Not Another Weekend Drill...

I felt realllly lucky not showing up to drill at 0645...On Saturday, I had to show up at 0800 for formation but really it's more like 0745. If you're not 15 minutes early, you're late. Some other guys were not so lucky. They, on the other hand, had to show up no later than 0645 and get on a bus for Orlando. Some of the other soldiers were going to have to partake in a Pre Health Assessment (PHA), pretty much a physical. They were going to be at our Headquarters in Orlando all day, but not I.

Well, I took care of my PHA like six months ago but it didn't mean that I was exempt from work this weekend. I had counselings to wrap up, inventory new equipment, make sure old equipment had maintenance records up to date, and prepare for our company's Christmas party that was being held on Sunday. Every year each company puts on some sort of Christmas party for their friends and family come into our armory. It's kind of like an open house. We have a myriad of different weapon systems set up in what we call a "static display." A static display is defined as a fixed, stationary position. It gives the families an idea of what we train on, how weapon systems work, and a person there will give them more in depth information on that particular piece of equipment.

50 cal. machine gun

60mm Mortar system

 



Sunday, early morning 0645, we all were standing in formation waiting for the First Sergeant, well, the majority of us. There are still a couple dirt-bags who think they can show up when they want to but the Army will process them out. Some soldiers were taking a physical fitness test due to their poor performance in October when they failed it. Absolutely ridiculous to not be able to meet the Army standard, a civilian could probably pass first time go. The rest of us were going to do some sort of physical activity (PT). It's kind of our way to see if the lower enlisted soldiers are keeping up with fitness on their own time.

Just when I thought we were getting ready to start PT, monkey wrench in the equation, the commander has everyone go back indoors for a briefing. Being in for many years, I knew what was about to take place. The younger guys hadn't a clue. The commander begin to start with, "the company will be conducting a 100% urinalysis." A "piss test" what we called it. It didn't really bother me, my body is clean, but some looked a little perturbed. Ok, I was a little upset that I might miss my PT session; however, I understand that this has to be accomplished to weed out the druggies, no pun intended.

Well, It only took about one and a half hours so it was off for a two-mile run. I wanted to run the two mile portion of the PT test to pace fellow soldiers. You cannot drag, pull, carry or help in anyway except for yell and motivate. When my soldier came in at 17:36, I was very distraught. I tried to yell and motivate but he was completely incoherent. This was not the first or second time he had failed either. How can a 20 year old, so called man, not meet the Army minimum standard. All he has to do is make this two mile run in 15:54. It's really close to an 8 minute mile, which is not hard by any means. Needless to say, he will be taking it again next month...

Pt run

 



All in all, the company Christmas party went extremely well. There were plenty of toys to hand out to the kids, Santa even made a visit. Our lunch was contracted from Boston Market, what more could you ask for. I told everyone, "see ya next year" as I only see these guys once a month and will not make my over 2 hour trek till January. So, with that being said, until next year...