2.11.2008

Drill This weekend was a drill weekend. We have a program with the National Guard where we give the soldiers a taste of what to expect when they get into Basic Training, for all trainees that are in the split option program or are just waiting to head off to basic. I did give them a little taste of what to expect, but they had me train them on the AT4 this weekend, which is a weapon I haven't seen since Basic training, and we just kind of played with it then. We didn't even go over it in DSS. But the AT4 is idiot proof, the instructions are written right on it, but of course, give me something idiot proof, and I'll give you a bigger idiot. Of course, they didn't want us to go nuts and full scale drill sergeant on these soldiers, as they didn't want to scare them off, but I did smoke a couple of them for accountability reasons (one had a key fall out of their pocket during PT, another left their canteen somewhere) just to give them a taste. I discovered I can't smoke somebody with Little Man in the Woods without cracking a laugh, so I'll wait later in the cycle to do that one. Drill Sergeants don't smile in front of Privates for the first three weeks. But yeah, I need to get refreshened on my army knowledge, which can be difficult when you don't drill for two months (we didn't drill in January) and I haven't played drill sergeant since beginning of November. But there is a PT test next month. Yikes, gotta run! Mobilization is still on for May. Knox is a go! Labels: Army, Drill Sergeant -Risawn: # 10:45 AM - |

12.05.2007

Drill Sergeant Relapse So, I work in a retail outlet that sells stuff, like retail outlets do. Since I've been back I've been trying to work the retail gig by being nice and smiling and being overall helpful. 99% of the time I'm really helpful, though I've been told that I may be a little to serious and intense sometimes and I need to lighten up and smile more. So anyway, the entrance is a one way, we ask our customers to go around and use the exit doors to get out of the store because you have to walk through the anti theft device. Before I continue, I need to make it known that I do not like thieves and liars. They will set me off. So when this guy asks me for the time and I give it to him, he decides its time for himself to leave the store and he tries to go out the door and I politely tell him "sir, you can't go that way." He becomes insistent and when he fiddles with the door again I make it a little bit more apparent "SIR, that is an entrance only." So he gets the door open and heads out the door, which generally means he stole something. I chase him down and go drill sergeant on him, threatening to call the police on his ass and wanting to get in his way just so that I can say he had to touch me out of his way so I can freakin' go apeshit on him (as you aren't allowed to touch shoplifters, unless they assault you first). Of course, I don't have my cell phone and the guy isn't listening and just keeps walking (but truthfully I don't think he'll come back after having to deal with me). So I head back to the store because a 5'3" girl wearing a santa hat isn't all that imposing, no matter how mad I get. Granted, this is the wrong mentality to have and when I went into the yelling frenzy my coworkers all thought to themselves, "hmm, that must be the drill sergeant side of her", which they haven't seen before. Of course, I was reprimanded because I didn't handle the situation the way they would like me to handle it. I'm thinking after BNCOC, I'll work there for about three more months and probably put in my two weeks. I like working there and all, but I really do need to get on with life, and the retail gig is not my choice of a place to work. Labels: Drill Sergeant, Work -Risawn: # 8:51 PM - |

12.01.2007

The Army and an FS2000 I almost recreated the 'not sorry' look. With an FS2000. That intense glare, the military uniform, the bad ass rifle in hand. See, I walked in the door in uniform and the first thing that came to my brother's mind was getting me to do a pose with his new rifle. I think it looks sharp with a class A uniform (a departure from BDUs), though I'm one of the few people in the army that actually likes the Class A uniform (other then the inability to keep a female uniform squared away to the contours of my body, another post for another day) A far off look. Hey, this one I'm wearing my hat! Another kick ass weapon that looks straight out of the game of Halo. I haven't gotten to fire it yet, but this will soon be rectified. And I love the rifle already! Labels: Army, Badass, Drill Sergeant, Guns -Risawn: # 9:29 PM - |

8.16.2007

Still Alive So, I thought I would update on the events of Fort Leonard Wood Missouri and how I'm hanging in here. For more information, the Milblog is updating. First off, I can't go into a ton of detail about my training here because, well, I can tell the training is meant for the Drill Sergeant to protect them and I wouldn't want to give initial entry trainees any extra ammo against me and my battle buddies. Furthermore, I've got really long days and tomorrow I'm going to have to wake up at Oh-Way-To-Freakin'-Early to take a bloody PT test. This is my main hurdle, but I'm confident I can pass it because I've been running. Everywhere. If I fail it, it's on account of the humidity here. But I ran the first day I got here (on a full stomach, so I only ran a mile) but if I can keep that same pace, I've shaved a good two minutes off of my two mile run. We'll see tomorrow. I'm going to be in shape after this school. But whatever the case, I'm enjoying myself and everything is going well. This blog will likely go to a weekends only posting pattern, because I really don't have a lot of personal time in the evenings to devote to updating it. I've got a lot of things to do, a lot of places to be, and a lot of crap to memorize. Labels: Drill Sergeant, Running -Risawn: # 6:17 PM - |

8.12.2007

About To Leave, and Can't Sleep It's nearly one in the morning, and my mind is racing a mile a minute. I seriously can't sleep. Maybe I'll catch some zzz's on the plane ride, but I'm supposed to be at the airport in three hours. I have a feeling I'll be a bit out of it all day today, not to mention I have trouble waking up in the morning and I'm losing two hours in the time change. Fort Leonard Wood, here I come. Milblog will be active again. I hope. Please refer there for any information in regards to Drill Sergeant School, at least when I post. This blog will update sporadically based on other thoughts or whatever, if I get the opportunity to post. Considering Fort Leonard Wood is in the middle of nowhere, I'm pretty much counting on not having much of a social life on my time off, nor am I really counting on time off. But, well, just in case. Now I think I'll try to see if I can catch a couple hours of sleep before I have to leave for the airport. My car has never been cleaner in the time I've owned it. I will miss it for the next two months. Labels: Drill Sergeant -Risawn: # 12:48 AM - |

8.10.2007

The Beat Goes On So, last weekend I may have mentioned was a Drill Weekend. Not a whole lot happened except for a couple of drill sergeant stories that amused me to no end (I'm taking notes) and a PT (physical training) test that I did, well, abysmally at. I passed my pushups and situps just fine (though my pushups could use some sprucing up and smoothing out, yikes!), it's my run that got me. I don't know what is going on, becuase I feel like I'm running and giving it my all and I never remember running being this hard. I hate growing old and being short because my pace is not the pace I need it to be to really pull out a strong run time on my PT test. So in order to combat this, I've been running every day this week to improve my run time, and yesterday I ran two miles (give or take, it was on a high school running track so the mileage is off by a little) and I found that I shaved a good minute and a half of my run time by running every day. However I have to shave another thirty seconds off of it before I hit Fort Leonard Wood to get a solid 70 points in that event. My goal is to get 70 in each even when I get there, at the very least. 70 won't be great, but it would be better then just barely passing, which is what I don't want to do. Fortunately, I do have a few things going for me. When I do run the PT test for DSS, I will be running with other soldiers and if I'm lucky, there will be another female there who can help me get a good pace. Pacing helps me a lot. Just as long as she's not slower then me. I just hope I don't slow her down! Leonard Wood is a lot closer to sea level then home is. The Elevation does impact your breathing when running, and right now my breathing is my biggest concern for the run. My motivation should be in full gear at that point. I don't know when I will be doing my initial PT test, but I intend to run on Monday to give myself an idea of where I'm at and how well I run the course. I fully expect to run into a Drill Sergeant and get treated like a private when I first get there, and get barked at by asking who my drill sergeants are, what unit I'm with and where the hell is my battle buddy. Should be fun. Meanwhile, back on the homefront, I'm trying to get everything in order so that I'm ready to high tail it to training and I won't have to worry about anything back home. This includes my car, my bills, my stuff, my rent, my fish, so on and so forth. However, my First Sergeant has told me to bring my Laptop along, so I am somewhat confident that I will have a little more freedom then I did when I initially went to Basic Training some seven years ago. I haven't been to Fort Leonard Wood in seven years. Before it was as a E-nothing brand spankin' new to the US Army private. This time it is as a slightly more matured buck sergeant hoping to earn an extra shiny for my uniform (as I don't have near enough). I should be getting promoted at some point through training. We'll see how that goes. Labels: Army, Drill Sergeant, Running -Risawn: # 5:48 PM - |

7.07.2007

Fun with New Recruits This weekend is a drill weekend. I'm thinking that a few of my readers probably wonder what goes on in the quest to become a drill sergeant and are probably disappointed that I don't write more about my drill weekends. To tell you the truth, most weekends aren't all that exciting. I take a PT test every month (I passed my run this time by 2 seconds, which means that I need to run a LOT more) and most of the time I sit in a class room and modulate on the Position of Attention and the Rest Positions while at the halt. I can also modulate the hand salute. Sometimes we march each other around to familiarize ourselves and we also do a lot of PT. But it is usually very routine and often times boring to discuss later. I'm very eager to get my hat, because I want to be done with this and actually do Drill Sergeant type stuff. Well, they let us have a little practice today by bringing in some fresh recruits, none of which have been to basic yet. The recruiters brought these new troops in to give them an idea of what they will be facing when they go to basic training as well as give them a leg up by providing some training in basic Drill and Ceremony (D&C) and some other training that they will encounter when they hit the ground at their basic training unit. Today it was Mout training, although I didn't get to help out with that. But I got to do the D&C training, with about six drill sergeants backing me up in full drill sergeant mode. Oh the fun to be had! Some of these troops were shaking, you could see the terror in their faces as they tried to do as they were told. This weekend confirmed to me that this is what I want to do, I had so much fun training these troops standard D&C such as Rest Positions at the Halt and walking along and making corrections as somebody else made adjustments. I think most of them thought I was just a little older then them doing this (most of these were kids right out of highschool) and when they found out I've been in the army just shy of eight years they looked surprised. A couple of them thought I was maybe 20 or 22 at the most. I wrote a little bit more about this experience on my Milblog, but it did get me geared up for the fact that I leave for Drill Sergeant School next month and now I'm all motivated to go there and kick butt. Now, all I really need to do is work on that run time. It would also be nice if I can shave of two minutes or so. Labels: Army, Drill Sergeant -Risawn: # 6:51 PM - |

2.15.2007

Brief Delay in Plans I got the results of my foot back yesterday. We went in for an X-Ray and it came back broken. Fourth Metatarsel on the right foot. I'm going in today again to see my doctor and have him give me a recommendation on what to do to get it taken care of. One thing for sure, Drill Sergeant School is out for March. But not all is lost. I just have to flip my schedule around for a bit. I was originally supposed to go to DSS in March and come back in May, where I was going to have to finaggle getting back into school and all that jazz. Actually, this works better. For one, I won't be missing Helena Handbasket and I might be able to finaggle Bloomsday in. And I won't get thrown off of my schooling for my degree. I just have to keep myself from getting hurt again. But they say I might be able to be back on it in a couple of weeks, so I'll probably still be able to negotiate the March Snowboarding Season. Labels: Drill Sergeant, health, School -Risawn: # 11:24 AM - |

2.12.2007

Running and the Army Meanwhile, Drill was this last weekend and it taught me something very valuable. I need to run more. I have NEVER done that poorly on a run before, though I'm not exactly thrilled with our track by any means. So for the next two weeks, I've made up my mind that I'm going to run daily. I took a nice easy run today and it actually felt good despite the fact that it smoked me on Saturday. Tomorrow I'm going at it again. And the next day. And the Next. Each day getting progressively harder and longer. Well, I have a month to scrape two minutes off my run time. This is doable, because its not like I have been running and conditioning myself and suddenly have to shave off two minutes, its that I haven't been, so if I work myself, I see this as doable. It should be pretty easy actually. I mean, I have to do 2 miles in 18:36, which is a nine minute mile. That's seventy points on the Army Physical Fitness Test, which is where I have to be. By the end of school, I'm hoping to be up there in the seventeens, and then I want to maintain that (I still want to buy a dog) as I want to be able to put my money where my mouth is when it comes to training soldiers because if I can't, they will eat me alive I'm sure. We were going over more modules (this is where you recite, ver batum, what Attention, the Rest Positions at the Halt, and the Hand Salute among other things is, so that you know it forward, backwards and in your sleep) and got to know the Drill Sergeant Creed. The fourth stanza is the one I want to be able to live by. "I will Lead By Example, never requiring a Soldier to attempt a task that I would not do myself." That's kind of one of the reasons I joined this specific unit. I want to be up there, training troops and earning their respect. One thing I regret though is not having the combat patch on my shoulder while I do this. Its kind of an honor issue I guess, here I am, training soldiers to go into combat which they will undoubtedly see, and I haven't been there to experience it myself. Kosovo sure didn't count. By next drill, I'll have my E6 Promotion Packet in. I should be pinned by the time I get back from Drill Sergeant School. Labels: Army, Drill Sergeant -Risawn: # 6:28 PM - |

12.03.2006

Drill Sergeant Update This was a Drill Weekend. Yay for Drill Weekends! I've got two more to go before Drill Sergeant School. In Fort Benning. Being an active duty school, I have learned that there is a chance that I might be able to get online while I'm there. But no guarantees so I might suffer radio silence for 9 weeks. Hmm. . . Anyway, the latest with the Program is I have to memorize a lot of words. Ver Batum. See, nobody knows D&C (that's Drill and Ceremony) quite like a Drill Sergeant, and there is a reason why the Drill Sergeant knows the position of Attention backward and forward, up and down, and can correct a soldier out of the corner of his eye. Because he literally knows this position from the 45 degree angle of the soldier's equally pointed out toes to the vertical alignment of the head and neck. And now, I know it backward and forward too. There is so many times that I've seen soldiers screw up the position of attention. Including me. I can guarantee you I'll never screw it up again, because it is engrained into my braincells now. Furthermore, I have now routed the rest positions while at the halt into my braincells as well. I have recieved a go at stating both of these modules, using the step by step method of instruction practically ver batum. And now that they are engrained into my head for life, when I was in formation today the fact that the platoon leader didn't know what she was doing was more evident then ever. We were called into formation with a Hospital unit (first sign) who put the unit At Ease. So we sat there looking around, wondering what was going on when the other units started putting their units at Parade Rest (for you civilians out there, a different rest position that is more formal, and more locked up.) It didn't help that we were in a formation with a naval unit in charge, which was throwing us off that much more. So the Platoon Leader calls us to Parade Rest from At Ease. This is what has been engrained into my braincells from the module on Rest Positions at the Halt. "Parade Rest will only be commanded from the Position of Attention." In short, if the unit is At Ease (they can move when they're at ease), you have to call them to Attention to bring them to Parade Rest. Civilians might be looking at me and saying "why are you so anal retentative about this? Does it matter?" In the long run, probably not. But in regards to discipline and military custom and courtesy, yes. It is a sign of discipline and respect when you perform these simple formations properly. And people who know better (like the plethera of Drill Sergeants that fell into this formation) won't look at you like you don't know what in the hell your doing and you aren't given the reputation of 'tore up'. Meanwhile, the CG came by, and we were all commenting on the CG's aid, and being a Drill Sergeant Battallion, we were wondering if she was in regulation or not. I stated she wasn't, though some people were trying to argue that she was ok. See, she had dark brown hair cut short with her bangs long up front. Now, her style wasn't bad, it was the blonde streak that she had in her bangs that framed her face. The one blonde streak. It looked like Rogue from the Xmen, seriously. People were stating that as long as it is a natural hair color, she can do it. So I can put Red, Black, Brown and Blonde Streaks throughout my hair so I look like a calico cat? No, because it looks faddish and unprofessional! Besides, I think it is also supposed to blend naturally, you aren't supposed to have dark brown hair with a platinum streak through it and be a captain in the military! Gees! At least I'm catching these things. I might make a good drill sergeant yet! Labels: Army, Drill Sergeant -Risawn: # 11:16 PM - |

10.14.2006

Ho-Hum So lately my life is encompassing school and a couple of ferrets. Every now and again I get the privelege of going to an army drill, but all in all, my life has become rather mundane. The search for employment continues. I'm looking at getting a job through the VA Work Study Program (I can do it as long as I have GI bill coming in) which is tax free. And tax free is good! I've also looked at other things to do to occupy my time. The CERT course (Community Emergency Response Team) has been helpful in taking up a portion of my time on Mondays, and I can use it as Volunteer points. So far I really enjoy the class. In regards to the army, nothing like getting hazed for delaying your entry into Drill Sergeant School. They would prefer I go in January. I keep insisting that I've been there and done that and would prefer to go in March. So that's what I'm doing. I was half tempted to change my mind and go in January but I decided to stick with the March date for three reasons. The first, its bloody cold in January. As I said before, been there done that. The Second, it fits so nicely in with my schooling to wait until March. When I come home in May, I can just transition back into school. The Third, well, being a Snowboarder and all that purchased a season pass. . . I would prefer to be able to use it and not cut my season short. So that's it in a nutshell. Me and the army and the rest of my hum-drum life. Labels: Army, Drill Sergeant, Volunteer, Work -Risawn: # 8:26 PM - |

10.12.2006

DS Status Somebody mentioned wanting to have an update on the Drill Sergeant thing. I'll have to be clear in that I'll likely only update my status on becoming a Drill Sergeant once a month. That would likely come around my drill weekend, or the more correct term being Battle Assembly. As a Drill Sergeant Candidate, I am not a Drill Sergeant yet. When I go to drill, I learn various modulations that will be necessary for me to know when I gain the badge and go down range to train soldiers. They also work on my marching, cadence calling, drill and ceremony, and how I carry myself. Basically the things I will learn in Drill Sergeant School are reinforced before hand, helping me get an edge on what I'm expected to know. I actually don't go to school until March, so I have a while, and while I'm at school I don't expect to have any internet access so my blog will likely be down. Until then, I will be expected Because I did so well at the range last drill, I won't be firing at this one and have been given the task of teaching a class on Stoppages and the Eight Function Cycles of an M16. This is also to show that despite the beliefs of some people, I can prove that I really am competant enough to teach a class. I'm looking forward to the opportunity, and it is important that I am able to do this as teaching and training others is a primary task of a Drill Sergeant. I am eagerly looking forward to going to school and proving myself, I have mentioned this before but this unit has given me a motivation to excel in the military again. I'll update more on this over the weekend. Labels: Army, Drill Sergeant -Risawn: # 1:39 AM - |

8.14.2006

DI In training I sincerely hope I don't look this psychotic when I finally make Drill Sergeant (some day. . .) Labels: Army, Drill Sergeant, Photomanipulation -Risawn: # 10:26 PM - |