Saturday, October 10, 2009

If it's raining, it must be the weekend

More blog notes from Soulja Girl:

Sept. 21

PT and an AGR started our morning. Then it was chow and a march to "play" the video game range again. This time it was pop up targets and I did horribly. My eyepro kept fogging up and my helmet was falling forward. Both of these issues made even sighting a target impossible. I felt pretty bad, physically and mentally most of the day. Here it is almost October and it is still as hot as hell and twice as humid. Blah!

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Sept. 22

Happy Anniversary to me and my hubby! 8 years together and I cannot imagine ever loving him more than I do right now. Baby! You are the very best husband ever! In the whole world! I don't even remember anything about the day. My thoughts were filled with how I would spend our anniversary when I am finally out of this place!

[Editor's note: I didn't make any of that up.]

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Sept. 23

Today we marched. And marched. And marched. This was our 6-mile march in full gear. I managed to finish it but I fell all the way to the back. We finally got to Range 19 and had some breakfast -- lukewarm from the DFAC.

Then we got in line to shoot on the lanes we would be qualifying in. The pop up targets were at various distances: 50-75-100-150-200-300. I enjoyed the practice but was only able to hit 20 out of 40 targets. I don't even know the score I had the second time because my targets malfunctioned :( and I had a malfunction. It also would have helped if I had been firing at my own targets! Oops. It was a very long hot day at the range. We were all very happy to get on the buses home!

Never thought I would love buses so much -- or that I would think of the bay as "home".

Hot shower! Yes!!

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Sept. 24

Another motormove to the range today. I was able to shoot a 25 and a 27 (out of 40). Both are qualifying but I really want to get Sharpshooter. My last coach -- a guy by the name of Merkley helped me very much. I left the range with a good feeling. My goal -- Sharpshooter. 30+ targets!

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Sept. 25

I made my goal -- I think the prayer and coaching from the day before really helped. I shot 30 our of 40 targets on my first try -- both qualifying and getting Sharpshooter. Life is good.

I can't believe how many people we have lost. Our company started out with about 218 privates. We are now down to about 182. our platoon alone is losing 5 more people sometime next week. That isn't counting any from the other 3 platoons. Most are young too. Sad! :(

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Sept. 26

Today we got to sleep in until 6am! LOL.

Combatives was the order of the day. We got to spar each other. I got kicked in the head and saw stars but no other side effects. I made it through the sessions okay. Mostly everyone treated me like I was their mom, with a few exceptions. It was a good day overall. A little company "beautification" ended our day.

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Sept. 27

No phone call today. :( This one "lifeline" is the highlight of my week. It was a fairly restful day. Church was good. Bible Study was the best, and we got to go to the PX. If I had been able to make my phone call to my man it would have been a perfect day.

Oh well. It is BCT.

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Sept. 28

Today we did combat shooting at Range 19. It really was pretty fun and nerve-wracking as well. We had to run up to a barrier in the "ready" -- weapon pointed at the enemy. Then kneel and shoot the pop up targets. We had 3 magazines with 10 rounds each. Then we had to switch to the prone position and fire around the barrier from the ground. One of the the 3 magazines gave me a double feed. So I had to clear my weapon before firing on more targets. Next was firing from a standing position using the barrier for cover.

The first time I only hit 14 targets (standard is 16) but the second time I hit 18. I think we get to do it again. I hope so -- it was pretty cool even with the weapon malfunction. :)

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Sept. 29

Today we marched to the confidence course. (See David's letter for details.) [Editor's note: I'm going to have to dig through her letters for details on this. Watch for an update.]

The balance beam to the zip line almost took me out. I hated having such a hard time with it. For whatever reason I just couldn't wrap my head around actually walking across it. My DS was very encouraging. :) His push helped me finally make my way across. It was actually a really great day -- even marching back was fine. I conquered some fears and even had my picture taken (with the other golden girls) for the Facebook page! We won't talk about the video...

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Sept. 30

PT Test! I got 11 push ups! 59 sit ups and ran my 2 miles in 21:27. Total points were 204 out of 300. :) Then we spent some time at EST to practice close range combat shooting. 25m and less. I didn't do too bad either. Things are looking good.

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Oct. 1

We are going to the range this afternoon for some close combat shooting (live fire this time) and for night fire with Night Vision Goggles and a PAQ 4 laser. Should be fun... SO AWESOME!

Motormove to the range -- buses here are such a glorious sight! The shoot was for a streamer. We had to shoot at a silhouette target from various distances and angles. Total possible pts were 300 and I scored 294. :)

Not sure yet who won the streamer. The night fire was cool -- everything was green and surreal, and frustrating. It was hard to see since the goggles were not personalized to me and the laser was set to a larger circle (instead of pinpoint) and hid my target. Oh well, it was just familiarization anyway.

We got motormoved at 2230. Exhausted of course.



3 comments:

  1. Well Holy Shit (sorry). It sounds like you are actually doing well and I am so glad to hear it. It's pretty cool to hear all of the stuff that you are going through. It kinda reminds me of 17 years ago going through the same thing. It's really cool to see how you have progressed. I just read up on all of your daily blogs and if I may say, you really have come a long way. From really personally stuggling with your own issues to struggling with those other Soldiers issues and not worrying about your own. You truly are on your way to becoming a Soldier. I hope you are doing well and know you are very busy, but just a few more weeks and you'll be through. I am very proud of you and will keep you in my thoughts. Great job sis, and we are all proud. BTW, other than the obvious, did you find something to inspire you yet, or to lean on. Other than the obvious. Take care and hope to see you soon.

    Jon

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  2. You are one awesome woman! You have come a long way from your beginning. Achieving your goals too. WOW! Hearing how many you have lost is sad, but it shows that the Army isn't for everyone, besides those that don't make it you wouldn't want to be the ones that have to cover your back in a tough situation. It's almost over, hang in there. Looking forward to your post (by your hubby) next week.

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  3. Hi :) Just caught up on all of the latest!
    I love reading this blog and I admire Dela so much for doing this, maybe one of the hardest physical experiences of her life.

    A big!! Hi to Dela from me. I'm thinking of her, and wishing her strength, and courage as she bravely moves through this, and onto graduation.

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