Six Weeks Sept 13

So Friday marked the start of week six. It also marked a bigger milestone however, we are now halfway complete with the basic training portion of OSUT.

As we sit here on Sunday with country music playing on the radio we are allotted on weekends, we have a chance to reflect on the last weeks.

We have gone from a bunch of undisciplined, untrained, and unmotivated kids from all walks of life to that same bunch of kids just wearing uniforms and slightly better at standing in line thanks to the peculiar hell that is 30th AG.

Then we got here. In the past weeks our Drill Sergeants have done the near impossible, taken this bunch of kids and training them to respond to commands without thinking. Inbeded in them the value of discipline, gotten them to do things without being told. They have forced us to come together as a platoon and as a family, there is friction, every family has some, but even those personal conflicts are set aside temporarily as need arises.

We have learned to save the lives of our brothers and comrades, administering potentially lifesaving aid until help arrives. We can navigate through any terrain and find our way to a set point. We can fire and disassemble various kinds of heavy weaponry. We are trained in the use of the AT-4 rocket launcher and Claymore mine. All these skills we have learned in only 5 weeks.

As we look ahead to the next 10 weeks and all we have yet to learn, fire team tactics, grenades, urban warfare and more, we can see how all of this training really does transform you into a new person. The future is bright and we'll be there to meet it.