After debating on what all I could distract myself with to avoid setting foot on the pavement when I last wrote, I gave up and put on my shoes... and drove to the gym. I didn't run, I got on a stationary bike and rode my happy fatass 5-10 miles into itunes bliss while I gazed below at the hard bodies playing basketball. I'm sure they only work out once a week, so surely I'll get in shape in no time. I have this thing about running in public. All those people can SEE me... and I'm just SURE they're judging me. I judge people when I see them running, I'm horrible like that. I would say that I'll stop, but let's be honest here damn it, their jiggly bouncy bodies are in my way and I'm sure they will cause me to be a good ten to thirty seconds behind schedule. Either that or they're so in shape they make me feel gross. So my goal for this week is to run at least 15 miles, total. Sounds easy, but I forsee maybe 10 happening, if the weather doesn't give me an excuse to skip it.
I had drill this weekend. Let's kind of put a perspective on what goes on during my drills. Being a cadre is a fun role at the RSD (recruit sustainment detachment). I am not a cadre, but nobody but the cadre know that. The privates all think I am one of the cadre because I eat at their table, talk to them as if they are my peers, spend a lot of time in front of classes, answer questions, and do a substantial amount of work around the offices. What am I? A cadet. In the process of getting ready to ship to officer school. I'm currently in this limbo stage where I've been through basic, but I'm not MOSQ (Military Occupational Speciality Qualified -- basically, trained for a job) , so I know... the very basics. It's like getting an associate's degree in general studies before you go to get a bachelor's in a specified field... or your high school diploma before you attend college. I know how to shoot a few weapons, how to throw grenades, how to do some combatives, I know some of the lingo, how to dress, how to address different people... but as for a certain skill, I really don't have one. This seems to be a reoccurring theme with me. :/ So, being the cadet, I get there when the cadre do, grade the PT tests for the privates, help instruct classes, help in the office when SFC McC needs me, and cater to their needs. I've even taken their personal vehicles to get detailed. Well, this drill weekend was a little more special to a private, who I'll call... Sickem.
PV1 Sickem has to have some kind of deep-seeded social disorder... I wouldn't call him a sociopath, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him to go all VT on us. He has the lowest rank in the military, outside of the people who just enlisted at his rank, only due to the fact that he's been through BCT (Basic Combat Training) so he has some knowledge as to what's going on. Which makes his actions even more incredible. He had the nerve to tell SPC Gragle (a fellow cadet of mine) that until we make "full bird colonel" that he won't respect any of us. Gragle informed me and the other two cadets about this, so we decided the best time to approach Sickem about this and see what he said, would be in front of the mass formation. This ended up being very nice, because it just so happened to be when he was in charge of his platoon. This means he was already up, front and center. As soon as we asked him, he denied saying that. So, we asked his platoon if he had been misquoted. They all said no, that he had been quoted correctly, so we asked if they were lying. Sickem said YES!! He claimed that his ENTIRE platoon was lying about his actions.
Here's a few things you don't do in the Army (or really, any other organization):
1. You don't tell your higher ups that you don't respect their position when you have no experience in the military. This being for a few reasons, but namely, so you don't look like an asshole and so people don't shit in your boots while you sleep.
2. You stick by your battle buddies. You never leave a man behind. You also never tell someone that your entire platoon is lying and that you are the only one telling the truth. Sorry, one against twenty isn't going to look so well in your favors. Especially when the person who quoted you is standing right in front of you, because that is who you said it to.
3. Don't spend the rest of the day, after getting in trouble, fighting back little bitch baby tears because you fucked up and got caught. Man up and admit when you're wrong and move past it. Lord knows the only reason I'm still going on about Sickem is because of his pussy ass reaction, his unwillingness to admit what he did, and the fact that he milked it until he left.
So, after the questioning and the yelling and the lies and the bullshit we all had to endure through Sickem's mayhem, we decided a little corrective action was needed. I hate pushups as much as I hate running. Yuck. But, the other cadets were down with him proving that they're worthy of respect so I had to get down, too. I thought they would just respect my cute looks? No? Well, crap.
Needless to say, I can't wait to run into Sickem every month from now on. :)
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The Plan.
We all have plans, right? Where we want to go in life, what we envision for ourselves, etc... This turn of events is not what I had planned at all. I had a set list of how my life was going to go, what I was going to do and how I was going to do it. My "plan" went something like this:
1. Graduate high school (easy enough).
2. Go to college (no idea where, or what to major in).
3. Graduate from college (a first for my immediate family).
4. Land dream job with a corner office with a view of some major city.
5. Find beautiful man to share the rest of my life with.
6. Get married.
7. Have the perfect marriage, perfect life, perfect kids, perfect career.
8. Secretly enjoy the fact that people are jealous of me and want to be just like me.
Ok, so steps one, two, and three were easy enough... and that's about where I stopped. I went to college and decided to major in business for my associate's degree. It was the cutoff date to sign up and I was in the office, looking at the paper that asked me what I wanted to major in... With all the little check boxes with their options listed to the right of them, business seemed most logical to me, who doesn't need business majors to help run their highly successful companies? So, that was easy enough and I was ready to get my bachelor's degree. This time, I decided on marketing. Honestly, my reasoning was that a couple cousins of mine had done it and had done ridiculously well in it, so thought I automatically would, too. (Plus, I hated financing and accounting with a passion and marketing is perfect for NOT dealing with those subjects.) I picked the most entertaining major in the world. The projects were fun, the classes were exciting, I got to work with really fun companies, and I met some really amazing people. I had FUN in college. Looking back, maybe I should have focused more on the work and not so much on the fun.
Then college was over, and there I was; 23 (almost 24) years old, waiting tables at Bonefish Grill, nobody was knocking at my door to beg me to work for them, and not a lot of promising jobs were looking for a college grad with waitressing on her resume. Talking with another gal I had graduated with, who was also waiting tables, she made the joke one day of "why don't you join the military and become an officer?". Call it impulse, call it a lapse of judgement, call it whatever you want, something about that just sounded like a good idea. So, two hours later, without an ounce of wine to blame it on, I was in SSG Miller's office, discussing my possible military future.
It took me about three months to decide if I was actually going through with this and if so, which branch I wanted to join with. The National Guard eventually won me over. on 090909, I enlisted and signed roughly the next ten years of my life away to the government. I remember the night before I shipped to basic, SSG Starr and SGT Hilger came to see me at the hotel. I was a nervous nelly. Being personal friends, they were less formal and invited me to have a few cocktails, which I think is the only reason I got to sleep at all that night. The next 75 days were... fun. Think I'm crazy, but getting the chance to carry around big weapons, blow things up, and have someone yell all the time over nonsense made sense to me. I just loved it. So then, after basic training, I returned home. Back to waiting tables, watching TV, drinking wine, and thinking about working out more than actually doing it.
A hip injury kept me from shipping to OCS (Officer Candidate School) when I wanted to, and now instead of shipping July 10, I'm looking at a tentative January 11... I'm more annoyed than you can imagine, but now since I've been my typical lazy self, I'm down to the wire and have to put my running shoes on and hit the trail, starting today. So, being a fitness stud has never been in my plan, but I guess that plan went to shit the day I graduated college. That's it for now, time for me to get off my lazy ass and see how much I still hate running.
1. Graduate high school (easy enough).
2. Go to college (no idea where, or what to major in).
3. Graduate from college (a first for my immediate family).
4. Land dream job with a corner office with a view of some major city.
5. Find beautiful man to share the rest of my life with.
6. Get married.
7. Have the perfect marriage, perfect life, perfect kids, perfect career.
8. Secretly enjoy the fact that people are jealous of me and want to be just like me.
Ok, so steps one, two, and three were easy enough... and that's about where I stopped. I went to college and decided to major in business for my associate's degree. It was the cutoff date to sign up and I was in the office, looking at the paper that asked me what I wanted to major in... With all the little check boxes with their options listed to the right of them, business seemed most logical to me, who doesn't need business majors to help run their highly successful companies? So, that was easy enough and I was ready to get my bachelor's degree. This time, I decided on marketing. Honestly, my reasoning was that a couple cousins of mine had done it and had done ridiculously well in it, so thought I automatically would, too. (Plus, I hated financing and accounting with a passion and marketing is perfect for NOT dealing with those subjects.) I picked the most entertaining major in the world. The projects were fun, the classes were exciting, I got to work with really fun companies, and I met some really amazing people. I had FUN in college. Looking back, maybe I should have focused more on the work and not so much on the fun.
Then college was over, and there I was; 23 (almost 24) years old, waiting tables at Bonefish Grill, nobody was knocking at my door to beg me to work for them, and not a lot of promising jobs were looking for a college grad with waitressing on her resume. Talking with another gal I had graduated with, who was also waiting tables, she made the joke one day of "why don't you join the military and become an officer?". Call it impulse, call it a lapse of judgement, call it whatever you want, something about that just sounded like a good idea. So, two hours later, without an ounce of wine to blame it on, I was in SSG Miller's office, discussing my possible military future.
It took me about three months to decide if I was actually going through with this and if so, which branch I wanted to join with. The National Guard eventually won me over. on 090909, I enlisted and signed roughly the next ten years of my life away to the government. I remember the night before I shipped to basic, SSG Starr and SGT Hilger came to see me at the hotel. I was a nervous nelly. Being personal friends, they were less formal and invited me to have a few cocktails, which I think is the only reason I got to sleep at all that night. The next 75 days were... fun. Think I'm crazy, but getting the chance to carry around big weapons, blow things up, and have someone yell all the time over nonsense made sense to me. I just loved it. So then, after basic training, I returned home. Back to waiting tables, watching TV, drinking wine, and thinking about working out more than actually doing it.
A hip injury kept me from shipping to OCS (Officer Candidate School) when I wanted to, and now instead of shipping July 10, I'm looking at a tentative January 11... I'm more annoyed than you can imagine, but now since I've been my typical lazy self, I'm down to the wire and have to put my running shoes on and hit the trail, starting today. So, being a fitness stud has never been in my plan, but I guess that plan went to shit the day I graduated college. That's it for now, time for me to get off my lazy ass and see how much I still hate running.
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