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[conordakidd]

ABOLC 005/006 In Review

·       Phase 1:

o   Qualified on M4

o   Qualified on m17

o   Passed Land Nav

o   4 Mile Ruck

·       Phase 2:

o   Weapons Function Test (.50 Cal & m240)

o   Vehicle Id

o   Gunnery

·       Phase 3:

o   Opords

o   12 Mile Ruck (2x)

·       Phase 4:

o   Executed the Mission

I think the only worthy phase worth talking about was Phase 4 where went out into the field and did 4v4 tank battles. We slept on tanks, drove tanks, pretended to command tanks and used a lazer tag system to shoot at tanks. Everybody got assigned either an offense or defense and using their knowledge on OPORDS, and all the skills we learned during ABOLC tried to execute a planned mission against another platoon of like 14-18 guys. Initially got a defense, and it didn’t go so well. But go another shot w/ and offense and thought it went pretty smooth. Looking back, I learned a lot about tanks even in that short period of time and i expect my knowledge to grow only exponentially as I go out onto the force. 

[conordakidd]

Abolc, Phase1

               So I commissioned. I finally fucking commissioned. I can’t say this was a dream come true, or I would have pursued it throughout high school and either done West Point or ROTC, but I remember writing it in my 6th grade poetry book of growing up to be a military officer and living with his parents. Both of those ideas? Came true lol. But I can finally truly say that I am not only a military officer, but a US  Army Armor Officer. Sorta. I haven’t done anything to earn that title as I am in my third week of ABOLC (Armor Basic Officer Leaders Course), but I am paid like a 2LT. Right now even though its been only the third week of course, I have some issues qualifying on the M4, the same type of issue I was having at BCT and its definitely rattled me a bit as you are brand new in new course, trying to make an impression and you start getting nervous that this is an ominous foreshadowing of things to come. While I hope it isn’t and I’m just getting worked up about nothing, but that isn’t true because it will be challenging, there is a degree of nerves. This week we have Land Nav and M7 qualifying, so it will be busy and while I have a little bit of background with 3! Land Nav runs during OCS, I really don’t have any experience on the M7. Last thing you want to have is a big 0/3 qualifying rap sheet during Phase 1. That would not be good.

               And oh, the way I figured out my housing was that I asked this girl/women (as I grow up, I’m going to get in trouble of realizing my colleagues and peers have also grown up and are adults, just like me!) who I didn’t know at all but is in the same branch as I am to crash at her place. It ended up being for like a week and there were definitely mixed signs, but I think in the long run she was not thrilled that I kind of scooted in her house for a week but I saved a lot of money and ended getting a place of my own. It also looks like a place of my own lol, but I like it. Good night!!

[conordakidd]

Commissioned! 5/21/20

[conordakidd]

5 more days

There are 5 more days left in Officer Candidate School and I will be a 2nd Lieutenant. There are 5 more days left in Officer Candidate School and I will be a 2nd Lieutenant. Since my last entry, I: 

·         Did Operations Order <Garrison + Field> + Squad Training Exercise

·         Branched Armor

·         Re-Did Land Navigation

·         Did my 4-miler in 28:06 (Need work!)

·         Gotta 531/600 on the New Army Combat Fitness Test (Need work!)

·         Was Student Platoon Sergeant for a Week (It was a long week)

Here and there with activity, spending most of my time just to blend in and not get any rule infractions. A week ago there seemed to be some war going on with one girl who straight snitched on people to save her butt and it resulted in one OC getting dismissed and two other getting Day 1 restarted which means they have to do the entire OCS program over again. Rough. Right in the middle of trying to figure out the logistics of how I am going to get to and from ABOLC so slightly worried I am going to be sleeping in a cornfield by myself for while. Happy I am done, there seems to always another challenge around the corner in the Army. 

[conordakidd]

“That was atrocious”

Captain Sleight

[conordakidd]

It’s been awhile since I last wrote and I feel like I have done some things and whole lot of nothing at the same time. Since my last post, I classed up into Alpha Company at OCS, made it to Week 8, got kicked back to HHC for two weeks and now I am at Week 4 in Charlie Co. So basically I advanced, went back to start, didn’t collect $200 and now am repeating the curriculum I already went over. I’m not positive why they decided to recycle me, whether it was a combination of performance & peer reviews or a specific incident that I am still trying to identify, but here I am. It definitely sucks, having to do Land Navigation two times and going to STX for two weeks again but it is what it is. It’s frustrating because is not a hard course and you are like really? I have to do this again? Your kind of embarrassed because its one of those, really why me? Type incidents that your like NOBODY gets kicked back for what or when you got kicked back for. But maybe that’s Maybe I didn’t take it seriously enough. Who knows. All I do know is that certain things got really weird and at times I felt like I was getting pushed out of the program.

So far, Charlie Co. has been bearable despite a ton of work thrown at us in the first two weeks. Whether it was a Coronavirus issue or something else, we took about 4 tests in a week, while working on doing function checks on the M4, M240B and the M249. It was hectic and exhausting as we have to wake up at 430 since one of the unique features of Charlie Co. is exercise at TAP-C for Physical Training (PT). TAP-C is basically a gym that they recently built and hired a professional staff to come in and train soldiers, but with the Coronavirus, that unique feature is sadly now gone. But getting back to the story, it has been hectic and tiring. Then Week 3 came where we headed into the field for Land Navigation. This was probably my least favorite thing I did at Alpha Co. so I wasn’t really looking forward to it all. It is this whole week of learning how to find certain points in the terrain by yourself and my perspective is that there is some variable of hey, it is possible that you might not find these points so I spent whole week 2 complaining to my roommates that I wasn’t going to pass, even though I passed last time. To summarize the week, we walked and walked and walked and I finally got enough points to pass and headed back relieved (again). While it isn’t the last time I probably will see the Red Diamond Course, it was nice to get over with and head home.

While we are land nav, the Company Commander had alluded to the fact that things at the Fort were changing dramatically but it wasn’t until we got back at the barracks did we realize how much that was true. Instead of regular formations, we have to spread out in double arm length intervals and walk to the DFAC (Cafeteria) that is rumored to shutting down this week. All the class work is now outside and I may be stuck at Fort Benning once this is over. Oh geez. Next week is OPORDS and I am nervous because that’s what they used as reasoning to try and get me to quit. So I am taking a lot notes and making sure I control what I can control.

[conordakidd]

“What state is Mississippi in?”

-SDS Deck

[conordakidd]

Home for the Holidays

Today was my last day of being home at West Way for Holiday Block Leave and man, was it good. I snuck home (on pass) on Thanksgiving so I did not have the same type of emotions (shock,relief,elation, etc.) swirling that I had the first time being back home from the Army, but the prevailing one was a sense of relief and want to kick back and relax. And kick back and relax I did. Got up to date with Watchmen and City on the Hill and several Netflix movies. But don’t worry! I still got a couple good runs and lifts in before I return to Fort Benning.

Can’t believe that it is still over but I mean, it was only 10 days so it was bound to be over pretty soon, but it still feels like it just started. But it was fun while it lasted. Went into the city, saw the LA family and some people from the Y. Can’t complain. After two weeks of classes and one week in the field it was nice. I think I have another one coming up in two months after (hopefully) completing OCS which is its own challenge in its own right but for now all I can do is just soak it up

Written 1/2/2020

- [ ]

[conordakidd]

BCT

I’m en route to Fort Benning and I guess it’s a good time to write down everything that happened at Basic Combat Training (BCT). On my first attempt I tried writing everything that happened from the very first day of leaving and realized that a large percentage of it wasn’t interesting and it was taking too much time. So I guess I’ll just condense it and try to jot down the important stuff.

So after waiting , delays at the airport and more waiting I arrived at Fort Jackson and taken to Reception which is a certain place on the base for incoming recruits where we were assigned to dormitories and given our PT uniform and camelbacks. The first five days we woke up super early -around 0330/0400- and proceeded to get shots, uniforms and our first buzz cut. Most of the time we would march around in groups getting issued gear and then at certain parts of the day go to the DFAC for food. It wasn’t really that hot where we were and I was like hey, It’s not that bad. Finally we were done with Reception and boarded a bus with all our issued stuff in a laundry bag that we carried onto the bus and our duffel that was stowed onto another truck. A drill sergeant was on the bus, started screaming at us to put our head into our laundry bag when we sat down and to shut up. You are thinking a million thoughts with the first one being, what is going on? All of a sudden you pull up,the drill sergeant starts screaming at you to get off with your bag and you run down this long street with everybody in your face yelling at you and it is complete pandemonium as everybody is trying to get down the street. The drill sergeants were completely on you foreverything you did wrong. And it was like the entire Red phase where they were on top of you and all sorts of rules were enforced. It definitely sucked in the sense that you got treated like a dumbass 18 year old -which there were plenty of- and had to dumb stuff like run to a place right after lunch and get a pinecone and bring it back. We dove into things pretty quick, probably one of the first few days at basic we picked up the remaining gear we needed and couldn’t bring from reception such as IOTV (bulletproof vest) MOPP gear (chemical top and bottom) rucksack and got issued a gas mask that we would have to carry on us for FTX (Field Training Exercises ( {Anvil,Hammer, Forge} ) and daily training. In our company, which I was in Charlie 3-60th, we split into four platoons in alphabetical order and I wound up in 3rd platoon with “R”. We originally had 3 Drill Sergeants assigned to the daily management of our platoon, SDS Connelango, DS Deck and DS Allen. Connelango was a Ranger who was making his way up the NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) pipeline and would leave less than halfway to take a First Sergeant position, Deck was a Sergeant First Class and was originally was Infantry/Ranger and DS Allen, well to be honest I don’t know much about her since she changed platoons in about the first week but she seemed nice. Our platoon was about 50/50 guys and girls, the majority 18-22 who were doing National Guard or trying to do this as a 20 year career. It definitely was a different dynamic having a lot of girls because it definitely changes the mindset or thought process of why you are going into the military. I never expected to meet someone in the service, and still dont, which delayed me from committing 3.5 years to the military. But it definitely changes things as it goes to being “this is your job.focus.” To social hour mindset which people noticeably followed victim to.

Week 1

First week was a rough introduction to basic. The first three days consisted of endless correction training aka getting “smoked” where you did all these exercises in a row that at times went on for more than an hour. PT which was something different all together, began at 0530 lasted about 1 hour depending on the activity, and would rotate between pull-up exercises on a bar to running on a track. You have to do all these cool exercises like the prone row where you had lie prone on your bellyand push your hands back before the main event exercises of pull-ups or running. If it was a running day good lord. That meant you were doing the stretches on a black track with topographical features. Others would call it a parking lot with rubble and a major depression in it blocked off, but #perspective .

We didn’t take a shower the first night we were there which definitely made me worried and very sweaty, but we eventually got to shower and privileges to the laundry machine which made an interesting time when all we had was sweaty gear. I didn’t think it was fun, maybe other people did I didnt. we got our gear and got tutorials on how to install it and put it all together. I’m terrible with small basic technical stuff like putting together an army bed so it definitely was a struggle and a lot of peer review from the people next to me. We got our gear set and it was ready to go.

Week 2

The second week we pretty much dove into things, which I guess is to be expected with a program that has only 9/10 weeks in it. First we went to the Gas Chamber which was a about 2 miles from barracks with a ruck and some weight on our back. We learned some fundamentals about a chemical attack and what not to do and then went into a gas chamber that had CS gas on the room with our gas mask. Mine really didn’t seal all the way or was too large because the moment I stepped in starting messing with my eyes just a little but there wasn’t really anything I could do about it. We did some exercises once we got into the chamber including wallsits and foot fires where you jumped up and down just trying to get some cardio going. We ended up taking off our mask for a couple seconds and immediately you could barely breath, the gas filling up your lungs and making your eyes tear. You had to wait in line to get out and it took a couple minutes outside with fresh air for everything to get back to normal. Everybody was like o yeah that was so easy but I personally thought it was challenging.

Next that weekend was Victory Tower which was this giant fortress looking contraption that had all these ropes and walls that you shimmied up and down in various manners and eventually did one of those rappel type things down a wooden wall. All of it was doable and everybody had to do as a graduation requirement, it was the waiting, anticipation and waiting in line that made it anxiety inducing. You would laugh and be like really if you saw the Tower but it becomes bigger and harder from below the longer you wait and then you realize it wasn’t that bad or bad at all it was the buildup or thinking that made it that much worse.

The last thing we did worth mentioning that week was Fit to Win, which was an obstacle course. It wasn’t that far from battalion so we had to walk there with our rucksacks and it looked like it was about to rain and to me, rain=cool so I was hoping and praying that it was going to rain and it would be somewhat of an interesting walk. Let me tell you this. When it looks like it’s going to rain in South Carolina it’s not. I take that back but there’s a 90% chance that the sun is going to break through and it’s going to be fucking hot. That’s exactly what happened that day where we covered our rucksacks with the tarp we brought and then maybe 30 minutes after we put it down the sun started to come through and try to murder us with intensive UV rays for the entire day. The obstacle course wasn’t bad it had kind of what you would expect to a elementary school to have. Monkey bars where I popped something in my shoulder, a waking balance beam, a cargo net and some other little obstacles that made it vaguely interesting to go through. And again, it was hot.

Week 3

It was either week 3 or week 4 things started to get a little more psychologically challenging. It really wasn’t the activities that started to get to me but the heat and being stuck with a group of people talking in formation about things that either you didn’t care for or didn’t want to talk about and realizing that there was a nice chunk of time at basic. Someone actually made a countdown timer in SECONDS of when graduation was gonna happen. Things like I just didn’t want to hear. But it was finally time to embark on our first Field Training Exercise (FTX) “The Hammer”. Basically we would march 5 miles with a rucksack & M4 to a campsite, dig what would amount to a liveable hole in the ground, and basically practiced simulations of drills we would later conduct. We were in a shaded area most of the time so it really wasn’t that bad. At night, everybody else’s drill sergeants would fuck with them by making them amounted to stop drop and roll type drills😬. Our platoon was let’s just say in flux as our Senior Drill Sergeant got promoted, DS Deck and DS Allen were on “training leave” for a week and a half and DS Shimer who would eventually be our DS had all of 1 day underneath his belt. So all night long we just chilled, some of us with the anticipation of getting fucked with. We didn’t and probably should of just went to bed. When you went to get water in the middle of the night all you heard in the distance was all the stop/drop commands and you were like ooooh. In the real early part of the morning they got us up and smoked us all. I was the back dogging it because I was hungry and I was like can we stop this dumb shit and all of sudden the DS comes starts yelling behind me so I’m like ooh maybe I should start planking for real but apparently she was going after this girl who was like crumpling next me and I was just like ooh the sight and sounds of basic.

Additionally, we started to go to the ranges with our M4 and started to zero our weapons “on ironsights”. Zeroing is the process of aligning your weapon to shoot straight and “on ironsights” is the method of optics your going to aim. Theres a straight tip at the end of your weapon that you used and try to get a straight shot. There’s a lot of corrections and feedback that comes through the whole process and it’s a long day of just shooting and trying to get a weapon that you know is aiming straight on qualification day. It was a super frustrating process there was a limited of time and instruction and you were just thrown in the fire. At the range it was definitely anxiety inducting that I wasn’t gonna get it. But what bothered most was not really having a way to fix it. Because we were a big class, the majority of us didn’t get individualized attention and it wasn’t like we could go on YouTube or call a pro in to help ourselves. In a lot of ways, we were at the mercy at our level of preparation coming in or just good luck.

Week 4

Week 4 picked up pretty much where it ended, trying to zero+group for our M4. This week tho we spent one day at LOMA Range which had actual targets 300 meters away instead of the shooting at pieces of papers that had a super small target in the middle and was proportional sized to represent 300 meters. While I had my hopes up that I would finally zero as this was allegedly easier, I was still super worried that it wasn’t gonna happen. I didn’t know or remember all of the techniques they were talking about and it wasn’t like I was really being helped. O well. On my first attempt it was still a mess and didn’t zero. It was a good range though in terms of shade and temperature and I was trying to pry tips from drill sergeants, so things were working in my favor and I was trying to make it happen. The problem though was that every round of shooting was followed by a 2-3 hour break as other people went to shoot. It was insanely frustrating and not a good feeling. The waiting and sucking wasn’t a good combination. Finally, on the second round I finally zeroed. The coach I had gave me some useful corrections and I somehow managed to get it together. It was a relief because this would be the hardest section of shooting and to get it off my shoulders was big. The second thing we did that of importance was prequalify on ironsights were we went to a range where little signs popped up and we shot them from three different positions. The prone supported, where we lied on our stomach and had the weapon resting on sandbags for 20 shots, the prone unsupported where we lied on our stomach and shot with a sandbag on the magazine for 10 shots and the kneeling where we took a knee and shot for 10. The whole idea behind prequalify was to determine the position you would go during qualifying, even though it didn’t really matter as everybody was going to go, just the people most likely to qualify first would get it out of the way. I didn’t do as bad as I thought I was going to but still didnt qualify. I even had to suffer through a smoke session a very hot one I might add where we had to point, squat down with the weapon still pointing straight and then get in the prone over and over again but I wasn’t worried as I was before. I had a little more breathing room and had a lot of time to qualify.

Week 5

This was the week of qualifying and the anxiety -whether real or imagined- was back. Qualifying would entail going to a range and having to hit targets at different distances 300,250,200,150,100 and 50 and would pop up at different times, sometimes two at a times. Same deal as pre-qual, but this time it counted in order to check the graduation requirement list of qualifying on a M4. It was a long day and to make a long boring story it played out pretty much like the zeroing process went. Didn’t make it-anxiety-waiting-anxiety-last go around make it. It was a good feeling and while the range broke down on the last time I went, and I probably got passed through on a technical error, it still felt good to get it done. After that, we attached a giant scope on top of the M4 called a CCO and began to zero on that later in the week. A CCO is different than ironsights in the sense that it aimed with a red dot in middle and the whole purpose of zeroing was to make sure that that red dot was aligned correctly. Even for me this was not a problem as all you had to do was point the red dot straight and you would hit the target. Instead of being stressed out about making it through, my partner discussed Lamar Jackson and how he was doing in the NFL. It felt good to finally to have non stress day.

Week 6

Week 6 was were it started picking up as we well past being halfway done and there stuff in our immediate future that I didn’t want to do. First there was prequalification and qualification on CCO’s which I’m not going to bore anybody with and “The Anvil” which to me was the hardest thing we did as a platoon. It was three days and two nights and it’s was basically a longer version of “the hammer” but this time our Drill Sergeants straight up smoked us at the most random times of the night and had us doing high crawls and low crawls (look it up, it sucks) on both Asphalt and sand. The MRE’s that I was getting to eat were not filling me up and I was operating on straight will, as I was soo hungry. We had to do land navigation the last full day of the FTX and I was in straight zombie-mail it in mode as I was hungry and in no mood or condition to be a explorer at that very moment. Where there is a will there is way. And actually, on our way to land navigation this young looking guy in a drill sergeants uniform starts yelling at us as we (perhaps just me) are trekking on water and maybe an energy bar and we are like who is this guy. It turns out it’s our new Drill Sergeant Vork whose taglinw through basic who would be “ Cheese + Rice” whenever somebody did something ridiculous. Interesting guy. But I got through it and somehow made it back to the CTA in one piece. Uncomfortable but I did it.

Things got really fun but at the same time really hot. It was early October but the sun was still beaming. The week before we got a preview for our FTX that it was going to be 98 at The ANvil and while It wasn’t that hot for it, Week 7 was definitely hotter so it was inthe 90’s at the very least. We had two events on the calendar for the week as usual being Buddy Team Live Fire and Omaha, both of which turned out to be really fun and totally worth sitting in the heat (at times) for. Buddy Team Live Fire was essentially a quick 2v2 paintball in your neighbors backyard with 🌲 ‘s, some barrels, a mini Bunker with rocks and we were shooting with specialized ammo that exploded upon impact and generally left a black and blue . Offense would start out on patrol and take fire from an dug defense team and the whole point was to practice the cover/fire drills we did on the FTX, just now simulated with actual fire. It didn’t go as smoothly when I went on offense as one of the people on defense failed to retreat so my partner basically surrounded her and then we opened fire and then when we were on defense my opponent’s cover was this skinny tree with no branches and I was behind this giant cement wall just waiting and let’s just say I won that battle as well 🤣.

Omaha was basically the structured version of Buddy Team as you were practicing covering and moving but this time there moving targets instead of people, your were using real ammo and had to follow a strict protocol of movement while lying in the prone being behind small wooden walls. Basically you covered your partner by returning fire, he moved up and then started firing, and then at that point you got up and moved to the next stage. There was some stuff to remember as you always had to have your weapon on safe as you ran and there were proper routes and positions to take, but for the most part it was pretty simple. At the very end you got to throw a grenade and then duck and take cover. It was pretty fun and glad to complete a graduation requirement without a hitch or stress.

Week 8

Week 8 was the week of the big Kahuna, the granddaddy of em all, the Mountain 🏔 of Mountains, “The Forge”. I’m not completely positive of what the Forge was intended to be other than a culminating event which I don’t know 🤷‍♂️ what that even means but it was the last graduation requirement and probably viewed as the hardest. We were going to do our night programs/exercises at night and sleep for part of the day which ended up making a lot of sense because of the level of conditioning/exercise involved. We left the first day at around mmm I want to say 330 in the morning and did a 10 mile rucks with breaks in then middle to campsite where made our Hastings, ate breakfast and I took a little nap to get some rest. We did some FTX’s which were awful as they were FTX’s and I really wasn’t interested in doing them. After that, we got ready for the Night Interval Course (NIC) where we were going to low crawl underneath barbed wire with a machine gun firing above us. While it turned out not to be that bad, as I just low crawled the entire way it had gotten a lot of hype and seemed to be really tough. We had heard the M240B going off during the Hammer 🔨 and that thing was loud. So after a really quick walk we get there and have to wait for a decent while, and then finally we start moving. We walk along this fence for a while where we end up at the entrance of an obstacle course which we ended up going through in the darkness of night. It finally came to an end after just lowing through a tonnage of sand and you come out to this area after running through dark foliage and there’s all these IOTV vests laid out and second platoon who had finished the course just before us. We put on the vests, line up and are lead to this trench where we line up and there’s no official start to NIC, people just start climbing the wall after they hear machine gun fire. After climbing the wall and low crawling 💯 meters in which I see nothing but sand and barbed wire, I emerge from the pit. It’s a crazy metabolic workout as you go 100 meters under barbed wire as fast as you can with a 20lb weight vest and all your tactical gear. While everybody wants the first night to be over, it’s not. We have to team carry a 175lb (it said it was that heavy, it wasn’t but it still was heavy) two boxes and water jugs 2 miles to our next campsite. It was a struggle to say the least. But we finally get there and we just go to 🛌. Over the next two days it followed that same routine of doing FTX in the mid dayish and then doing our traveling with our boxes. We did combatives, pugle stick fighting, relay races and other stuff during the night which finally culminated in a soldier ceremony where we got our berets and removed this blue patch on our left ocp top with the “US ARMY” patch showing that barring us doing something really dumb between then and graduation 👩‍🎓 we were going to be soldiers.

Week 9&10

After the Forge, there was a massive drop in activity and intensity. There wasn’t really more for us to do or requirements to get so we ended up doing a whole lot of nothing. We unceremoniously handed in our M4’s (not like I expected a little bugle boy to accompany us when we did but still) and 6.49 lbs of weight that had to accompany us practically everywhere was gone. The day before graduation, one of the DS makes us all grab sand bags and start doing workouts and running back and forth to the cattle gate with it in our ha. Tough.At the very end of my time at basic, my parents showed up for Family Day and Graduation and it was nice to see them. We went out to dinner, among other things and begrudgingly had to go to in my ASU uniform, which was my nice dress gear that made use wear for graduation. On the last day we spent the entire day and I mean the entire day packing and cleaning and then got rounded up on to coach buses headed to all our perspective places.

I don’t have a romantic view of BCT because the whole experience was butt, BUT you felt like you did something to earn that US Patch. Funny way to put it because I was constantly being accused of not doing anything by 18 year girls. (Untrue)

By the time I finished this, I am no longer en route to Fort Benning but rather in my second week at Fort Benning waiting to “class up” trying to get into a class. So many people, not enough slots. Gotta work on my pushups. And sit-ups. Working on land navigation and trying not to completely get lost when the time comes. also excuse the run on sentences, and punctuation etc. written on iPhone notes while on the go. Let’s gooo

[conordakidd]

The First Week

It’s been a long week to the beginning of my journey into the Army but I guess I shouldn’t expect anything less. On Monday I got at the recruiting station earlier than most of the shippers at around 1000 and ended waiting around the office until 1500 when a van carrying recruits from Stamford showed up. We booked trying to make a testing date for a recruit coming with us. At one point took out my Waze app and saw were going about 85 in a 65. We ended up getting a flat and having to change a tire in Enfield. Got there, checked in the hotel and pretty much lied in bed just playing with my phone. Woke up around 4, which has been a pretty standard time so far and after breakfast lined up and boarded a bus to MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) in Springfield MA. Got all my paperwork and got in line for height and weight. For whatever reason, I had gained 20 pounds since the weigh in and getting by this doctor was crucial to shipping. The doctor was a straight up weirdo, yelling at everybody to do this and that, and when I got up to the tape, he yelled to get my feet together. I legitimately struggled because of my quad size and tried to say something to that effect and he yelled at me that he was “wasn’t having a conversation”. I got up to the height scale where he slammed the measure ruler on my head and told me to get on the scale. After getting off, he took my file after failing weight and then told me to get in a corner where other people had failed height and weight. After everybody left the room, he taped me and then questioned me about gaining 20 pounds. For whatever reason he let me go. Whew. After doing some briefs, we headed to Bradley Airport in Hartford where we again just sat around after getting delay after delay. We finally boarded and in Charlotte found that the plane that we had switched out of had no capacity and that we had to stay overnight in Charlotte. We ended up going to a hotel pretty close to the airport and did a quick turnaround at 345 again where we headed to the airport. As we had about 4 hours to burn before we started boarding we went to the USO, a non profit center for soldiers to wait before they boarded. Declining chairs, a library and computers, the center was pretty legit. We hadn’t been a day in the service but we were cashing in on the perks already. We boarded, arrived at Fort Jackson and got placed in this room with benches were we waited for 4 hours doing nothing. By then, I had been wearing the same clothes for three days in a row and to say I stunk would be fair. Sweat was everywhere and you just had to wait. A drill sergeant came into the room gave us a lecture about compound interest and how he wish he had discovered before he went through two marriages. Finally, everybody that we had been waiting on arrived and we got directed to a room where we broomed, mopped and emptied containers into a trash box. Thursday and Friday we got most of our gear from uniforms to toiletries, and got physically screened to confirm that we could actually starts basic training. A lot of waiting around and people saying blah blah blah, be bored of waiting around. Will hopefully start Tuesday and get this phase over with. Losing contact outside civilization Tuesday, we keep you posted as soon as possible.

[conordakidd]

A special goodbye to a Good Friend

On Thursday said goodbye to my pal and partner in crime Finn McDoogles. Was there from the start when my mom and sister brought him from back Maine and he hasn’t left my side since. To say that he has grown would be an understatement 😅 but he has really become a great dog. People still call him a puppy and I’m not gonna lie sometimes Finn brings it upon himself as he doesn’t bother acting like the 4 year old he is but nonetheless a terrific sidekick for all the adventures we have had. From night walks in Southport to boat rides in TI, couldn’t of asked for a better companion and friend during this time between college and my next chapter. Gonna miss Finn and everything that he brings to the table but in 5 months we will be re-united. Take care my furry friend!

[conordakidd]

Days in Service:0

Days until Basic: 29

Current Status: U.S. Army Commissioned Officer Candidate

Oh my goodness. Hitting a point where I just want to go. I am done having to go to Future Soldier Training, I am really tired of the weigh ins where I am, according to BMI, hitting obesity, tired of checking my bank account every hour, tired of lifeguarding, tired of waiting to go. I realize the moment August 13 rolls around, things are going to go a lot quicker, but until then even with working and preparing things are going slow. The worst is at the Y where I have been asked at least 5 times when I was going and somebody even recently was like “Didn't you want to go into the Marines or something?” I just had to laugh and be like yea its happening. Some day. 

[conordakidd]

BACK TO THE BAHAMAS

[conordakidd]

Days in Service:0

Days until Basic: 57

Current Status: U.S. Army Commissioned Officer Candidate

Hitting the middle stretch. Best workout was probably 7 miler in so hot afternoon sun. Worst workout was a super low energy day when nothing happened. Getting a lot more running in than I thought I was going to, so far the workouts have been pretty good. Not making as much headway with squats as I’d like and the focus on swimming that I initially had is definitely on hold as it is not really going to be that important. Struggling with what to do with my pistol permit license application that I think requires me to be here longer than I actually going to be and if it does come after and the temporary expires when out of town, then it is virtually useless and I would have to do the whole thing over again. Who knows. Overall, still happy with the level of preparation and my mindset going into Basic. With that being said, still gotta ramp everything up.

[conordakidd]

[conordakidd]

The Beginning

Days in Service:0

Days until Basic: 70

Current Status: U.S. Army Commissioned Officer Candidate

So here it is. 70 Days until I leave for Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Ramping up the efforts to get ready for Basic and Officer Candidate School. Doing anything and everything that looks like it could be somehow useful to me in the next 70 days. Not that that is a extremely long period of time to get ready for anything but better doing nothing for the next 70. Running, Lifting, Reading, even Scuba Diving and Hiking. Those two things are under the “Mental Conditioning”, and who can no to a solid outdoor adventure?

Other than a slight tendon pull from pushups/Incline (It has to be as its the only motion that is affected) I am physically well and if I had to leave today, I think I would be able to complete Basic and OCS. Don’t know what to fully expect but I think physically/mentally I am there and ready to go. Won’t mind the extra 70 and going to my sisters wedding, but at the same time ready to get out of here. Ready to put up or shut up. It hasn’t been entirely negative, but there have been people doubting the reality that this is going to happen. It weighs you down, negative thought and negative people. It isn’t really anything that you want and the more that you either surround yourself in it, or think about it, the more it becomes an unnecessary obstacle in your pursuit of a goal. And you know what people are thinking. You know people doubt you, think you are making it up, thinking you have a no chance. I know I do. More than people think. As the great philosopher Nas said “ I feel people pulling me down / I feel some pulling me up, I can't get stuck/ I just keep moving forward/

I got places to go, man, let's go”

LETS GOOOO

[conordakidd]

Work days