I was walking with all my gear across the street back to my old squadron, the 321st TRS: PREDATORS! Predators was the 321st mascot. "LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET OUT OF THE WAY!" That was our chant. Heck yes. Anyways, walking across the street, and went to report into CQ (Center of Quarters). I was met by a really scary section supervisor. He has this voice that you could hear for miles. I had to run back and forth between CQ like an idiot, trying to keep up with his commands. "GET YOUR GEAR!" "GET PUT IT IN THAT ROOM!" "GET YOUR CELL PHONE" "GET YOUR GEAR AND GO TO THIS DORM!" "WHY AREN'T YOU THERE YET?!?!?" yes.
I *quickly* walked with a sense of major urgency to my new dorm. I went upstairs, and I could hear commotion going on upstairs. I got up the stairs with all my gear, and I was introduced to one of my new TI's. She was a short Puerto-Rican who could make herself look 10 feet taller than what she was. What was going on when I got to the top of the stairs was she was testing our Entry Controller. The Entry Controller (EC) is the person that is in control of who leaves and enters the dorm. The MTI's love testing the EC to see if they can verify identities in very harsh, and sometimes insane, fashions. Our female TI was constantly hitting the door windows with her key, making this extremely annoying *tick tick tick tick* sound. Mind you, all this was going on as I was sitting there, waiting to merge with the flight. I was like, "Oh crap. This is definitely not going to be fun."
The EC finally came to the door, tearing up. After shouting and screaming, I was finally let into the dorm. The TI let up a little bit, saying, "This is Donahue. He is now part of our flight. Treat him with respect and allow him to merge into this flight." I got a lot of hello's and hand-shakes and "sup's". :P. I was the cool guy! All the new trainees I encountered thought it was so cool that an older trainee came into the flight because I knew tricks and secrets to passing BMT a little easier. And I did. Which is why it was cool!
I quickly made friends with my bunkmate, which I found out that he was from Orange County. Ha! Go figure, small world :D. We quickly became friends and I taught him a few tips and tricks here and there as time went by.
The next day (Tuesday) was July 20th. It was my birthday. My 21st birthday. Definitely fun. I kept it to myself because I know what TI's make trainees go through when it's your birthday. They make you do push ups while the rest of the flight sings happy birthday to you.
By this time, I was already missing my old flight. My old flight already had a lot of things down. We had discipline and had a good idea of how things worked. However, this new flight had a lot more... personality. It was fun, but they had no idea how to manage their time and get things down. Oh well, we had fun. Until the TI came up the stairs and basically jumped us.
On July 22nd (Wednesday) we started classes. CLASSES!!! Basic stuff like nutrition and workout practices. Classes were a lot more fun because the instructors were a lot more laid back and had fun with the trainees. It was a good break from everything.
The flight was starting to get things together. I guess we needed several wakeup calls before they realized that BMT wasn't Boy Scout summer camp. Our male TI got in trouble for cussing. I guess one of the trainees ratted him out. Our TI's cursed like sailors. It was something that took me a little while to get used to.
PT was getting easier! I was already starting to notice that my arms were getting sexier and my waist was slowly, but surely, disappearing. Yes! And I also got to run with my old TI. He asked me how I was doing while I was running with him. I told him that I miss my old flight. He reassured me that I would receive the same training no matter who my instructors were. I was also issued my M16 Trainer Weapon.... again. It wasn't nearly as fun as the first time I got it issued.
We got to use our cell phones that Friday for, like, 30 minutes. That was a long phone call. However, this long phone call had some negative effects. All the trainees got puppy-dog faces and started to work at an extra-slow pace. So our dorm chief recommended to the TI that we have our cell phones taken away for a period of time. And guess what happened. The TI came into the day room, flipped the table over, and screamed "NO MORE CELL PHONES!" ... I was pissed. And so was the rest of the flight.
Since I have been in BMT a little longer than everyone else in my new flight, I was the first one to receive the famous BCG's (Birth Control Glasses). They are glasses they issue you in BMT because they're super strong and won't break. I tested this, and they don't break. Ever. But this also meant that I was the only trainee that looked like a MAJOR geek because of my oversized glasses. I was also given my name-plates for my ABU's. However, I was not able to sew them onto my ABU's till week 4. So they sat in my locker. Taunting me. Arg.
Since I had good practice making my bed in my old flight, I was one of the few trainees that didn't get his bed totally destroyed by the TI. We all came up into the dorm to find a couple beds completely destroyed. Frames taken apart and everything on the floor in pieces. It was nuts. We had to put it all back together.
I finally got my birthday mail from family and friends, and my family send me one of those loud, obnoxious talking/screaming birthday cards. I was honestly afraid to open it in front of everybody and get laughed at for the rest of time. So I went into the deep depths of the day room when nobody was there and listened to it then. I still got a couple looks because the dorm could hear some awkwardness coming from the day room. Lol.
Our flight still can't get it together. We went up and down like a roller coaster. Some days good, some days bad, mainly on how good we could make our beds and keep things dust-free (which is almost impossible if you think about it). So, as a consequence, the TI's took away our letter-writing privileges. But what did we do? We wrote letters in bed late at night when TI's were not in the dorm. And then we hid the letters in the bed-pole frames hehe.
Sunday! The best day of the week that EVERY trainee looks forward to. Yes, I cried again. After a good service of church, we came back to find that it was time for locker inspections! Most of us failed miserably, including me. And one of my pay-cards was out in the open during inspections, and that's a security violation. I could have gotten recycled for that. But the TI decided to let it slide. Whew.
That's all for week one (again)!
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