Up at 5:00 [a.m.].
Lots of work, much paperwork.
Initial push up test.
A little marching.
Sleepy.
No D.I.s [drill instructors] yet.
Some cool people.
Sergeants OK.
Bled from shot--sort of smart ass.
Said, "Sergeant, could I get something before
I bleed on the floor?" Didn't intend
to be smart ass actually.
Just didn't want to look wimpy.
I wasn't in basic training yet. Before our actual DIs saw us, we'd be processed and outfitted. We'd all look alike--bald and green--before the drill sergeants saw us. And they kept us busy.
And it made us look alike to each other. That and little sleep were part of the process--a mild brain-washing really, and I say that with no condemnation--that was designed to turn civilians into soldiers.
The initial push up test was just to make sure you could even start basic training. One big, strong, guy--who of course was called "Tiny"--couldn't pass the test. He and others would go through a pre-basic training conditioning course before being allowed to start basic training. Ouch. I was not one of them. I learned the previous fall in no uncertain terms in a mini-basic training weekend that the Michigan Army National Guard put on at Camp Custer the tremendous importance of being able to do push ups. So that I was prepared for.
The marching reminded us we were in the Army. And it was nice to meet some good guys. One thing I noticed pre-basic training and post-basic training was my change in how I looked at officers. Before going to basic training, when I went to unit drills, I tended to talk to the ROTC cadets assigned to the unit. Not that I wasn't getting close to the enlisted people in my platoon. But if I saw some cadets hanging out, I had no inhibitions about chatting with them. Really, we had a lot in common--we were civilians dressed in green. After basic training, I was an enlisted man. I saluted officers and took their orders. But I did not identify with them. The cadets I couldn't even appreciate at all.
Funny enough, going to my first Association of the United States Army convention in 1997, where I presented a Land Warfare Paper, finally killed off my saluting reflex. There, one-star generals held the doors open for 3-stars. I stopped even reacting to anyone with fewer than 2 stars on their shoulders.
Of course, part of what I understood early was that you didn't want to show weakness. So while I was bleeding and obviously wanted that stopped, I tried to portray it as wanting to spare their floor from being stained.
And of course, having gone to sleep at 2:00 a.m., I had but 3 hours of sleep for my first wake up in the Army.
