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Michael Kardenetz
Basic Training in the Rear-View
Basic Training in the Rear-View
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Join me as I take off for the Army. Follow me, and read my account of the many strange new people that I meet along the way. This is not the usual Hollywood woven Basic Training experience, this is the real deal!
.......I believe that in the Army, “intestinal fortitude is often used as though it is synonymous with “mental toughness.” This is a misnomer; the two are not interchangeable but will be used as such, primarily by NCOs. Whatever you do- do not under any circumstances use a word like “misnomer” to correct the semantics of a Drill Instructor. You will end up underwater in a pool of your own sweat.
Drill Instructors value knowledge like anyone else- but don’t generally take kindly to being corrected by Privates. If you make the attempt, I will venture to speculate that the response might sound something like this:
Drill Instructor: “thank you private, why don’t you explain the difference to me from the front leaning rest position.” And you will be expected to educate the pavement, now in front of your face, as well as the Drill.
Just accept the contextual usage as the Army’s vernacular and drive on. “I would get beat up pretty heavily for using that last sentence.”
.........There wasn’t actually enough room within the confines of this formation, even at a half right face, to get down on the ground. So we’d wind up doing our pushups with some other guy’s heel in our faces. I can recall one time- much later, where I not only had to dodge some guy to my front’s boot, but also, another guys’ ass. So as I was pushing up and down, I had to additionally bend my head as far as I could to my right in order to clear his buttocks. ............
................This was the penultimate in awkward. Showering in an open room with a group of guys is weird, but defecating next to your battle buddy and then wiping your ass directly in between two others is just indescribably uncomfortable.
As men, we’re accustomed to pissing next to one another, but taking a crap while “butting” shoulders with your buddy just makes you feel sad inside.........
......We spent a night in the field at the KD or known distance range to hone our skills at shooting from various ranges. The firing lines were occupied by one Platoon while another Platoon would be down range hidden beneath a huge bunker. The shooters would take aim and fire at the large square targets; we’d pull down the targets and mark where they hit with white tape so they could see how they did. Then we’d bring the targets back down and blacken them again with black tape.
From the position of the bunker we could hear the bullets crack by overhead, each breaking the sound barrier, creating a miniature sonic boom. One of every five rounds was a tracer round which meant that the tip of the bullet was coated in incendiary material so when fired it would cast off red sparks. This was close to watching really good fireworks under the dusk of the early evening. I loved the KD range.............
.......I believe that in the Army, “intestinal fortitude is often used as though it is synonymous with “mental toughness.” This is a misnomer; the two are not interchangeable but will be used as such, primarily by NCOs. Whatever you do- do not under any circumstances use a word like “misnomer” to correct the semantics of a Drill Instructor. You will end up underwater in a pool of your own sweat.
Drill Instructors value knowledge like anyone else- but don’t generally take kindly to being corrected by Privates. If you make the attempt, I will venture to speculate that the response might sound something like this:
Drill Instructor: “thank you private, why don’t you explain the difference to me from the front leaning rest position.” And you will be expected to educate the pavement, now in front of your face, as well as the Drill.
Just accept the contextual usage as the Army’s vernacular and drive on. “I would get beat up pretty heavily for using that last sentence.”
.........There wasn’t actually enough room within the confines of this formation, even at a half right face, to get down on the ground. So we’d wind up doing our pushups with some other guy’s heel in our faces. I can recall one time- much later, where I not only had to dodge some guy to my front’s boot, but also, another guys’ ass. So as I was pushing up and down, I had to additionally bend my head as far as I could to my right in order to clear his buttocks. ............
................This was the penultimate in awkward. Showering in an open room with a group of guys is weird, but defecating next to your battle buddy and then wiping your ass directly in between two others is just indescribably uncomfortable.
As men, we’re accustomed to pissing next to one another, but taking a crap while “butting” shoulders with your buddy just makes you feel sad inside.........
......We spent a night in the field at the KD or known distance range to hone our skills at shooting from various ranges. The firing lines were occupied by one Platoon while another Platoon would be down range hidden beneath a huge bunker. The shooters would take aim and fire at the large square targets; we’d pull down the targets and mark where they hit with white tape so they could see how they did. Then we’d bring the targets back down and blacken them again with black tape.
From the position of the bunker we could hear the bullets crack by overhead, each breaking the sound barrier, creating a miniature sonic boom. One of every five rounds was a tracer round which meant that the tip of the bullet was coated in incendiary material so when fired it would cast off red sparks. This was close to watching really good fireworks under the dusk of the early evening. I loved the KD range.............
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