A Hike and M16A4

Motivation

All good things come through effort, patience, struggle, and pain. Nothing worth having is easy to attain.

My Path

Today turned out to be much better than expected. We started with a three mile hike to set the pace standard expected throughout the POI. Our load was probably the lightest it will be the entire time we are here. I mentioned that may have concerns and that I would talk about them in this post. Most of my concerns stem from being a Heat Casualty last summer at OCS. On our graded, nine mile hike, I fell out of the event with less than a quarter mile left. When I went down I had a body temperature of 106.7 degrees fahrenheit. It wasn't until TBS, during one of our safety briefs, that I realized that I had heat stroke, based on the list of symptoms and temperatures. I was always told that I had heat exhaustion. During OCS it was just an occurrence of events that led to my heat stroke: lack of sleep, little chow, dehydration. It was a perfect storm, really. But I've learned from it and have trained in such a way to try to prevent it from happening again. But once you have a heat illness you are more susceptible to suffering from another one. I've found that it is very much a mental game you play with yourself.

After the hike we had an Armory brief. We were told what was expected of us when receiving and returning weapons. Then it was off to the Armory. We were issued an M16A4 Service Rifle, a Rifle Combat Scope (RCO), an Infrared (IR) Laser aiming device, and a Night Vision Goggle (NVG)/Monocle. Basically, if I lose any of this gear I will be using a couple pay checks in order to replace it. Doesn't sound like a good time to me. We finally got the chance to grab a shower and put on clean uniforms during chow. Then the last thing was the Phase 1 Exam 1. If I counted correctly, I should have scored a 92%. Not too shabby. Definitely room for improvement, but I'm not upset. We were secured very early today, around 1430. Not going to expect that ever again, unfortunately.

A couple of people have asked me about mailing packages to me. The address I gave in an earlier post is only good for standard mail (i.e. things that don't require a tracking number/express mail or are larger than a standard envelope). The below address can be used for anything larger:

Ross Allen

P.O. Box 207

Dumfries, VA 22026

I feel like I'm still trying to catch up on sleep for some reason. I guess this would be the week to do it as we don't have any strenuous events, really. Friday is our first time out to the range, which is where we will be for all of next week, as well. These days will start with a 0430 ODT and an unexpected arrival time to the SOQ in the evenings. It's about a three mile hike out and back. I wouldn't be expecting many posts from me throughout next week. I'll be spending most of my energy trying to qualify "Expert" on the M16A4 Rifle and M9 Pistol. Only shooting for the best badges to be on my uniform!

Bed Time....

WOD

3 Mile Hike - 49:05

USMC Field Pack & Plate Carrier ~ 65#