My Routine

Dear All:
I hope everything is going well at home. I’ve been getting a lot of mail, thank you! I hope everyone is enjoying following me along through Basic. I can’t believe how fast it’s gone by (definitely faster than a semester of law school). We’re already in Week 6 and we move into Blue Phase this coming Friday – which means that graduation is right around the corner. It also means, in retrospect, that we’re already passed a lot of training milestones.
Last week was “range week” and I squeezed off a good 1,000 rounds. Casey performed really well (YES, we all named our M-16’s as we should, we spend all day with them), even though she needed a thorough cleaning each night. We started the week at Malone 9 (there are 18 ranges on Post) at the first pop-up range. All the ranges we shoot at have targets at staggered ranges out to 300 meters. Tuesday was more of the same:
Wake up at 0500
PT until 0630
Bussed out to the range by 0645
Chow in the field until 0730
Shoot all morning
MRE at noon
Shoot all afternoon
Bussed back at 1630
Chow at 1700
Hydration formation at 2000
Lights out at 2100
And repeat.
Of course it’s not as easy as it sounds. In order to go to a range we must be in full gear (Kevlar helmet, IBA vest, LCE suspenders, elbow and knee pads) and our ruck sack (that we have to front load so that we can get on a bus with it). All in all we’re wearing about 40 lbs and rucking between 30-80 depending on the day’s training.