240 Soldiers on a one way trip.
Mission top secret, destination unknown,
Don't give a fuck if we're going home.




10th Mountain Division. Rapid deployabke, harsh environment specialized, rugged, high-speed infantry. Fort Drum, New York, the 'frozen north.' Sounds like a load of fun. None of the other NCOs have anything nice to say about Drum, but everything to say about the unit. 10th Mountain does some good work. Finally, a unit with pride and honor.

I'll be deploying in November. Talk about rapid deployment. I'll have a month getting used to the climate at Drum, then sent to the Middle East where it's balls hot. What the hell? Needs of the Army, and Uncle Sam has my ass for nineteen more years.

Holy crap boot camp flew by quick. And AIT is going by fast, too. I've already been here a month. How crazy is that?

Basic Combat Training at Fort Benning was real fun, but it was no joke. We had the most fucked up cycle that 2/47 Infantry has ever had. It started off high speed, the crap you see in the movies; all the trash talking, yelling, and constant strenuous exercise. The Drill Sergeants would punish us for everything, from not tucking in your dog tags to not moving quick enough. We had a suicide early in the cycle, so things changed drastically. We lost Drill Sergeants, cancelled certain training events, changed several policies to prevent any more suicides, and basically fucked everything up from the NCOs to the recruits. Shit, man. It was crazy. On top of that, we were a guinea pig cycle and did some crazy combat qualification methods and crazy experimental physical training and shit. Hell, even our graduation was outta whack. We had the honor of graduating at the new National Infantry Museum and it piss poured rain. I don't know, it was whacked, but I made it through.

Fort Gordon AIT is what it is. Fucked up. No wonder the other military branches look down on the Army. There is no discipline here, especially in my company. It's a co-ed company so there's a lot of fraternization going on here. E Co. has the highest AWOL rates, the highest pregnancy rates, the highest FTR rates, and a huge lack of discipline. Coming from a high speed infantry BCT site, this place is a massive culture shock to the disciplined. I've even noticed some of my battle buddies beginning to slip... it sucks. Everytime we get smoked for some idiot entering the barracks through a window it makes me wonder why I didn't join a more academic branch of the military. But I'm here now, and I will fulfill my duty as a combat communications soldier. Just gotta stand tall and maintain my military bearing... I'll be alright.