I Say "Hooah"

Well, I am in good Ol’ Fort Jackson, SC. Some of you may be surprised to here this. I am not sure where you have been if this comes as a surprise. Either way, I am here. I got here last Saturday, June 07, 2008.

It has been one long week. The mornings have been early. The nights have been short. But, I have been getting some sleep. I’ve been getting my usual 5 or six hours. They just come at a different time of the day than they did prior to being in the Army.

The Army life is certainly one of production. It is a large system made up of many subsystems. Quite frankly, it works well. There are times of waiting and wondering what is next. However, it seems to come together well. For such a large system, the result is productivity and action.

I have said “Hua” more than I have ever heard it in my entire life. “Hooah” is word that is used in the affirmative. It is a word used when one agrees with what is being said or sometimes done. It means “yes,” “ok,” or that one agrees. It is also used as a proud response. There is more to this. This will suffice for now. The point is that I have gotten accustomed to shouting “hooah” at the drop of a hat. It is actually kind of cool.

I took my PT (Physical Training) entrance test this past Thursday. I did fairly well. I did 40 pushups and 42 situps in less than 2 minutes. I ran two miles in under 16 minutes. Please don’t send me a message about how many you can do if it is more than I can do. I really don’t care. I am only concerned that I passed my PT.

There are a lot of Baptist preachers here, as well as other denominations. So, I don’t need to tell you that many of them didn’t pass their PT. You know that a steady diet of KFC buckets doesn’t lend itself to good health. Some of these guys are evidence to the reality that the only sin Baptists overlook is gluttony. These Baptists are getting a serious reality check on that note.

Yesterday we did a march over to Victory Tower. That was sweet. We climbed a tower and repelled from it. I really like repelling. I did pretty well at that. We also did some other stuff there. It was like a mini theme park, if a theme park in your mind is an obstacle course with a 70 feet tower in the middle of it. I’d like to do that again. Something tells me I might get the chance. There were some really cool ropes courses at the theme park as well.

Last night we took in a Columbia Blowfish Baseball Game. They had a special military night. Yesterday was the Army’s 233rd birthday. We got a police escort. We were riding up the ramp onto the Interstate. I looked over at my new buddy Cliff and said, “Crap. We getting into a traffic jam.” Then I looked and realized that we were causing the traffic jam. The police shut down each road, including the Interstate, so that we could get to the game. I felt important for just a little bit. That feeling went away today while I was doing PT.

Now that I am an officer there is this whole thing of being saluted. I have not quite gotten used this yet. You have to realize that I am at Fort Jackson. This is the largest basic training base. This means that there are tons of privates. This translates to saluting a lot if you move around on the base. Cliff and I went to the PX on post to buy some stuff. We stopped before we drove into the parking lot to find the least number of privates so that we could park and get in the building without having to stop too much. Now, I realize that some of you Army guys are saying, “You should appreciate the respect and proudly render a salute back to a soldier.” I agree; and I do this. However, you might want to consider the other end of this argument. You may have been one of those officers who purposely parked in the midst of privates so that they had to salute you. I do appreciate it. Sometimes it is just hard to get into a building.

I am enjoying my time here. I miss some folks. Some folks I glad to be rid of. You think about that and decide which group you are in. Talk to you soon.