Discovering the E-Course...Kind Of...

Motivation

Accomplishments aren't measured by medals around the neck or trophies on the shelf. They're measured in the blood and sweat poured to get there.

My Path

Two things I forgot to mention yesterday. First, it was pretty surreal having Ramer Hall to myself, lower gym and weight room, for almost an hour. It was nice to have no distractions and push myself for myself. Second, I'm falling in love with Quantico. It's something about the wilderness feeling and the weather. As I was walking to the gym yesterday morning it was raining and as I passed the Colors (American Flag) Morning Color's played. I pass the Colors daily, but it's rare that I'm within earshot of Morning/Evening Colors. It was something about the rain and being the only soul visible, aside for the duty detail, that made me realize what an awesome opportunity I've been given. With the cool rain and mild breeze, this place is paradise. Hopefully I'll be hear a little longer than the six months of TBS.

I woke up this morning with every intention of going to church. My roommate and I got up early to knock out some of the online courses we needed to have completed by tomorrow morning and got ready for church. For some reason, we just weren't meant to make it today. We tried three different addresses for the church we wanted to attend, and none were correct. Hopefully we don't get as lost looking for ammo can boxes in the woods during land navigation as we did looking for this church. Dunk'n Donuts and a trip to the PX would suffice after 45 minutes of roaming about Quantico. We grabbed a quick breakfast and picked up some essentials for new assignments we were given the night before. It seems like word gets passed at the last minute around here, but "C'est la vie." But after that we came back to wrap up the online stuff. Originally I wanted to load up our new Field Packs (ruck packs) and go for a little hump; 3-5 miles. We decided to go for a run along the Endurance Course (E-Course) route instead. I'll have some more info on this in the "WOD" section.

Because we haven't been given the "Introduction the E-Course" class yet, we weren't going to negotiate any of the obstacles. We just wanted to run the path. From my understanding it's a little over 5 miles long. I wouldn't be able to tell you with any certainty after todays run as we got about half way through it and couldn't find the new path's separation point after the turn around. And I don't know if you could really say that we "ran" it. We didn't want to go balls the wall and had every intention of jogging it, but parts of it were more like a march. It wasn't because of a lack of endurance, but more of a safety precaution. A little over a week ago, one group of Lt's went out on the course and incurred a casualty. A Lt rolled his ankle pretty bad, despite his boots, but was able to make it through the PFT four days later and medical screening later that week. We didn't feel like getting hurt just before picking up the actually POI. It felt good to get out and do something other than lift weights or another CrossFit workout. As much as I love CrossFit, somethings you need to just go primal and run through the woods.

Once we cleaned up after the run we worked on a "Terrain Model Kit," yet another short notice assignment, for a couple hours. It consists of basic troop/unit indicators, maneuvers, and tools for creating a map grid on the ground or in a sandbox. The idea is to, basically, project a 3D map onto dirt/sand in the field using miscellaneous objects that represent actual landmarks, terrain features, man-made roads/structures, and friend/enemy positions and actions. It'll be really cool getting to use this stuff, but it was a pain making it all. Then it was time to make sure the rest of our Fire Team (FT) and Squad had their trash together. It was a small Three Ringed Circus this evening. But we all worked together and made it work. Probably one of the longest days I've had since checking-in at TBS, but I'm well aware that it won't be THE longest. But I'm looking forward to it.

WOD

Boots and Utes (Combat Boots, MARPAT Trousers, PT Shirt) Run/Jog/March

Route: Modified E-Course - Approximately 4.5 Miles

Duration: Approximately 1 Hour

Gear:

Modular Tactical Vest (MTV)/Plate Carrier (PC) - 13#

Full CamelBack Hydration System - 3#