First Few Days

Ok so the first were days were half of what I expected, and half a complete surprise. The part I expected was all the paperwork, most of it you've done before and even if you have a copy in your file they usually make you do a new one. No big deal, just do it. Also you literally need at least 30 copies of your orders. I'm not kidding, for some random reason everybody from everywhere wants two copies. My packet from school only had 10, thank goodness I had made a bunch for myself before, saved me. Also make copies of your everything in your packet. It seemed to me that each office, like travel or finance wanted something random from the packet. Like I said the only thing that saved me some pain and wasted time was the fact that I made a copy of my entire packet and happen to take it with me. The oath of office is also needed frequently. Again these things wont make you recycle, but they'll save you some time in that first week. The surprise was the intensity. Do not think this is the easy part and Ranger school is the hard part (or so they tell us). The company commander was freaking people out. I'm not kidding when I say the guy next to me was literally shaking.

PT Test:
The PT test for us was the second day. I wont really say to much about the grading because its too dependent on the actual grader if they're "easy" or "hard." Just do stuff to standard. I will say that for my platoon the average was in the 250's. If you think that's low, just wait. Also pull ups (or chin ups) are part of the PT test. If you cannot do six you will receive a negative counseling and get a major deduction from your overall score. Then you have to come in every weekend for PT. That would suck, don't fail.  Height/Weight are right after the test. If you fail that you are automatically recycled if you're active duty. If you're National Guard they send you right home and you'll have to rebranch. It happened to a NG soldier in our platoon. One down already.

Platoon Trainer:
So your main trainer is a Captain, usually junior and this as their assignment for a year to 18 months before they take company command. They are legit. Apparently I got the luck to have the hardest one in the battalion. When the battalion CSM briefed the company he asked who was in a certain CPT's platoon, when we raised our hands he just looked at us and said, "Sorry brothers, your experience here will be harder than anyone else s, but you'll be better for it." Now after the first week I can already see what he means. Our platoon stays way later (First formation was at 0445 and we were released after 2000 the first three days) and does much more PT and when everybody else is talking and wasting time we are going over tactics. Double edged sword, I hope you get as lucky as I did. But usually each platoon recycles about 2-3 over the course (out of about 45ish) our platoon trainer usually recycles about 20 each cycle. Literally 10x the amount.

Along those same lines, they gave us a wake up call pretty bad the first night. If you've every heard this course is easy or you can just party on the weekends and show up in the right place, right time, right uniform and you'll pass youre mistaken. Come prepared to lead. I'll give you more information as the course goes along, but nobody in the company is taking anything lightly. There are additional duties you can volunteer for right off the bat, do them. I'm a sponsor of an international student, its awesome.

Also I posted a few good books to have the first post, I kind of lied. They expect that you have already read those completely, not just have them. Most of us were caught off guard. Also be familiar with military signs and symbols, if you're not it will be painful for you starting day 1.

Passes:
You will get passes for the holidays. Easter is this weekend so we have Friday off. If you want to go any farther than Atlanta you need a pass. They really don't care where you go as long as your back. I asked just for curiosity if I could fly back to Washington for the weekend, they said sure, just be back for accountability formation on Monday. Now I wouldn't recommend that, but just so you're aware it is an option.

Random Notes:
Know how to climb a rope, we have to do it every time we leave the building or get there. To get to the latrine or fill up a water bottle  we have to go outside, that means each time we take a piss we have to climb the rope twice. Sucks. People already have bloody hands.