Blues

Let me think, to begin Thursday of course we had PT, it was not like normal, it was more fun than normal, and normal is pretty fun. Today we ran around BYU campus and sang jodies, it was great, i love to sing jodies and it was super duper fun. Anyway we ran from the green up to
the Marriott and the back down to the det and then to the green again, it was fun, did I say that already? One of the cheers was saying "U S AIR FORCE" we did that a lot and sang some other jodies.

Classes were today, we learned about Billy Mitchell who was a very visionary man who got court-marshaled because of his belief that the navy and the army weren't paying enough attention to air power, it was cool
At lead lab we had to wear the short sleeve blues uniform. Today we got a surprise inspection, I think everything on my uniform looked pretty good, my shoes may need to be more shiny. Then we marched around a bunch and further practiced column movements and marching
steps. The T.S.O. says we're better than the other FTP flight, that's pretty cool. The TSO's are VERY cool, I'm so glad I got in their flight. I guess its not just them, its everyone in the group that I think makes our flight enjoyable, I cant wait to get to Field
Training. being Thursday, as most of my past Thursday's have been, its going to
be busy, its about 1730 right now and tonight I still have to go to choir and then to an Arnold Air Society Meeting.. Then bed and a little sleeping in tomorrow. Huah.

Marching

Today we had to wear out short sleeve blues uniforms and we marched
for most of the hour. I would have thought it was easy, but it's not
really that easy. I just need to practice more.
I got up on time and got there on time, everything was pretty normal.
The only funny thing is that a lot of cadets are having a hard time
saying "Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Todd" for some reason when he's in
your face its kind of nerve racking. Anyway he was kinda bent about it
today, and I don't blame him, people should get his name right, but
it's still kind of funny when many cadets get it wrong. oh well.
We marched around in column formation trying to do column right and
left, we got pretty good at it, but it's still not great.
sorry, its not an exciting entry, maybe tomorrow, we have lead lab
then, we get to sing jodies!!



--
Morgan Hall

PT

Here we go with another week of ROTC. I'm looking forward to it. This morning was not really any different than normal. Got up, went, we ran around and around and did some sit ups and push ups then we practiced at using road guards and that was about it. But don't get me wrong they still worked us hard and I'm a little sore too. The funniest part was when we went to go pick up our sweats from where they were folded and placed a cadet couldn't find his, and his keys were in one of the pockets. So someone else had probably accidentally took his sweats and drove off in his car with the other Cadets keys in the pocket of the sweats! What a suck!

I love it!

I wasn't raised with any military experience, my dad was in the army for a very short while and that was long before I was born. The only other person that had anything to do with the military was my grandpa, he was in WWII and flew planes for the air force before there was an air force, I've heard several of his stories, I always thought they were cool. Having said that, while I was in the process of singing up for the AFROTC I really didn't have any clue what I was getting into. So the first couple of weeks I was curious about whether I would like it or not. So far I love it!

today, got up super early again, put on my PT clothes and I was off. We went through FTP just the same as usual. Today we did do something new, we did "ladders" where from your starting point you have to run to another point and then back to the starting point. Then you have to run to another point that is further than the point that you ran to the first time and it builds and it hurts. We did that and it was pretty fun. I'm not too good at it either. After we had done that we went in to some column formation and a cadet raised his hand and said "sir, permission to go throw up!" the kid bailed the line and it was pretty funny that he asked. At times like those, its not that necessary to ask.

anyway, I went home and I was feeling pretty good, I think it's cause I got more sleep than usual I got to bed about 2200 instead of 2330 or something. Once I was home I did some more sit ups and push ups cause I really wanted to get my muscles hurt so I would get tough well, I got ready for classes and left, the as200 and as100 classes were pretty normal. Then lead lab came.

At lead lab we met up at the Marriott center parking lot and then we got in to our flights and then ran up to rock canyon park it was super fun for me cause I was already physically wasted and I was pushing myself more, I enjoyed it. The best part was the "jodies" that we got to sing on the way up there (jodies are sung in cadence, usually someone leads the group and the group repeats what the leader sings). I love to yell/sing so I got a kick out of it. Once we got up there we had to be placed at different stations and do certain activities. The first one we split up into two groups, the first had to run to the top of a hill and come back down and then had to do push ups, your buddy ran up and then came down and did sit ups, then you ran up came back down and did sit ups. That was very tiring. The next station was a lrc of some sort, I volunteered to be the leader and we had to get across an imaginary river using some orange cones and rules. It was hard and we didn't get it figured out 'till the end, then it was too late. Next we did foot ball then some more ladders and push ups and sit ups and flutter kicks then we had to get quizzed at movements, marching column movements and so forth. It was pretty tough. Then we ran back down to the Marriott and did jodies along the way, it was great!

that's not even my whole day, I still have to go to choir practice tonight and then to an Arnold air society meeting.. The fun of the ROTC never seems to stop

ps, I would write more but i'm against the clock

I love this stuff..

BDU!!!

Today, I finally got my but out of bed about 05:08, this was later than I wanted because on days that I have to wear a uniform I like to be clean shaven, and I Shave my head so I did not have the luxury of taking my time, I hurried through the whole thing and slapped on my bdu's and left for ftp. (btw, I spent 2 hours last night ironing and polishing my shoes)

We got there and did some stretching out and then stood some more, the IG was there(inspector general), he is Cadet Williams and he's cool, but for the most part the uniforms weren't that great but oh well. As the Cadets went around checking out the other Cadets we got to stand at attention for a long time, well it wasn't that long just like 15mins or so. One of the Cadets got nervous when he was asked to speak the other cadets name so he couldn't say his name right, he was given about 3 chances to get it right when the Cadet lieutenant Colonel said "what's the matter, don't you like my name?!" and the cadet replied, "I love your name, sir!" I was in the front of the formation and I was luck no one saw me cause I smiled when that happened. After that we went through some exercises for "road guard" it was learning how to march across a street with the threat of traffic. It was pretty cool.

FTP!!!

So, it's pretty normal for me to have about 3-4 alarms set to wake me up in the morning (alarm on cell phone, watch and alarm clock), not that I need that many, it's just that I don't want to be subject to alarm failure and sleep in. Don't get me wrong I like sleeping in, I just hate missing something I'm supposed to be to even worse. My alarms went off today for about 30 mins before I finally got up. I got to FTP on time, but for some reason I just don't think its early enough and its not the first time. I need to leave my house earlier.

Well, today was pretty normal, we did some push-ups, sit-ups and ran 1 1/2 miles. All of which kicked my butt. I don't excel at any of those things yet. One of the T.S.O.'s made me recite the Air Force Mission, after I finished it (successfully), he said "my ears hurt, good job." It was kind of funny.

16 SEPT 2004

So, I intend to make additions to this blog weekly, at least. First I will go over my experiences thus far, for I have been in the ROTC program for a few weeks already.

My very first class ever was Physical Training (PT). I was at 6am on a Tuesday. The instructor had all of us fall into formation and then we had to find a buddy. The buddy you had would run the track once, and you would do sit ups or push-ups, then you would run the track and your buddy would do the exercise. This went on for a few minutes and then the rest of the time the instructor talked to us and that was about the whole day. Getting up at 5am hasn't been a problem for me yet, lets hope it stays that way.

The next class I had was Thursday, also PT, it was pretty much the same as the time before, except this time the had a ball game going on. This game was pretty strange, there were about 100 cadets in this small netted court and there were two soccer like goals at the end of each side. There were two volley balls thrown in and some sides were picked, but no way to discern who was on who's side. Anyway, the over all point of the game was to find fault, you couldn't walk with the ball in your hand and your feet couldn't leave the ground. If you looked like you weren't doing any thing, which several guys weren't, then you would get sent to the penalty box. There you would do push ups or what ever the guy told you to do. I was playing and was kind of bored, so I sent myself to the penalty box for doing nothing, I did a few Push-ups and stuff, then I came back in to the game. No sooner had I done so when I got sent back in to it for doing who knows what. It was a lot of fun. I got a kick out of the whole thing.

That same day I had my first round of classes at the detatchment. Since this was the first day, the classes where pretty simple. The teacher of the first class, Major Armistead, as200 did a short power point presentation and then had us go get weighed and height checked. That was it. Then the next class as100, was the exact same thing, so I had nothing' to do. It made me happy to know that all the officers already knew my name before the first day of class.

The next class of the day was leadership lab, we meet in the law building and some cadets and members of the cadre talk to us. Then we split up and got some simple overviews of proper saluting and marching, how to address a superior and things like that.

Other things that have happened. We ran stairs at PT, we played some basketball, which I hate, we did flutter kicks, we did an Indian run. That's where everybody jogs single file and the guy at the end sprints to the guy in the front, then they whole group rotates as they run around the tra ck, I got a kick out of that. Oh yeah, I remember the first day, I knew not to take it to seriously, but some kids, I think, put too much effort in to it. So much so tha the first day kids were throwing up and making themselves sick. The thing I try to do the most is just blend in, I don't intend to be the head of the pack, nor would I be at the end.

FTP officially started this week. We are required to be at "the green" at 6am Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning. FTP stands for, Field Training Preparation, since I am going to field training next summer, and I'm in bad shape, I need this class. It's harder than just normal PT, Here they push you harder to get the cadets better prepared for Field training. Preferably they want everyone in the top 10 percent of their flights when they get to Field training. I will try my best to do this. I doubt this only because of my age and how I feel physically when compared to others who are TONS better than me.

ok, I think that describes the past enough, one quick paragraph about today

I got up at 5, put on my PT clothes and left about 5:30am, I usually don't eat before I go to FTP. Today the whole group got split up in to two. One group had to do Push-ups and stuff and the other group went to go run, well, we sprinted a lap and then rested for a minute. And then sprinted another lap. I'll tell yah, I can run 5 miles, but sprinting is not something I'm used to doing. It kicked my but. Earlier this week, on Tuesday they had us do flutter kicks, and that works your abs like crazy, I was already sore and hurting before today, but today we had to do them more and it was tough. There better be some gain from this pain. The Classes today were okay, were still just covering basic stuff. Leadership lab they taught us more cadence and marching moves, were not that good yet, well were probably downright terrible, but everyone in the group helps each other out and its not so bad. We also, at lead lab had some self defense training, it was fun, some guy told us how to elbow someone in the face and then ram our knees in to chest, it was pretty cool. Today was also the first day that I got to wear BDUs, I spent an hour last night ironing them and polishing my boots and they are still now where near where they should be, although my hat looks pretty nice.
okokok, I'm out.

16 SEPT 2004

So, this is my first entry for my blog. This blog will mainly describe my experiences as an AFROTC cadet.