mychai's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End Is Getting Closer Dear Mike, Well, the thing I was most scared about passing at BMT has passed. I am, of course, talking about P.C. � Physical Conditioning. If you haven�t realized it through my many months and years of my writing, I will spell it out for you. I�m pretty lazy. I am quite content with sitting on the couch all day long watching �Judge Judy� and �Ferris Bueller�s Day Off.� To say I was physically conditioned before coming to BMT would be bending the truth until it broke in two. The P.C. requirements are as follows: Push-ups:30 in two minutes When we did our initial evaluation during our first week of training, and I only squeezed out 25 push-ups, 35 sit-ups and I made two miles in 21:25. Keep in mind that during the first week, your body is still in shock and you can�t do as much as you could back home. (Oh. And you still haven�t pooped after a week, and backed-up plumbing is not conducive to good P.C. evaluations.) The first two days of the fourth week of training had our final P.C. evals scheduled. I wasn�t at all nervous about the push-ups. I was a little nervous about the sit-ups. I was downright scared when it came to the run. Have I forgotten to mention that if you fail any part of the P.C. evals, the powers that be will recycle you a couple of weeks? If that ain�t encouragement enough to run like the wind, I don�t know what is. So, on Monday morning, at around 4:55 a.m., we headed out to do the push-up and sit-up portion of the evaluation. The push-ups were easy. I got 50 in the two allotted minutes. I technically didn�t do all 45 push-ups. I was one short. But a little white lie when reporting my numbers didn�t hurt anybody. The run on Tuesday was no fun at all. I HATE running. But I started and determined I would haul booty all two miles. Which was a good idea up until just after the first mile when it felt like my calves were being sliced off of my being with a red-hot butter knife. So, I stopped running and walked for a while. Then I would run a few hundred steps and walk a few dozen. I looked at my watch periodically: 13 minutes, 14 minutes, 15. The finish line was nowhere in sight. How do you like this suspense? I finally saw the finish line. Way, way ahead, and I didn�t have much time. There was no way in hell that I was going to get recycled, so I gave it the ol�Forrest Gump effort and--to put it frankly�hauled ass. I crossed the finish line with seconds to spare�10 of them to be exact. My two-mile time was 17:50. Some of you�most of you�are probably thinking that you could walk two miles in 18 minutes, but 17:50 is my best time ever. The hardest part for me during BMT was over. I won. I succeeded. And yes, I cried. One thing about BMT�It sure can make you cry a lot. During the first week and a half we were here, I developed a pretty nasty cough, all phlegm-y and yucky. But I got over it and now I am perfectly fine. I wish I could say as much for my flightmates. I would say a good 40-50% of them have it now. And we are losing two guys to pneumonia. They are going into medical holding until they get better, at which point they will be placed into a different flight at the same point of training as they left. Poor guys. I would have to say my best friend here is a guy I�ve mentioned before by the name of Reisner. He�s a really neat guy who is into a lot of the same things I am. He lives in the bunk right next to mine, and we usually end up talking about food or music all of the time. He is also going to tech school at Keesler, and we are going to try and be roommates. I hope it works out because we have a list in progress of all the places we want to eat when we get out of BMT. My best contribution to the list thus far is a burrito from Chipotle�s. Have you had one of those? If you threw it, you could kill a small animal if one were so unlucky to be in its path. They are huge, delicious and cheap. And I am jonesing for one like you wouldn�t believe. A few more notes before I close shop for the night. First off, if you didn�t notice under the title, we had steak and lobster for dinner tonight! Steak and f�ing lobster! At boot camp! The lobster came with herbed butter and was oh, so delicious. I hope tech school food is this good. This will be my last update for a while. We are going off to Warrior Week on Sunday, and that means I will be away from any mail (sending AND receiving) for all of next week. I�ll write again as soon as I can tell you how that went. In a weird, sick way, I am looking forward to the gas chamber. Finally, to those who have sent me mail�THANK YOU! You have no clue how great it makes me feel to get letters at mail call. But, this ride is almost over. So, after July 4, no more letters, please. I may be gone by the time it arrives. JP 9:18 a.m. - Sunday, Jul. 06, 2003 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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