Tempestuous Fury

We graduated on the 10th, 4 days ago. The ceremony was pretty laid back and by most accounts a bit lame, as we’d practiced to do it outside and pass in review with the whole battalion and it ended up being inside in a gymnasium with all of us just standing at attention. We recited the Soldier’s Creed like good little robots and the crowd went wild, and then we went out into civilization outside the post. It was a reasonably good time, not having to be rushed at chow, eating at Blimpie’s, eating an ice cream cone, eating candy, etc. But it was good to get away from Ft. Jackson, as everyone is so sensitive there. Every last person from the highest officer to the lowest NCO seems to want his say on how we should be trained in Basic, and things done his/her way, not that other way. The Army is going soft, and it’s because we don’t do things like THIS! Or THAT! I had a couple of incidents that day that made me feel like I had become a political football that would get thrown around between NCOs back at the post because our company graduated us OCS people slightly differently, telling us to wear our E-5 sergeant’s stripes on Graduation Day, and it had never been done that way before. Ick.

So the next day we all woke up at 0300 to clean the bay one last time, and we got on Government transportation at around 0930, after it rained a bit on our stuff sitting in the grass. (True military tradition! ) And the drive was very uneventful to Ft. Benning, as we all passed out most of the way there.

So now I’ve been here for a couple days, coming off the 4 day pass given for Columbus day. It’s been very restful here at the HHC, which is functioning as the holding company for the OCS training companies. The next cycle is picked up on the 26th or so, so we’ve all got a couple weeks of busywork details till then, lots of time to prep by studying and PT. The DFAC chow is great, it doesn’t give me gas like Ft. Jackson’s did, the salad bar is always properly stocked, and you can have hot coffee or tea! It is a wondrous thing.

Personal vehicles are permitted, it’s just there’s no way for you to get off post to get them, ha ha. 25 mile off post limit during passes on the weekend. And amazingly, sharp objects are now allowed, eg Leatherman and Gerber multi-tools.

Amenities here are amazing. The After Hours Enlisted club has a late night Subway, wifi internet, big screen TV lounges for sports, and a well stocked room of computer game terminals and arcade games, the FPS genre dominating of course. It would on an Army post. There is also a corner bar serving both ends of the spectrum, beer and Pepsi brand sodas including Mountain Dew. I’ve yet to see the actual Recreation complex which my map labels as having a video game arcade; the After Hours club is not labeled as having such, but I could have confused it as a small LAN gaming business. I commented to my buddies from Echo 1-34 as we were exploring that this was what they should have taken a picture of and put in the recruiting pamphlets, and there was merry agreement. *chuckles*

There’s a bus system to get around the post, which is nice as we have no cars and this place is designed for people with automobiles. There is a college campus feel to the whole area, at least for me. Everyone is young and fit, and here to become officers and thus study. The bus system is free to those who flash military ID, which is also reminiscent of UF’s bus system, except that here the bus is actually useful for going to the main PX. Vandergraff and I walked there yesterday as the bus system was offline for Columbus day and we needed stuff for OCS at the Military Clothing and Sales store there. A nice MP lifted us the last quarter of the way there (it was about a 4-5 mile walk), and we discovered that the thing was closed for the day. Of course. *rolls eyes* So we looked over the place, got some stuff in the Exchange, and ate Taco Hell at the Food Court, and then looked over the Commissary. I got some caffeine supplements, just in case, and then we headed back. A nice fellow who was on some sort of convalescence from Ranger Indoctrination Program (RIP) stopped and gave us a ride in to our barracks at around the halfway point. It seems that Benning is really several decades in the past with this sort of niceness and decency being commonplace. This is good, but can produce oddities: for example, the bingo parlor next to the Commissary. How is that even popular anymore anywhere? But on the whole the antiquities have been good so far. *chuckles*

Internet connection is annoyingly restricted.  All gaming sites, including Penny Arcade, are restricted by the post firewall as pornographically explicit and inappropriate or some such, a big stop sign graphic with alot of text comes up in the browser window explaining how the Army is protecting me from myself or something.  Myspace is also prohibited on General Principles or something.  Some poking around indicated the firewall is organized on a blacklist basis however, which is good.  Could have been worse, it might have been a whitelist basis, which would be tougher.
Anyway, must go.  Accountability formation occurs at 21:00 tonight, which is ~40 minutes off.  I’ll keep in touch from here on out to all you faithful readers, heh heh!