Well, getting there at one in the morning wasn't much help. But the reception drill
sergeant was obviously tired as well. He took it easy on us. We took about two hours to do a quick improcessing to the reception batallion, given a chance to get rid of any thing such as cigerettes, gum, marajuana, knives and such into the amnesty box, and marched back to the barracks where we would stay the night, only to wake up two hours later.

I wanted to just blend in. My goal for basic was to be unnoticed by the drill sergeant and just quietly squeeze through basic undetected. Do everything I was supposed to do and then graduate and move onto AIT.

I think what happened next was a foreshadowing experience.

I stood among the wall, quiet and still, at the closest thing I knew to be Parade Rest as I could come, when the drill sergeant noticed me. I was the only one not fidgeting around nervously. He glanced at me and said "Relax, Private."

So I relaxed a little and started kicking myself.

Well, that was one of the moments I remember most about Reception. You are so busy running around like a chicken with your head cut off that this becomes somewhat of a foggy memory later in life. Especially when you try to recollect it nearly two years after the fact.

I think the hardest part about Basic is Reception, however. Psychologically at least. This is really when it hits you what you have done. In this case, signed your life away to an organization that may use you for cannon fodder. It was tough at night, when you thought about it, although you got up so insanely early (usually about 4 at Reception), meanwhile learning about fire guard, as you were put in a building with 13 people and have to pull it every night, sometimes twice. It wasn't very much fun.

Reception is for the most part, however, not about getting the living day lights smoked out of you, although you are introduced to it when a couple of the DS get pissed for some reason you now don't recall. But this time consists of getting all your shots, all your records updated, taking the DLAB (language test, for those who qualify), getting your Paperwork, pay straightened out, eating, marching, Fire guard, and of course, getting all your issue so that you look just like everyone else.

Getting your uniform is such a special time. For some reason, all throughout reception you can't wait to get your uniform. Putting it on for the first time makes you feel different, like you really belong in the Army. Of course, by the end of basic, you can't wait to get something else to wear. When you first get your class A's is a really special time, although that is something else entirely.

You are in Reception anywhere from four days to a couple weeks, depending on the amount of people coming through at the time. The Drill Sergeants are all a little lax and easy going, and you wonder if this is what Basic is all about. I myself was a little disappointed, wondering when the yelling would insue.

Well, when we turned in our linen and left our issue in the 'depot station', to be collected by our respective companies, we learned that Reception was most definately not what Basic Training was all about.

Posted by Erickson on 17:15 : (((