The March

A detailed Summary of The March

The rope started swaying back and forth; I couldn't seem to stay in one place. My arms began to weaken and my boots couldn't get a grip on the wall. Only about twenty-two feet to get to the top of the rope. My feet found the knots to push me up as I hit my side on the wall.

"Let's go DePew, you can do it. Don't give up now, you're so close." I could hear the shouts from beneath me. Pushing me, driving me to the top. Not all of the females were able to make it, but I knew I could and there was no giving up.

Once to the top of the rope there were boards about four to five feet apart from each other. Being so short, my arms already so weak, I tried to pull myself up just high enough to get my leg to the next board. Another twenty-two feet or so, forty-five feet in all, to the top of the tower. It was called the Warrior Tower. You were to make it up, down, around, and back up again. At the top we had to walk back and forth on ropes, double ropes, triple ropes, and even pull yourself on a single rope. Back to the other side to only have a single rope holding me on as I glided, repelled, straight down. This was the one time during basic training that the Drill Sergeants seemed rather nice. They still yelled

Weeks of training to finally make it to the field, in our final weekend in basic. We filled up our rucksacks, picked up our M16s, and headed out on a 10k march to our campsite. My battle buddy, Sumers, and I set up our shelter halves, dug a trench around it and fighting positions on the outer parameter. It was just small enough to lie down in. The Drill Sergeants called gas, the exhaustion hit in and most everyone fell asleep in gas masks hugging their M16s in no time.

Basic Training was very routine when it came to knowing what each day would bring. We would wake up before the sun rose for p.t., physical training, every morning, either running or abdominal conditioning and strength - yelling seemed to be in store no matter what, then off to chow. After chow we would head back to the barracks to change for class. A lot of physical work was in store in and out of our classes, for it seemed that every morning I would be caped - extra pt to wake us up or get us to shut up. If it was push-ups, ski jumpers, over the head arm claps, or anything physical, you knew it would last until the Drill Sergeant got tired. March to class, march to chow, and every now and then run back after chow to see if they could get someone to throw up. Day after day, the same thing, it felt like it would never end; all I wanted to do was sleep and every now and then have some chow.

I was only 18, just out of high school, lying on my bunk thinking about the day as I fell asleep. Then I remembered things my parents said before I left for Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. I could remember the laughing and disbelief they had from the time I mentioned calling the recruiters. What's the big deal, you may not even make it. They won't want to deal with you and kick ya out. You'll hate it, crying, asking to come home. We've even got a poll going on how long you'll last. That's how much my family believed in me. I planned on proving them wrong and I had already overcome many obstacles in those first few weeks of basic training, the Worrier Tower being the most challenging in strength. Though to make it through " total control," the first three weeks of training, was to know you'd make it all the way. The wake ups at four thirty in the morning with a Drill Sergeant coming in screaming and yelling to get you up. More yelling would come once we were ready and outside.

The next day we spent fighting against other platoons - playing war in the woods. Coming across the sick and the dead, and learning what to do; getting killed in the mission and finding out that what might have prevented the death. Even getting to kill others along the way. We were all having fun, learning and joking, though in the back of my head

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1831
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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