BOLC Week 3

The best thing and the worst thing about time is that it just keeps on ticking. In times like these I love that fact. It is inevitable, the end is drawing closer and closer. All I have to do is show up in the right place, at the right time, in the right uniform. Not to mention, do the right thing. It's amazing how hard that last part is for many people. I quickly learning that something that seems obvious to me is completely unlearned to the next person. How does that happen? I'm convinced it is a direct reflection of their upbringing. You can't avoid it, the family structure is at the center of everything. That is why it is so important that we focus on protecting the family. I digress....

Week 3.... It's been good. This week I had my very first combatives workout. At this point I find the warm up more difficult than the actual moves. Our warm up lasts about 30-45 minutes. We do a lot of rotations and stretching to prepare our joints for the somewhat awkward positions you find yourself in. Following rotations we do several exercises. There is one called the alligator that I literally CAN NOT do. It is like physically impossible for me. The gym is hot and doesn't have air conditioning, just some barn fans placed here and there. We are all literally dripping by the time we finish warm ups. We wear a set of ACUs without any patches and no shoes. Some people wear wrestling shoes, but bare foot seems to work just fine. We haven't gotten into anything too intense yet, more of just familiarizing ourselves with the dominant positions of a fight. Next we'll work on how to get to those dominant positions from non-dominant positions. We did learn a little bit about inside control and were able to partner and work competitively to gain inside control on them from a standing position. For practicing purposes I tend to pair myself with another girl from my platoon. However, when we do a few competitive rounds at the end we are randomly paired. That's always interesting. Sometimes you are paired with a fairly passive partner without a competitive bone in their body. At other times you'll pair with someone who is a little too aggressive for practice purposes. On our second day of combatives we worked on what appears to be similar to wrestling moves, I guess you could say. The sequence of moves we went through to gain dominant position part way through puts your opponent balancing on the base of their neck with legs in the air as you mock "choke" them. I asked my roommate if I could practice some of my moves on her, of course she declined. :) I guess it's just not for everyone.

This week we also had two tests, a mid-term and CBRNE. I love the Army tests, their great! For training like AMEDD BOLC the intention is not to weed out the weak or fail anyone. The point is just to familiarize everyone with Army medicine both garrison and down range. All of the instructors made sure we were completely prepared ahead of time and we all passed with flying colors. The other test we took was on CBRNE, basically, chemical warfare. We were allowed to take the test with open book, open notes. You would think it would be a cinch. Our instructor told us, "I'd be willing to bet my paycheck that this is the easiest test you'll ever take." Well, it ranked right up there with a nursing exam. HARD!! Half the questions didn't even reference the slides we were given. Plus you waste all kinds of time looking up answers because you second guess what you remember from the briefings. Ugh! We haven't gotten our scores back on that one yet. Hopefully I squeaked through. Even if I didn't, like I said, the Army is great. For all of those who don't pass, you can retake the test online as many times as you need to. We shall see.

This week we all went through SRP. This process is set up for all the soldiers to go through to ensure that all of our medical is up to date and in the system in preparation for future deployments. It was a long day of waiting. Moving a few chairs at a time for about 2 hours. I thought I was pretty squared away since I had brought all of my shot records and literally my entire medical record from home to try to keep things short and sweet. Only problem was that my shot records revealed that I was due for just about everything!! So much for that! I ended up with three shots in my left arm, one in my right arm, a tb test in my forearm, and a blood draw for six tubes. My shoulders are still sore. But I can't complain...I got paid to sit in those chairs for 2 hours and every single one of those tests/shots were things I needed and the Army paid for. That night we had a reception with the Commanding General. Basically we all go through a receiving line and then mingle for a while. A receiving line is when you meet some of the big wigs. You will first meet an officer of lower rank who gathers basic information about you to introduce you to the next officer. When the LTC, COL, GEN is ready, they motion for you to come to them and you move at the position of attention. Meanwhile the lower ranking officer is telling them, "This is 2LT Swan, she is a nurse from Wisconsin." The conversation goes from there. Unless you have something amazing about you that they want to ask you more about the conversation is usually pretty short, which is probably just as well.

This morning was pretty interesting. I received a phone call from my roommate at 0930 letting me know she was over at BAMC and would need to be picked up at some point today. We had planned to go to an outlet mall and then tubing down the river today, but none of it worked out. She was jogging on the track when a platoon of soldiers came up behind her at a much faster pace. She started to move to the edge of the track to get out of the way, miss stepped, and fell down. She ended up with a lumbar compression fracture and some torn muscle in her tush. She was only recently released tonight at about 2030....12 hours later. She is to report back on Monday morning for an MRI. Decisions will be made from there regarding her status for training. Hopefully she will be able to continue, otherwise, she will be recycled to the next group. That is a pretty defeating thought when you're at training. You're counting down the days to be done so you can see your family and then you find out that you'll end up going a lot longer than originally planned. Ugh! Keep her in your thoughts and prayers!!

Next week I am squad leader. Here at BOLC that really doesn't man a whole lot. I basically means that you are just a link in the chain of communication. Much different than when I went to LDAC as a cadet. Being squad leader was an exhausting position there. You were being evaluated on your every move and piece of communication. With all of the direct commissions it's difficult, or should I say impossible, to expect the same standard. For many people here, this is their third full week in the Army. They just figured out what a squad leader is! Anyway, this is our last week in garrison before heading to the field. We were told to encourage constant hydration as we prepare for the field at Camp Bullis. Supposedly it actually reaches temperatures 10-15 degrees over Fort Sam Houston temps. They regularly have a handful of soldiers fall out from heat injuries out there. I hope I'm not one of them!! I'm trying to keep up with my water, nutrition, and gatorade for lyte replacement.

I'm a third of the way through!! :)