Michael Dunn's Blog

I’m on my one hour of personal time.  After this we are having lunch and then heading to the PX (post exchange) to get any toiletries or clothing items we need.  We have to get another haircut again today too.  It was just starting to look normal again.  Supposed to get our guns later still.  This morning consisted of barracks maintenance.  I was assigned to the outside detail.  Picking up leaves with my hands for 2 hours was a blast!

It’s Saturday night.  We have our first personal time since arriving on Tuesday afternoon.  It feels weird to be sitting around with nothing to do.  It has been pretty non-stop since arriving earlier this week.  It has honestly been easier than I thought it would be.  Don’t get me wrong, it is still a challenge and I can’t wait for it to be over.  Getting yelled at 24/7 is actually not that bad.  You get used to it.  Attention to detail is stressed in everything we do.  We get about three minutes to eat each meal.  Everything is a system and if you mess it up, you pay.  I have only been singled out once for messing up so far.  The drill sgts. have already started targeting people.  It can actually be pretty funny.  They come up with so very “colorful” things to say.  Right now if one person messes up, they usually punish everyone.  I think that will change as time goes on though.  My platoon and platoon sgts. are actually pretty nice all things considered.  They already crack jokes every now and then.  They are still drill sgts. though and they will mess you up.  Yesterday everyone in the platoon had their rooms tossed because they weren’t to Army standard.  Pretty much everyone in my platoon are cool people.  My platoon consists of about 46  people.  I think a few might of gotten sent off for medical issues.  There are some people who just don’t want to be here at all.  They just can’t handle the stress.  We had like 4 people on suicide watch the other night and a handful who are trying to do anything they can to get out of this.  It’s not for everyone, but they signed a contract and don’t have a choice now.  I want to go home too but some of these people are ridiculous.  For the most part though, it’s a good group.  The way our barracks are set up we are in a 3 story building.  I am in the 4th platoon which is on the top floor.  I lucked out and got a room with just one other person.  About half the people here have double rooms (like me), and the other half stay in one of the four “cells”.  Cells are a larger room that sleep about 8.  My room is in the very back at the end of a hallway so it is a good set up.  My “battle buddy” aka roomate, is a cool guy.  We have been getting along pretty good.  We joke around a lot.  He isn’t a screwup so I got lucky on that too.  I was afraid I was going to get stuck with someone who couldn’t keep his mouth shut and follow directions.  Those are the two key skills to have here.  We have been issued a lot more gear.  We have alot of stuff to keep track of.  We got our body armour and helmet the other day and it’s pretty cool.  Not to mention the $400 worth of clothing they gave us that I get to keep after I leave here.  This includes the uniforms, boots, etc.  I don’t get to keep stuff like the chemical suit, rucksack, and other similiar gear.  Tomorrow we get issued our rifles and I’m pretty pumped about that.  That is another $2000 worth of stuff that they are going to trust me with.  Eventually I will get behind the wheel of a hummer or MP police cruiser.  Watch out Ft. Leonard Wood!  Lights out are in a few minutes so I need to go.  Tomorrow is Sunday so I get to sleep in.  I will get almost 8 hours of sleep which is going to be amazing!

On behalf of the United States Army, and the 701st Military Police Battalion, welcome to Basic Combat Training.  NOW GET THE *EXPLETIVE* OFF MY BUS!!  That’s how my afternoon started on Tuesday.  What did you do?  Ha Ha.  The last couple of days have been pretty intense.  Basic Training is serious business and the drill sgts. treat it so.  We all have been trying to adjust.  A few people from my reception battalion ended up with me in my platoon, so it is nice to see some familiar faces.  The last 2 days have been pretty stressful.  So much to do and learn in such a short period of time.  I’m not even supposed to be writing right now but I just got off fire guard and thought I would write something real quick.  I will write more when I can.

Well, I received all my shots this morning, including the dreaded penicillin shot.  That’s the one that goes you know where.  It feels like they are injecting cement into you.  Everyone walked out limping.  It was kind of funny actually.  My “battle buddy” (person you have to go everywhere with), had to go to sick call.  That is where I am right now.  I’m just waiting for him to get out so we can go back to the reception battalion.  I was almost done with all my processing so I hope he gets out soon so I can still ship to Basic tomorrow.

The drive to the clinic was kind of nice though.  It was the first time I got to leave reception battalion in 5 days.  I’m still on base but it was a nice change of scenery.  There is actually a lot of Marines here at this base.  I guess they have to come to Army bases to actually get some quality training (that was for you Kevin, LOL).  An  MP company marched by a little bit ago.  We also passed a lot of the MP training areas on the way here.  It just makes me ready to go to Basic and AIT even more.  There is even an MP police car training vehicle in front of me right now.  It looks like a lot of fun.  A few minutes ago I saw a bus full of people getting dropped off for Basic traning across the street.  It looks pretty intense.  A bunch of drill sgts. were out there unloading everyone off the bus.  I’m just ready to go and get it over with.  It will be a week tomorrow since I left home.  I sent my first blog and letter home Friday so maybe my family received it by now.  I have a long way to go til Christmas but I can’t help but to count down the days  I’m gonna go for now.  Maybe more tonight if anything eventful happens.

I’m back to my barracks.  I ended up having to stay at sick call with my battle buddy for about six hours.  It was a nice break from the Reception Battalion but I was glad to leave.  Sitting outside for 6 hours doing nothing gets boring real fast.  Tonight is more than likely my last night here at the 43rd Reception Battalion.  As of right now I am scheduled to ship around lunch tomorrow.    I’m getting pretty anxious.  This whole experience still doesn’t feel completely real.  I’m about to get a big dose of reality.  This will probably be my last blog for a while.  I will write again as soon as possible.  This time tomorrow I will be in a whole new world.

Today was pretty much a waste.  Processing is still shut down since it is the weekend.  I thought I was going to go to church today but the only services they had were Catholic, Protestant, and one other that I can’t remember.  They said there will be more services when I go to Basic.  They told us today we are scheduled to be done processing and ready to ship on Tuesday.  I am ready to be out of this reception battalion.  Since we couldn’t do anything today we literally cleaned ALL DAY LONG!  This is one of the most boring days I could of possibly had.  We got yelled at a lot.  Mostly because people can’t follow directions.  Especially when it comes to the chow hall.  When we are in line at the chow hall we are supposed to be at parade rest (google it), eyes forward, and no talking.  For some reason a lot of the people here can’t grasp this concept.  We also had a lecture on how we are no longer allowed to taste food for the next 9 weeks.  We get only a couple of minutes to eat and according to the drill sgt.’s  that is too generous.  I will say that the food really isn’t that bad.  A lot better than I expected.  I’m still getting used to eating a whole 3 or 4 course meal in 2 minutes though.  It will all come with time.  All I know is that I am ready to get out of here and move on to my Basic training battalion.  I’ve got fire guard tonight.  For those of you that don’t know what that is, you basically get woken up in the middle of the night to walk around and make sure no one leaves or does anything that they aren’t supposed to.  I have the first shift though so it will be easy.  It is one hour less of sleep I will get though.  Well, I’m gonna get going.  I’m going to write a letter to my parents and get my stuff together for the morning.  I have to make sure I can finish processing in the morning.  I will write again tomorrow.

Another day down.  Today was pretty laid back for the most part.  We woke up, ate chow, then went down to the PT field for a little PT.  We came back and cleaned the barracks for a couple of hours then headed for lunch.  We were issued dog tags which was pretty cool.  I found out that my blood type is O positive.  I think that is pretty rare if I remember correctly.  A lot of people got smoked after lunch.  Mostly because they were being idiots and not paying attention.  Some people are just stupid.  I’m just keeping my mouth shut and trying my best to fly under the radar.  After they were done smoking those people they eased up quite a bit.  Since reception is shut down on the weekend we sat around and watched movies all day.  I think we were all in shock when they told us this.  We watched 300 of all things, LOL.  Kevin is going to lose it when he finds out I watched ”300″ during reception.  Should of joined the Army with me man.

That is really pretty much all we did today.  Since I didn’t reach anybody at home when I called the other day, they let me have another call.  I got a hold of my parents and it was a good morale boost.

I did some PT on my own in the barracks to try and get ahead a little bit.  I also study my “smart book” whenever I have the chance.  A smart book is pretty much a study guide for the Army.  A lot of useful information.

I found out I get to go to church in the morning, so that will be nice.  I’m looking forward to that.  Well, I’ve got some laundry to do.  Write again tomorrow.  Sorry if these blogs just seem like I am rambling.  I think anyone would if they were tying to sum up days like these.  There is just so much that happens that it is hard to summarize it.

At least I got a good nights sleep last night.  Today was pretty boring but at least it went by a little faster than yesterday.  We were all issued our boots, uniforms, etc.  It feels pretty good wearing the U.S. Army uniform with my name on it.  I’m starting to get used to the military way of things.  I’ve gotten used to only getting a couple of minutes to eat food, and having to “double time” it everywhere.  So much has happened the last few days that it  is impossible to include it all in these blogs.  Know that I am doing well.  I have been pretty congested the last couple of days but besides that I feel good.  I am going to be stuck at reception all weekend.  Processing is only open during the week so I can’t really make any progress in my paper work and stuff.  I think the drill sgts.  are going to  have us do P.T. in the morning and who knows what else for the rest of the day.  We are at their mercy.  So far I haven’t been “smoked” individually for messing up so I guess I am doing a good job blending in so far.  Time for bed.  Talk to ya’ll soon.

Well, I don’t even really know where to start today.  We woke up after only about 4 hours of sleep.  We were marched down to the chow hall where we had all of 2 minutes to eat our entire meal.  Turned out being the same case for lunch and dinner.  Guess I better get used to it.  Soon after we were issued a $250 advance on our first paycheck.  We first used it for our haircuts.  I look so different.  I look like Ed Norton in American History X minus the facial hair.  Afterwards we started some of our processing.  This included new Id’s, blood work, TB test, vision test, and this machine that you step on that tells what size your foot is, and what kind of arch type you have.  We had a briefing, I mean like 10 briefings, haha.  It has been a long day.  The highlight was a trip to the PX to buy a bunch of toiletries, new shoes, and some other random stuff.  All in all the day wasn’t that bad.  It feels like it has been forever since I left home but it has only been a couple of days.  I had about 3 minutes to use the phones today but couldn’t reach anybody.  I was dissapointed but I get to make another in about a week.  Ok, I am going to go.  I am writing by flashlight.  Lights went out a few minutes ago.  Talk to you guys soon.

Arrived at Reception.  We had a quick brief and were striped of our civilian electronics.  We were issued our uniforms and marched to our barracks where we will be sleeping for the next several days.  Things are pretty hectic as everyone is trying to figure stuff out, so that is all for now.

Ok, have a few extra moments.  Just a little FYI, adjusting canteen belts is a freakin pain.  Ha Ha.  The last few hours have been a complete culture shock, and I am not even officially at Basic yet.  Everybody is pretty nice.  I think we are all just trying to settle into this new way of life.  They said I can call home tomorrow so that will be good.  I left one last message for my parents before I left St. Louis today and that was pretty hard.  It will get easier though.  It already is.  Time to get some sleep.  Hardly got any last night and need to take advantage of the little I will get tonight.

Thank you everyone for the overwhelming support as I head out for Army Basic Training. I really couldn’t ask for a better family and group of friends.

The next several months will be challenging but I am ready to meet that challenge head on. I have known that I was going to be leaving since January so it will actually be kind of a relief to get it off my mind. Everyone says that the time will fly by, and I sure do hope they are right. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous at all. I’m not scared by any means, just anxious I guess. I really just want to go and get it over with at this point.

While I am gone, I am going to have my dad update my blog for me via letters I will be sending from Basic. He will post them word for word as if I am actually the one posting them. I am doing this so family and friends can keep track of me, and also so I can go back and look at them for memories. I hope you guys will check back periodically for updates.

Again, thank you for all the support. Keep me in your prayers and I will be back soon.