Week 1.....briefings, briefings, and more

After a relaxing weekend watching football and napping, the first real week of BOLC-B begins.  This is our Common Core tasks, such as Land Navigation, Marksmanship, Convoy Operations, and some other things thrown in.   I believe we were supposed to do Combatives during this 3 week period, but rumor has it we are doing these during the last couple of weeks because of all of the holidays coming up. 

Monday PT was pretty easy.  It was designed to introduce us to Army Physical Readiness Training, which is the new way of doing PT.  Think P90X, but not quite as high impact.  It's kind of a combination of core body training mixed in with some footwork and aerobic exercises.  Monday day was more briefings.  Center for Army Lessons Learned, Ethics, etc.  These continued through Tuesday, but we had a nice surprise Tuesday evening in the form of a Urinalysis.  I hope everyone passed.....

Today, Wednesday, we had a nice little morning jog of about 6.5 miles.  I happened to have a brand new pair of running shoes on, which left the beginnings of a nice blister on one foot.  That's what moleskin is for, so it hasn't bothered me today.  Wednesday afternoon was spent learning the basics of Land Navigation, which we have all had in one form or another or we wouldn't have gotten commissioned as a 2LT.  It is pretty basic stuff, and if you use common sense, you won't get lost in the woods.....theoretically.  Unfortunately, the word lieutenant does not always go hand in hand with the concept of common sense.  We will see on Monday who gets it and who does not. 

Tomorrow morning, we will have formation at 0430 to get ready to move to the Land Navigation course for a practice run.  We will do our first few points in the dark in order to prepare for the night portion of our land navigation test, and finish out after daylight.  Should be a fun time, especially since we get to leave the classroom environment for the first time. 

I've gotta go get my FLC (Fighting Load Carrier) ready for tomorrow, so I am going to say goodbye.  I will update again either Friday or Saturday. 

Paulson Out....