We did PT this morning, but it wasn’t with our platoon training officer, as he had to go to a Brigade change of command ceremony. Instead, we had an ‘old school’ NCO from a different platoon, and we went out and did a couple push-up pyramids and some sit-ups. I don’t mind doing pyramids, as they are good for push-ups, but it was certainly easier PT than the last couple of days.
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This is a classmate disassembling an M240B.
A classmate places a dummy claymore mine.
As I mentioned yesterday, we had a tough first day of PT. Well, it didn’t get any easier today. As I’m learning, and as the cadre warned us about, PT ‘ain’t no joke’ at OCS. Today we had what they called Combat PT. I’m really not too sure why they call it that, but I have a guess. Basically we wear our ACU’s with tennis shoes and no cover (military speak for cap.) Our Platoon Training Officer (each Platoon has a E-7 Sergeant First Class as the Platoon Trainer and O-3 Captain as the Platoon Training Officer assigned to it) is very much into alternative PT’s and workouts, and is also very much into intense PT.
So today we started PT in earnest. Last week we had the PT Test, then the change of command practice, then the obstacle course and finally the battalion run (OK, which is PT.) But today we start in with the actual program, and today that happens to be an Ability Group Run, or AGR. Generally when you run as a company or battalion, they are less for PT than for motivation. A company run is usually the type of run you may see in movies, where everyone in the company is running and singing cadence, etc. An AGR run, on the other hand, is for PT. You still run in formation, but there is no cadence, and the pace is about as fast as you can handle, or faster, for as long as you can last, or longer.
So Saturday morning we had our main Land Navigation class for the course. In actuality, it was only a course in basic map reading and plotting points. I consider myself some sort of Land Nav geek, so this wasn’t a huge challenge for me, but the class was well taught and some people here have never really seen this stuff before.
Not a whole lot significant happened today. We were supposed to have the Combat Water Survival Test (CWST) today, but that was cancelled because we didn’t have needed equipment from the CIF (which if you remember was postponed on Wednesday.) I’d take the time to tell you what the CWST is, but I’m not even sure. There are so many rumors going around that I don’t know what to believe, so I’ll wait to actually do it before I attempt to explain it.
This is a picture of The Weaver, though it is not the one we did or even on Fort Benning. Our boards were also slightly more spaced out. I just wanted a picture so you can see what it looks like.
We did the obstacle course this morning. But before I get to that, I want to mention one thing that we did yesterday that relates.
So I was going to talk yesterday about what study barracks is. However, busy as I was, I failed to do so, so I’ll do that now. Although it’s not like I have any more time for it tonight than I did last night.
So today, Tuesday, contained one of our first big tests: the PT test.
So today was a change from the previous couple of days. We were busy running around from before sunrise to after sunset. The day was filled with classes, in-briefs, and just plain old running around. Then with the crazy Georgia heat (and especially the humidity,) it was an interesting first day.
So as bad as yesterday went, today has started out fairly well. My orders stated that I should report at 0800 this morning, but actually it is noon, and they in no way expect everyone to check in by noon. Not that that was a bad thing, other than the fact that I had to get up earlier than I needed to, but I was able to get all my paperwork done early and now have a good chunk of the day to finish getting my stuff squared away.
