Running while sleeping??

Welcome to this edition of Memory Lane. Please feel free to join in the blog hop or just enjoy laughing at my memories ;-)

This morning I made my poor husband be the 'bad guy' and had him kick me out of bed to go walk the dog at O'dark 30.  That way I could be showered and ready for our first day of school.  I was heading down the 2nd street of my walk before I became fully awake!  And this includes being yanked around a bit by my very excited large beast of a dog ;-) This reminded me of my days at Basic Training, January of '98, Fort Jackson, SC.

I spent just a few days in Reception Battalion waiting for the start of a new class at Basic.  They had to have a full roster to begin a cycle and thankfully I didn't have to wait long.  I lined up with all the other new recruits, sitting on my duffel bag.  I sat right next to my good buddy Jessica who was from my home state and my National Guard unit.  We had hoped to be in the same platoon (group of apx 20-30 folks) and be battle buddies for this experience.

A Drill Instructor with that tell tale sheriff, wide-brimmed hat came by with a piece of chalk in his hand.  He bent over and was writing a number on the end of our duffels.  I got a 1, Jess got a 3.  We were to find out that we weren't in the same platoon, but thankfully in the same battalion (BN).  As soon as our boots hit the ground, the yelling started.  Most of that first day was spent in the 'front leaning rest' position.  And by the time my head hit my pillow that night, my arms felt like jelly.

For the next several weeks, I would 'wake up' half way through our first mile of running, or during my second rep of push-ups.  After hitting the rack exhausted and bone weary, those early mornings were so hard!!  I am generally a morning person, so having this foggy headed wake up experience was totally new for me. 

It took a few weeks to adjust, but I became the most annoying, positive, cheerful little recruit my Drills had ever had.  It sort of helped that I had already been married to a soldier and he had happily given me numerous pointers on how to survive basic and what to expect.  Believe it or not, I still fondly recall my Basic days.  Hooaahh!!!

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