The Long First Day

As we rode our bus to Benning, everyone felt the same feeling of dread approaching as the minutes ticked ever closer to midnight, when our lives were changed forever.

Truth be told, it has been over 36 hours since I last slept, with at least another six ahead of me. I can barely even recall what sleep feels like, and these last hours seem to have gone on forever.

Our first few minutes in 30th AG (fondly known as operation charlie foxtrot; military slang, ask me later) would be spent being tiraded at by drill sergents at what was and was not considered contraband, followed by our last chance to dispose of it without consequence, the amnesty room.

Another large portion was spent organizing ourselves into groups based on infantry/non-infantry and service, followed by writing our line numbers (platoon and roster numbers, or 9201BO-010 for me) on about 12 different documents and turning them in. We were then issued our PT clothes and had everything we brought locked away until we graduate.

As we sat in our first formation outside what would become our bay, we were hopeful to catch an hour of sleep only to discover it 0400, wake up time. The hour and a half spent for breakfast was only topped by the amazing dull dental exam and mouthpiece issuing which followed. After a visit to the PX , where we bought a select list of items all while being monitored (our own money was used of course; in the form of an advance on our first check, which also covered the haircut we received just before) we hauled our now overflowing duffel bags around until we were assigned a bay. The final procession attempt for the day, ACU issue, ended in disaster however, so we get those tomorrow.