Exhausting week, but inching closer.

Another week that seemed to go by fast. Except my body had to pay for it.

We started the week off with the introduction to the Endurance Course. It wasn't individually timed so we just ran it as a squad. It was the first time we did any kind of long run with boots and our rifle. So its safe to say that 3 miles for the first time isn't the easiest thing in the world. I think we must have ran 2 miles before we even got to the obstacles. All and all, we finished in 54 minutes but that included some waiting around at the different stations. To pass, we have to do it in less then 43 minutes. Not going to lie, thats going to be tough.

We also did the Obstacle Course for an official time. My time dropped to 1:27 so I was pleased about that.

We then stayed out in the field Wednesday night. It was about a 3.5 mile hump (hump = 70-80 pound packs) just to get there. We observed a squad offensive demo, then humped another 2 miles and set up tents. That night, we had our night land navigation test which of course I passed with flying colors. The next day was FEX, which stands for Field Exercices. Three people within my squad got chosen to lean the squad through the woods to assault three separate objectives. To sum it up, we patrolled through the woods for 4 hours. After that, we went back to the OCS area and did Leadership Reaction Course 2. Basically an almost near impossible problem to solve with your fireteam but they want to see how you react and come up with a plan. Mine was to get across a 12 foot gap using 3 2x6" 8-foot long boards. Almost completed it, but I think I did well being the Fireteam leader.

Finally, we did the introduction to the Combat Readiness Test yesterday. It starts with a rope climb wearing full gear (Kevlar, magazine vest, canteens, and rifle), then a 3 mile run minus your blouse and kevlar, number of pushups in 2 minutes, 50m firemens carry, and a fireteam fire and maneuver exercise. A tiring morning. So now you can see why my body is pretty sore after this past week.

The last couple days were slightly stressful as I held the billet of Candidate Company 1st Sergeant, which represents the senior enlisted member of the company. I am mainly responsible for keeping track of where everyone is and who missed training, calling the company to attention during formations and telling them where to go. Its not too hard, but when you have multiple staff members yelling in your face, it becomes a little stressful. Hopefully I get a good evaluation.

Well thats it for this past week. Right now I'm enjoying the indoors and wonderful inventions of television and internet at my friend Katie's apartment in Fairfax, VA. Will try and post another non-descriptive post later on.