Day 7: If I have to write my name, date of birth, and social security number one more time...

The roommate that sleeps at 8:30am, as expected, wakes up at about 4am. He does not believe in tiptoeing or using a flashlight, but prefers to turn on the megawatt fluroescent light instead as he rearranges his entire locker as part of his morning activities. I am kicking myself for not having brought one of those wussy sleep shades I always throw away from the free packs on international flights.

Damn, I hit the snooze and woke up 15 minutes before first formation. I briefly thought of trying to wolf down some chow, but didn't want to be late on the off chance that yesterday's 90 minute wait was an unusual occurrence. Like the name of this blog says and as most of my buddies know, I don't like to miss LD and am pretty anal about being on time (actually, except when I meet friends to go diving, right guys?). So I bailed on breakfast and went out to make formation. I ran into someone coming the opposite direction who said that formation was postponed until 8:30am. Got to the chow hall just in time to see them lock the door.

The 8:30 formation was strike two for CRC. Half the group went to get fitted for their uniforms and body armor and the other half was supposed to do another task. Instead, the second group waited for 2 hours in the bleachers. Fortunately, I was ready this time and had my Amazon Kindle 2 out and was enjoying today's newspaper on the e-reader while others were sitting around bored. The Kindle got a lot of questions and attention. Some people got it right away (one guy loved it as an alternative to carrying a Bible), while others rolled their eyes and said they'd stick with their paperbacks.

All that wait was just for us to get fitted for more uniforms. These are fire-retardant versions of the regular ACU (Army Combat Uniform). I gave my regular size and surprise, surprise...what i've been wearing for the past 17 years is still the right size. That was expected, but what ticked me off was that the improved body armor vest did not come in S or XS. Same for the neat, soft wicking undershirt. I saw a guy about 5'8", maybe 160 or 170 fit in a medium and didn't even bother trying it on. This is the only "hot" deployment center and they can't get body armor to fit small guys or most women?? It was the only time I got a little pissed off all day, even more than waiting hours to receive duplicate briefings. I hope to draw this stuff in Kuwait, but am not holding my breath.

In the afternoon, we got box lunches and went to main post to get some repetitive briefings on conduct and transportation and to fill out more forms. Guys who had finished their SERE training (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) could leave early, so I was finished up by 4pm.


Trip down memory lane look at airborne school training... NOTHING seems to have changed there in at least 15 years.