Day 37 - Bad day turned good

Started off rough, but today ended as a "good day" (more on that in a moment). I was seriously concerned about our 6 mile march and whether my legs would hold up. I made it, but just barely. As soon as we started going up the last hill, I started to fall back, which got me yelled at. So while I'm happy I finished, I'm still worried about the final 9 mile march.

After breakfast, we got to do grenades. At first I stunk at that, too. I had to throw the practice ones three times before I could go on the range.

One the range, there were a lot of procedures for safety and organization, but actual throwing is not hard. All you have to do it get it outside the pit, and everyone's happy. But that's really important -- GET THE GRENADE OUTSIDE THE PIT. Mine went out a good ways, a little to the left.

After that, we had lunch. I got #19 Beef with Vegetables, though I didn't actually eat the main course -- we ran out of time. Instead, I ate the crackers with chocolate peanut butter, the raisins, the caramel apple ranger bar, and someone else's snack mix.

In the afternoon, there was a dumbed-down "grenade qualification" thing. I think normally there are seven categories to do before you can get a badge, but for us there were only four.

We trans'ed back at 1500 and then walked to the PX for haircuts and essentials. We got paid today, but don't get our LESs (Leave & Earnings Statments) till the end of the month.

For dinner there was buffalo chicken (which I finished) and afterward we worked on our DNC -- drill & ceremony. I've still got some work to do there. We learned counter-column and right/left flank.

I also got to do 50 push-ups for not bringing my immersion ammo (a magazine of blanks) in my pants pocket. *sigh* Gotta remember that.

I got a LOT of letter: two from SY, one from Bobby, onefrom Dad, and one from Pop-Pop. The one from Bobby had some good OCS information, but made me nervous about PT scores and rucksack marches. From what he said, having a score of at least 250 is very important.

SY's letter talked about how much trouble she's had in getting on base. Pop-Pop's fine. Dad sent some picures.

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So this brings up the question: "What constitutes a 'good day'"? For me, it's finishing every meal, not getting smoked, no fireguard duties, and getting a letter from home. No matter what else happens, if those four criteria are met, it's a good day.