91H) but could you share some of your experiences with AIT? There seems to be a wealth of information about life in BCT and in the field and on post, but nobody ever mentions AIT beyond "You'll go to AIT for some weeks."

[Stars]

Woo, Mael is back-ish!

[Maelstrom]

Track Vehicle Repair?

Well. The thing is, AIT is pretty different for everybody cuz of all the different MOS's, all of which have different lengths, while BCT is the same for everyone (or should be). When I was set to go to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio to learn to be a medic, I was told the AIT length was 17 weeks long. OSUT, which is for infantry (only at FT Benning) means that after the basic 9 weeks you stay in the exact same spot for 5 more weeks, thereby extending your misery.

For AIT's other than infantry, the change is drastic. In BCT, you're treated like shit most of the time. At AIT, the training environment is more relaxed and they are willing to believe you can handle most of your responsibilities on your own. From what I can see, your AIT is "12 weeks, 3 days, at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD."

And lucky you, starting Basic in OCT. Shit was HOT this summer. I even ended up as heat casualty during one ruck march. It was 1130 at night, but 110 degrees out with 100% humidity and no wind whatsoever. So, during hour break after 2.5 miles, I got a core temperature check done and I was at 102 degrees. The brain begins to fry at 104. So they wrap me in ice sheets, call an ambulance, and stick me with an IV as they drive us to the hospital. Most of which was unnecessary. Technically I didn't count as a heat casualty since I did not feel or express the symptoms of a heat casualty, like fainting, vomiting, dizziness, clammy skin and all that. I just knew when I was overheating and needed a quick way to cool down. I was ready to go after they soaked me down with the ice water and wrapped me in the ice sheets, but they had to follow the safety proceedures and send me away.

You can bet they teased the fuck out of me whenever they could about "falling out" of the ruck march after only 2.5 miles. And this was about a week after we'd done the final, 12 mile ruck march. >.>

[lazlo falconi]

Yeah I'm pretty thrilled about it too, I know how Georgia can get during the summer.

Anyway, I was mostly curious about the environment at AIT, not so much the classes. I know I won't have complete freedom, but my biggest concern is if I'll be able to bring a computer to my barracks. Specifically, I want to buy a new computer while I'm there, to be shipped to me.

[Maelstrom]

Actually, I'm pretty sure you can. Should be like a 9-5 job. Cept the army starts earlier than 9 in the morning >.>

I know I'm going to have my computer with me, even if I can't whip it out till after 530 and weekends. Dunno how the schedule is for SF training though.

[lazlo falconi]

Cool, and what are the barracks like? That is, is it a small room shared by four guys, with just two sets of bunk beds, or is it more like a dorm? Is there any personal, walled-off area. Erm... For... Uhh... Okay fine for looking at porn. Also, is Internet provided? Will I have to pay for my own? Can I even get Internet in my barracks? If Internet is provided, what are the speeds like? Are any ports/services (That you know of) blocked or throttled? (I assume a lot of these questions may vary from place to place, so just let me know what YOUR experience has been like)

[Maelstrom]

We weren't allowed comps or anything in my bay for ait, since it was really an extension of BCT in the same bay, so yeah...

but here at airbourne, it IS 4 guys to a room with 2 bunks set up. back at OSUT, it was one giant room with all the wall lockers and bunks lined up along the walls like some terrible domino setup. And there is wifi... but you do have to pay for it. it's a bit inconsistent with it going from 4/5 bars of signal strength to 2/5 (no really, just those two strengths and that's it), but it does go a pretty good speed most of the time. I get a lot of pop ups when I go to Deviant art to delete the 500+ deviations waiting for me, so I don't think the security is all that good >.>

And no, no privacy. the rooms are all along a long hall and none of the rooms have a door to them. so all the light from the hallway sucks when you're trying to sleep. Let's not even talk about the latrines, except to say the showers actually look like the newest things in the building and have nice partitions and doors. Then again, this IS airbourne at old Ft Benning GA. Built in the 50's or something. The'yre just barely building a brand new one that looks way nice next to us. still under construction, but it looks nice. in these old ones... it sucks. The AC is practically non-existant, and you can buy a crappy little fan that doesn't do shit for 5 bucks from 'em. we do have 3 pairs of wall sockets in each room, so all 4 of us have no problem charging our cell phones and crap. No shelves or drawers in our lockers for some reason, so it's a bitch to try to keep shit clean and organized, though they don't care what goes on or where inside your locker.

just remember, airbourne is probably a bit different (ie, more crappy) from most people's AITs.