Basic Training

Here is Julia's address at basic training, so please write! Also included are a few segments from her letter home.

SPC Black, Julia A.
4th Platoon, Wolf Pack
E Co., 1-34th in Regt, 165th in BDE
5500 Marion Ave.
Ft. Jackson, SC 29207-6019

May 19, 2011
Got tired and fell asleep on the flight in, so I’ll have to skip ahead. We got delayed coming in and didn’t get to Columbia, SC until almost seven and Ft. Jackson until 8:30. They didn’t let us go straight to bed, instead they continued processing until almost 1 am and then announced that our wake-up time would be at 3:30 am. Unbeknownst to any of us, 2 ½ hours of sleep was really optimistic. They crank the AC up and run it all night until the entire barracks are freezing cold and then tell you to sleep in shorts and a t-shirt. I think I managed to get 45 minutes that night. The next day was possibly the longest day of my entire life. All day we trooped around the reception area to stand in another line, always strategically placed under an AC vent to keep us awake. It was pretty much non-stop until 9 pm that night and then they finally shipped us off to bed. I slept in the winter gear they gave us and actually managed to sleep. Today they’ve started to crack down on us a little. A very little bit. They don’t want us to get hurt before we ship from reception to basic, so we don’t do any PT. Most of the other girls kind of suck. Loud, crude, angry, immature and selfish. Not all of them are though, so I find the best policy to be to just kind of lie low. Limit my interactions. I figure it’s only a matter of time before a BIG fight breaks out. Right now they’re all friends, but a couple of girls have already started snapping at each other in formation. There’s also a communal shower and a lot of the girls will go stand under the water and soak while everyone in line is watching.

A few amusing incidents thus far: I have narrowly escaped having to wear the infamously hideous “birth control glasses.” When we did the eye exam here I went kind of brain dead and pushed my hand against the eye I was covering, which was then too blurry to see anything of of, so I was routed into a separate room for an exam. They determined that I have a slight issue with my left eye, but the lady said it was my choice whether or not I wear glasses, since the shooting range would be the only time it might prove to be problematic. If it is, I can come back then and get some.


1st Day of Basic 5/20/2011
The first day of basic is NOT fun. The first thing we did after we got off of the bus is race down a hill to a cement area called the drill pad and then run in place with our bags over our heads while the drill SGTs gather around and scream insults and swear at you. You hear a lot of stuff like “crazy, weak, female!” Followed by a string of profanities. Then they split you up into platoons and send most of us off to the barracks but my platoon leader started us off with pushups followed by more pushups. Although I noticed right away that our female SGT is less fond of the f word than most, and the male doesn’t use it. He told us later he doesn’t curse, doesn’t like it, won’t tolerate it from us. Talk about a rapid answer to prayer I guess. Our drill Sgt appears to be the physically hardest on his platoon but I guess if that’s what I have to do to make it through, so be it.

One girl from another platoon tried to quit today. She got hauled off for some private consultation and now appears to be back in the saddle.

Also they took my phone and searched our bags, everyone but mine. Drill Sgt. Scott came by, stared at my Book of Mormon for a minute, asked if I had contraband, and then kind of looked at things for a second and moved on. Everyone else’s stuff got pulled out, inspected very carefully.

Spoke Too Soon-Day #2 5/21/2011
I will be reporting to ophthalmology sick call on Monday morning. My drill Sgt insists I get the glasses so I can have them on hand, if needed.
Today thins eased up a lot. 50 pushups today, but the abs got kind of crazy tired from getting smoked today because some of the girls apparently have poor personal hygiene. Let’s be honest, though, hygiene here isn’t exactly a priority when you have 60 women showering under 6 shower heads inside of 15 minutes or less, it’s in and out, barely get wet.

We got our M-16s today, but I think we won’t actually be firing them for some time. Right now we’re trying to master not pointing them at each other, which is not going well at all. It’s a hard concept for some of these people.

May 22, 2011
It’s only 11 am and so far today we’re up to 203 pushups, but I’m pretty sure that there are a lot more coming. I got up this morning and was going to take my church hour to clean the bay (our room in the barracks) but one of the Protestant girls was freaking out because she didn’t have a battle buddy (ours are not assigned, we’re just not allowed to be alone) to go down for early chow so that she could get to her services. I volunteered to go with her and when we got back we had 30 minutes or so to kill before services. Everyone in the bay was standing around saying stuff like “What? What’s LSD?, What religion is THAT?! I think it’s Mormons or something.” I asked a couple of girls what they were talking about and they said I had just missed an announcement that some “LSD Private” in bay two is holding services but you need permission from a drill sgt. My female drill was here and all too eager to grant permission provided there would be at least two men and I could get two of the girls to come with me to drop me off. Someone reported that there were a bunch of men, which turned out to be a gross exaggeration. There were 5 of us and an investigator, so we ended up holding a first discussion. We weren’t able to go anywhere private but one of the drill Sgts said we got screwed over on Sunday services, so he would authorize us to sit at a picnic table outside. We just had to keep standing up at parade rest everytime another drill Sgt walked by us. They also announced that we will be authorized to attend one hour of regular services next Sunday.

There was also a physical altercation at final formation tonight, but the two girls were physically restrained and separated before the Drill Sgt showed up for the personnel/weapons count. They asked us to be in flip-flops for final formation tonight and then the Drill in charge of the counts came in and checked us for toenail polish. I had some on……wasted 20 minutes in the latrine tonight chipping it all off. Sometimes the Drill Sgts say the most hilarious stuff in formation and it takes everything I have not to burst out laughing. Twice I’ve not managed to keep it in check. The first time was when they told a girl to fix her hair because it looked like a squirrel was jumping out of the back of her head and then tonight when he got to the last girl and she is a black girl with black polish on her toes. He said (edited) “Holy Cow! Your toes are BLACK! That’s just not natural. Well……obviously your toes are going to be black. I was talking more about the toe nails.” At which point I lost it and three or four others followed. I think he was secretly pleased though, so there was no punishment.