Summarizing AIT

So, what else to say about BCT? It was pretty much what you'd expect from watching the movies . . . long days, short nights, lots of screaming DS's, etc. I will say that I met some really remarkable folks there. I liked most everyone and while they were mostly a good bit younger than my decrepit old ass, I fit in just fine. I have plenty more stories but writing them out like this seems boring, so I'll just refer back to them when it seems appropriate.

AIT (Advanced Individual Training) was a completely different beast. At first it seemed like it was going to be an extension of BCT, with DS's screaming at us but the first time they "smoked" us (I believe it was morning of my 2nd day at Ft. Sam Houston) I realized it was a different world. As I recall, the DS got pissed because somebody in my company had gone to the mini-mall without permission so he was going to: "smoke the dog shit out of us!" I figured it was gonna be a looong day (cuz it was 100+ degrees there in APRIL!) So he put us in the front-leaning-rest and proceeded to make us do thirty whole push-ups. (30? Really? Hell, in BCT we did that as a stretching exercise before casual PT!) My battles from Ft. Jackson and I looked at each other with WTF all over our faces. That's it?? Sadly, there were some folks there from other BCT's who were huffin' and puffin'. Ain't that just sad?

We started the medical training with CPR certification, followed by 6 full weeks of EMT-B courses and certification. That meant we were up at 0400 every day for PT, followed by chow, followed by nine hours of classroom work (and it was serious work . . . those teachers flew through material!) broken up by a 10 min. break every hour, during which you got to climb down three flights of stairs to stand on an open concrete pad in full uniform. (with temps upwards of 110.) We covered 3-4 chapters in BOB (Big Orange Book) every day, with two exams each week. You needed a score of 80 or higher on each exam or you had to go back for a 90 minute "re-teach" class after everyone else was dismissed for evening chow. If you failed an exam, you got two re-teach classes and had to take it again the very next morning (at 0530). Fail any exam twice and you "double-tapped" i.e. got recycled back to the platoon that was two weeks behind us in their training cycle. Fail ANYTHING there and congratulations: you are now an 88-Mike (truck driver). We were restricted to the Company area until after we passed our first PT test (4 weeks in) and maintained that minimum 80% average. After that, we had evenings free (back in for 2100 bed check!) and weekends off (still with a 2300 bed check!). Weekends I would spend down at the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio. Beautiful place! I spent many hours chilling quietly in the USO: reading, napping, and eating the awesome (FREE!) home cooked food the volunteers made for us. I watched lots of movies and spent a good number of evenings at Mad Dog's Tavern (Dude: $1.00 beers!!) Oh, and I learned that I am a big fan of Hooters restaurant (not cuz of THOSE, you pervs! Well . . . okay, those too.) because of their buffalo wings. a 50 pc. platter, pitcher of beer and a game on the wide screen was one hell of a much needed break! :-0

The best part of AIT was that I got my cell phone back! I was able to call The Wife and The Boy every night. That made a huge difference in my attitude. BCT was 10 weeks long and it seemed to last for six years . . . AIT was 16 weeks and it flew by, mainly because I could talk to my family every day. I really enjoyed the Medic training, and it turns out I wasn't half bad at it. I actually completed the program as an Honors Graduate (94.6% avg. with first time "go" on every practical exam.) I'm very proud of that. The 68W program is one of the hardest in the Army. Let me put it in perspective for you:

We started with 504 people in my company.
We picked up approx. 110 people who "double-tapped" from companies ahead of us.
We graduated 380 Soldier Medics.
We had 6 Honor Graduates.

Yea, I'm all 'dat!!!! :-)

Later!