Boot Camp
One of the most life-affecting experiences that any person can have is a stint in the military ( as any veteran will attest). I am certainly no exception to this rule. Away from family, friends, and even casual acquaintances, forging new friendships with individuals from every imaginable background was a challenge as well as a necessity. The uncertainties of what the next day, hour, or even moment held was a novel if anxiety-spawning experience. Basic training is the biggest challenge some soldiers will ever face - for those involved in the mundane but necessary tasks in supply and administrative functions - while it is a mere stepping stone to the more physically taxing and mentally demanding training regimens others continue on to with elite schools such as Special Forces and Airborne Rangers. Nonetheless, the experience ties all soldiers together with a common background into a new culture. My first recollections of Basic Training involved the two short days inprocessing at Fort Dix, New Jersey. I recall vividly the huge black men hanging out of the barracks hurling imprecations at the new trainees - a truly intimidating sight for a northwesterner. This was a different perspective for me. Here, racism was alive and w
The Senior Drill Instructor stated at this point that any men who wanted to go back and see their mommies could stand over by yonder tree and wait. Nine weeks isn't forever, even though it might feel like it, and so I opted to stay; the rest of the military would not be this bad. A few individuals, sobbing but relieved, picked up their bags and ran over to the tree. Needless to say, they did not get out of signing their contract so easily. We watched out our new barracks windows, unpacking our bags while the dispirited recruits under the tree learned some new and interesting calisthenics. They joined us later, disheveled and tired but, wonder of wonders, still alive. The drill sergeants at the inprocessing station were a pale imitation of the real McCoy at our destination unit. When our training drill sergeants arrived to march us to our barracks where we would spend nine wonderful weeks, they were deceptively easy on us. "March as slow as you want, gentlemen, we have all day," one said to us as we strolled to the lawn in front of the barracks. More than a few of us exchanged whispers of relief that perhaps boot camp would not be so bad after all. I was one of the naive bunch who thought this was representative of the rest of the nine weeks. Perhaps we all just wanted to believe. A drill instructor exploded into the straggler's face, exhorting him to move more quickly in a voice that could be heard, I thought, all the way back home. After that it was carefully orchestrated pandemonium, the drills separating the chaff
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1040
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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