Michael Dunn's Blog

Well, I’m a few weeks into AIT now.  It’s been mostly classroom stuff so far.  We are currently learning all garrison related stuff.  Regular police work kind of stuff.  We get back to the combat related training after Christmas.  One of the highlights of AIT so far was the Hummer training.  I got to drive a Hummer on an on-road course, an off road course, and in a convoy.  It was probably one of the funnest things I have done since I have been here.  I mean, how many people get to drive a military hummer?  Especially off road.  It was an experience.  We also fired and qualified with the Beretta M9 9 mm handgun.  I qualified expert.  That’s one more badge I get to add to my uniform.  AIT has proven quite different from Basic.  Personal time every night, somtimes for 2 or more hours.  I get to use and keep my cell phone and Ipod.  We get a pass every Sunday as long as we don’t lose it during the week.  The passes get kind of repetitive but it’s better than hanging around the barracks all day.  It does seem like the drill sgts. are making us a little more accountable for our mistakes, but it’s a good thing.  Keeps me on my toes.  We had our first exam this morning.  I passed pretty easily.  I can’t believe I only have 9 more days until I get to go home.  You have no idea how excited I am to get a break from this place.  The weather here continues to go downhill.  It has been miserably cold for the past week.  Hopefully the weather in Georgia will be a little more forgiving when I come home next week.  We got to go to a performance put on by the Army band last night.  It was pretty neat.  I took my new camera that I just bought and took a couple of pictures.  I’ll have to post them when I get home.  I’m snapping pictures here and there as the days go by just so I can have something to show people and give them an idea of my daily life.  It will be nice to be able to go back and look at them some day later on down the road too, kind of like this blog.  I haven’t been writing as much since I have been in AIT.  You guys haven’t been missing too much though.  It’s just hard to sit down and write when you have your phone, Ipod, etc.  It is just not as necessary as it was in Basic.  I will try to keep ya’ll updated periodically though.  By the time ya’ll read this I could very well be on my way home.  That is an exciting thought.  I will have plenty of stories to share with you guys.  I found out my plane is going to land in Atlanta around 9:30 am.  That means I’ll have that whole day at home.  The quicker I get out of here the better.  We all need a break from this place.  You can tell it is really wearing on everybody.  Even though 9 days isn’t that long it seems like forever away still.  All we talk about is going home right now.  All I can do is count the days.  Can’t wait to see everybody, hope ya’ll have been doing good.  See ya’ll soon.