Not much in the realm of excitement today from a class perspective. I don't remember much, it was hot as Hades for some reason and all of us were miserable. I have a headache as I type this out right now.
I came home, jumped right in the shower to cool off. Good thing it was to cool off, there is little to no water pressure to begin with, it just kind of falls out instead of spraying. Then, I had zero hot water. I put on my uniform again and decided to head out on base to get a couple of things. I left the uniform on because it makes life a bit easier, the basic trainees run in fear and let you go ahead. Hey, they have nothing but time.
I walk into the bathroom and take care of business, a basic trainee comes strolling in and sees me, I say not a word but look at him and he locks it up, hands to the side and the blood flushes from his face, he is in fear that I am about to yell at him for just walking in all relaxed. Could I? Sure...but I'm not like that.
This reminds me though...a lot of you may think I could have told him to relax or "at ease", but at this point...you just can not be nice. Period. It's a rite of passage. It's part of the tradition. I have no problem ripping someone apart if they deserve it, but I'm not "that guy" who has to go ape shit over every single infraction, no matter how minor. They guy knew he wasn't walking like he was supposed to and let down his guard. He quickly corrected it so no need to counsel him. Don't confuse any of this with being mean, it really isn't...it's just not being nice.
If I try to be cool about it or let him off the hook, he remembers that this Technical Sergeant who likely outranks his TI thought it would be o.k. since I told him to relax. Then you have a breakdown in discipline and next thing you know someone has this kid he has to supervise who thinks everything is alright. We have to keep that discipline...it is what separates us apples from those oranges.
After that fun I head back to my room to change, now I have my stomach grumbles.
In what has become my daily ritual...I went to the "mini-mall" for dinner, it near where the basic trainees go to get basic items, and if they are really good they get "base liberty" and can go there to eat Subway, Popeye's or a bootleg Taco Bell stand.
Basic trainees are everywhere, I am sure the novelty will wear off at some point during this six weeks, but for now it is highly entertaining. I keep my game face on just to keep them all guessing. Am I a TI lurking about waiting to see someone doing wrong? Don't worry, again, I'm not being mean... at this stage you are paranoid as hell and think a TI will come out of a toilet if you fart wrong.
As I hit the food court I see even more trainees, either they have a nice TI or they are really awesome, because there must have been 100 trainees in line for Subway. I am guessing they were told they could eat nothing else, tacos and Popeye's were completely dead. I decided on tacos for those wondering.
The camera on the phone sucks but I needed to capture the moment, behind me is the gaggle of trainees at Subway.
Don't know what will happen next, probably watch some TV tonight and just go to sleep. I hate waking up in the morning!
Sounds like an interesting time. But, really. How can it be hotter than Del Rio?
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