One More Time...This Time With Feeling!

Ok, so now I've been here at HHC for 6 weeks...and have done some crazy fun things and insanely boring things while here, and have officially earned my Secret Squirrel Badge!! In fact, I bought it today when I went to the PX.

Monday, June 20, is my next attempt at classing up. If I make it, it will be with B (bravo) Company. Bravo is a touch company, but if I make it with them and earn my Commission, you better believe I will be proud of my accomplishment!! There are horror stories from people who got recycled/dropped from the program because of Bravo, so commissioning thru them will mean a lot.

If I don't make it with Bravo, then I'll try again in 3 more weeks. Look for some kind of post either from myself or Matthew as to whether or not I class up on Monday. He's been great about keeping my friends updated thru Facebook!

Anyway...with all that being said, PLEASE pray that I class with Bravo! I really don't want to be stuck in HHC for another 3 weeks. I'm already looking at being here for 4.5 months for a 3 month program!! Thanks for your prayers!!!

Another One Bites the Dust

Well, here I am at the end of week 3. Some days it seems like I've been here forever, and then others it seems like time is flying. Today, may seem like it takes forever because I'm on yet another 12 hour staff duty from 0900 to 2100. Yes, it is a holiday weekend, and no, because we are on 100% immersion, we don't have the weekend off. Fun stuff, let me just tell you!!

Tuesday is our next class up day. Yesterday we had 18 new OC's show up from Fort Jackson, and then we will have 6 more show up today. There will be even more come in on Monday...they are cool enough to have weekend passes because their Drill Sgts from Basic Training worked it into their orders.

Now, the optimistic thing for me to say right now is that I WILL be classing up on Tuesday with C Company. The realistic thing for me to say, however, is that I will probably miss the cut for C Co, and probably class up in 3 more weeks with B Co. Why, you may ask...well, because my side is just now to the point where I can push through the push-ups...and I have lost strength, so my PT score is not high enough for me to class up. I will pass the test, but it will not be high enough for me to class.

I've already spoken to my husband about that probability...and he is taking the news very well. He is so supportive of me! I could never ask for a better husband than the one God gave me!! Now, because I don't want to have that same conversation with him in 3 weeks, I will be starting a new workout regiment on Sunday in an attempt to gain strength in my arms and core. But I'm obviously going to be taking a total body strength approach. It has been frustrating not having a gym to use for my workouts, so now I have to be creative and start doing to body weight exercises that will net me the same benefits I would get from the gym. Pray for me!! I need to gain a lot of strength really fast!!

Mentally, I would say I'm ready to class up. Unfortunately, there is a lot of negativity in the wonderful place called HHC, so sometimes it is hard to keep a positive spin on being here. But God is gracious and He always provides the encouragement I need right when I need it! I'm ready to get back into training and learning new things. Again, just pray really hard that I can class up sooner rather than later!!!

I hope you all have an AWESOME Memorial Day Weekend! Don't forget the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we could live in this free country! God bless you all, and stay safe!

I'm Still Alive!

So, it's been a few days since I last posted. I would love to say that a lot happened in that time, but that would be a lie! Not much changes here at HHC. Not even on the weekends. I will share a little secret with you though...

...This past weekend, my wonderful husband was helping his brother, Josh, and Josh's family, to an apartment around Ft. Benning where Josh is stationed. Yep, his brother is in the Army, too! We Grupps apparently like serving our country! :) Anyway...while Matthew was helping Josh, he took a little detour and found my battle buddy and myself on 12 hour staff duty on Saturday. I absolutely loved getting to see my husband for a few minutes on Saturday. I loved even more that he was able to go to Chapel with me on Sunday morning! I didn't realize just how much I missed going to church with my husband until Sunday morning. I can't wait until that is a regular occurrence again!

Now this is where I beg you to pray for me! I have a VERY important PT test Tuesday morning of next week, and I know I am not ready for it. Please be praying that I can do the prep work and gain the strength I need this week. This PT test will determine whether or not I class up next week. Thank you for your faithfulness to pray for me. It means so much to me.

Yay for 12 hour staff duty again tonight...3 hours down, 9 to go!!

Time is Ticking Away...

Wow...I've almost been here two weeks now, and most days feel the same. Get up, do PT, take a shower, eat chow, do bay maintenance, go work a detail, go to chow, sit in the day room and try to stay awake, maybe work another detail, go to chow, come back for final formation, get a couple hours of personal time, go to bed, and repeat the next day! While in holding, the only thing that really changes is what we do for PT (M, W, F - Run; T, Th-Muscle Strength), and the detail you work. Today's PT was great though...B Company is graduating next week, so today we had a battalion Grad Run for them. It was a 4 mile run, and we did it in 35 minutes...an 8:45 average pace! That made me feel great. I can't wait to class up and start doing our release runs where I don't have to worry about tripping over the person in front of me! :)

The good news is, I think I'm finally starting to form some friendships here. Some of them are going to try to class up at the same time I am, and others are simply waiting for their orders to come in to either go home or go to AIT. Obviously, I want to try to get on as many people's good side as possible! That way I have a better chance of NOT being peer evaluated out of my class!!

The even better news is that, while in holding, I get to talk to my wonderful husband, Matthew, every night! I would be remiss if I didn't mention how wonderful that man is!! God truly blessed me when He brought Matthew into my life. How many men do you know that would lovingly and encouragingly support their wives in quitting a perfectly good civilian career to run off and join the Army? To be honest, I don't know that many! The love and encouragement my man gives me every night on the phone is what helps me keep my sanity while in this waiting pattern.

Well, I'm incredibly tired, and have been fighting sleep all day. So, good night blog world...I'm going to sleep early tonight! Be blessed!

Airborne Leads the Way

No...I'm not in Airborne School, but I did get to work a detail where we helped them out with a jump day. No lie, it was kind of cool. I got to watch 366 soldiers jump out of an air plane 4 times. My job, not so glamorous...I was a road guard...meaning I closed a road every time a plane took off, and opened the road every time the plane landed. The detail started at 0500, and we didn't get back to HHC until 1850. It made for a long day.

Today was a little more laid back. Today's detail was setting up for B Company's Graduation Social. Believe me when I say it made me want to hurry and class-up so I can get through the 12 week program and graduate already!!

On that note...please be praying that I am able to get my push-up and sit-up totals up in the next week and a half so I can class up with C Company. As easy as this place called HHC is, I don't want to be here any longer than absolutely necessary!!!

Anyway...I know this is a short post, but I wanted to update you on my "exciting day" in OCS holding. Be blessed, and have a great night!!

Another Day, Another Dollar

I know, my subject lines are no where near being creative, but give me a break...I'm crazy tired right now!! : )

So, today was just that...another day. The plus is, I earned my income with it. It started out by me going to the TMC (the doctor's office those of us in training have to use.) I went for a few reasons, and praise Jesus, all of them were addressed in a positive way. I am still in pretty bad pain from my side injury, so I went to see if they could give me some more meds without putting me on a profile. Because I'm an officer candidate, I can't be on profile (lite duty orders) for more than 14 days, or I'll be automatically medically released from the program. Yay for me, they gave me more meds and did NOT put me on profile. Secondly, I went to see if I could get some new glasses (less hideous ones than what I had through BCT), and yay, I got those ordered, and should be able to pick them up this Friday or Monday at the latest. Pretty cool...new glasses without paying for them!! (And they actually look nice, not scary like the ones I had at Basic!!!)

We basically went to lunch as soon as I got back from the TMC, and then it was straight back out to do more AB (Area Beautification.) I am not exaggerating when when I say that I have spent 8 hours pushing a lawn mower over my last 3 working days. That could be part of the reason my side is hurting so bad today! But, no profile means I don't get out of doing manual labor.

Now for the fun portion of my day. It is 21:32 (9:32pm) and I am just getting started with my 12 hour CQ duty. I'll get to finally go to bed at 09:00 tomorrow morning. The best part about doing this duty is that I'm on "Recovery" all day tomorrow, and I won't have to work the AB that's on the schedule for tomorrow...I get to sleep ALL day if I want to!!! The not so cool part of this duty is that the only thing I'm going to be doing for the next 12 hours is answering the phone 4 times every hour for the other companies to tell me they are all secure. The rest of my time I'll be playing on my computer or my phone in an attempt to stay awake!

Yes, my training really is this boring for the next 2 weeks. Lord willing, after that, it will get a lot more exciting!

Have and incredibly blessed night!

Are we there yet?

So, I've obviously graduated from BCT and you may be asking yourself what I'm up to these days. Well, I am sitting in this thing called HHC (as a hold over) waiting for my chance to "class up" for Officer Candidate School. Yep, that's right. I want to be an Officer in the US Army!

I've been here for exactly 1 week and 1 day now. Some days it is fun to be here, and others, not so much. The reason I'm in holding is because I'm injured. I pulled my intercostal muscles and my oblique muscle on my right side during BCT, and it hasn't fully healed. I'm still in a considerable amount of pain. I'm trying to see if I can do all the required physical activities before I try to class up on May 31. Lord willing, I'll class up that day, and will graduate as a newly commissioned 2nd Lieutenant 12 weeks after that.

In the mean time, I get up at 0520 every morning and do PT with the rest of the HHC hold overs, then spend my day either doing Area Beautification (AB), random details, or sitting in the day room going over required knowledge for when I class up. Last night I worked a 12 hour overnight CQ shift, and got to spend the day today in "recovery." That's the fancy way to say I got to sleep all day today!! : )

God has been very good to me while I've been here at HHC. My first day here...last Sunday...I spoke to my 1st Sargeant about the injury, and he worked it out for me to stay here without any negative consequences, and told me to try to use this time to let my side heal before classing up. This past Friday, after PT, my company 1st Lieutenant pulled me aside after our PT session and asked why I hadn't classed up yet. When I told him I was injured and trying to avoid going on profile, he told me to try to work out with his group and he would work with me on the exercises I'm finding it difficult to do because of the injury. Praise Jesus they are working with me!! God is reminding me daily that He has a reason for me being here, and that has helped me keep my mind in the game!

Again, thanks for all your prayers...and please, keep sending them up for me!! Good night all!

There's a First Time for Everything!

Ok...so I've had this set up for a while, and never actually blogged, so I'm going to try it out for a while. If you are interested in hearing about my Army Journey, this is the place to read about it. This first blog will be a recap of Basic Training.

Basic Combat Training (BCT) was actually a very cool experience for me. To be honest, it was nothing like what I expected. There was a lot of yelling from day one. There was a lot of intentional confusion. We started most days at 05:00, and ended most days at 21:00. We were busy pretty much all day.

I got to do some really cool training while I was there. I qualified with an M16A2 rifle as a sharpshooter (hitting 30 out of 40 targets), got to throw hand grenades (yes, real, live hand grenades!), and we did this cool drill called buddy bounding...there were two of us running down opposite sides of the same lane shooting live rounds at targets in front of us. One of my Drill Sargeants actually gave me a compliment at the end of my run through that lane...that was pretty cool!

Unfortunately, it was not all good stuff. I did in fact get hurt while I was there. In my 5th week of training I pulled a couple of muscles in my right side. I didn't think too much about it since the pain wasn't too bad. The unfortunate thing is that I kept training at 100% and aggravated the injury to the point where I had to go to the doctor and go on a profile for a few days. The meds they gave me didn't really do all that much for me, but it healed enough to be bearable again.

Sunday was a pretty cool day...I got to go to chapel, and then spend the rest of the day cleaning. One of the guys in my platoon told the chaplain that I play the guitar, so a couple of Sundays I was able to do a little praise and worship for the chapel service...the chaplain even gave me one of his prayer coins as a "thank you for your service" gesture. I thought that was kind of cool.

For those of you who have been praying for me on this journey, I extend my deepest and sincerest gratitude. I would never have made it through all of that without God, and I could feel your prayers daily!!