Challenging Day!

What a Friday!!  I woke up thinking TGIF and headed off to school.  It is the last day of week 2 and so far everything has gone my way.  I am growing closer to my classmates and getting stronger each day.  This day, January 4th, 2011 was a little harder than all the rest put together.  I wasn't mentally prepared for the day and had to have a little gut check. 

To begin, I woke up a little sore all over.  I have been sleeping on the heating pad the last two nights because my back is feeling a little out of sorts but ok none the less.  After my morning bootcamp, i get in the car headed to "The Bluff"  (recruit school is off of Bluff road).   It is raining and a little cold (38 degrees).  I really didn't mind the cold because I knew I would warm up but the rain bothered me a little.  It is my morning to do JOSET and I just wasn't mentally prepared to do it in the cold rain.  I got through it but it wasn't fun although some of my classmates were pumped up and made me giggle a little.  :)

Next was by far the most miserable I have been in some time.  It was cold and raining and the agenda was to become familiar with our gear.  So...we get in a big circle in the parking lot and lay out our gear.  Did I mention it was cold and rainy??  So anyway, we have to get in (Don) and get out of (Doff) our gear as quickly as possible.  We do this about 4 or 5 times and then take a break.  By this time it is twice as heavy as normal and we can't feel our fingers.  We do it a few more times and then off to lunch!

When we return from lunch, we are then introduced to our SCBA  (self contained breathing apparatus).   By this time the rain has pretty much stopped but it is still cold and our gear is still wet.  We Don and Doff our gear several times and then they throw in a surprise for us.  We hit the training tower and up we go!  5 flights up and 5 flights down...5 flights up and 5 flights down...5 flights up and 5 flights down...thankfully we are all out of air in our SCBA by this time and we stop!!!  It was actually kind of nice to warm up but it was really weird doing it with our gear and SCBA on.   Add a 50 pound vest and run 15 flights of stairs breathing compressed air!!  That about sums up our Friday!!  Time to get mentally tough!!!