Chapter 11

In the morning, we got up and went straight out to the PT field. Once we finished, it was over to the obstacle course.

This morning seemed to go on forever, we kept running the course over and over. There was a quick breakfast and then back out to the PT field.

This time we were spending the afternoon lifting and toting the telephone poles. By the time we went to lunch, we were all physically spent.

After lunch, we headed to the barracks and retrieved our rifles for a trip out to the Combat Assault Course. We spent the rest of the day running the course.

Somebody was messing up, so we had to run it multiple times. There was a lot of yelling as guys were getting IT’d left and right.

We finally finished and marched over to the Mess Hall. Getting to the barracks afterwards, it was then rifle cleaning time.

I had a couple thoughts while this was going on. This week had the feeling of being a throw away week, they were just beating on us to fill the days. We were going to be training towards next week, but it wasn’t going to be anything new. I also figured that we’d be spending most nights cleaning our rifles.

Getting out of the rack this morning led into a three-mile run with a PT session afterwards. Then it was getting changed and over to the Mess Hall.

Leaving the Mess Hall, we turned and marched over to the Supply Depot, where we were reissued a gas mask and pouch. This time we were given an old dusty filter rather than a new one. I could only imagine why, but figured things were going to get interesting.

We marched out to the Infiltration Course. We ran through the course once to get ourselves reacquainted then lined up for a second run through. When we got the order to go again, I waited and stayed towards the back. This time it turned out to be a disadvantage. About 10 ft into the course, we could hear yelling along the course.

“GAS, GAS, GAS!!”

I rolled onto my side so that I could pull the gas mask out of the pouch then went through the process of putting it on. SDI Brooks was walking along the length of the course yelling the whole time.

“Get moving. You need to get out of the affected area. The gas will kill you. Get your asses moving.”

It was a pain in the ass moving with the gas mask on. Your breathing was stunted, you were always a breath behind it seemed like. Not to mention your visibility and vision were horrible due to the lenses.

It was a struggle, but I was able to push through. When we were all standing there everyone was sweaty and breathing heavily. Then they gave us the bad news. Seemed we had showed piss poor effort, so we were going to run it until we put out maximum effort. We ran it and ran it. Lunch was a good bit later than normal.

After lunch we spent the rest of the day being shown how to actually dig a “fighting position”. This was foreshadowing at its best.

Each drill instructor showed a group, and now we knew for certain that we’d be digging at some point. It was actually dug a good bit deeper than I expected it to be. Once they were dug, we were directed to fill them in by hand.

We spent the evening sitting on the Quarterdeck being instructed on the Marine Corps values and teamwork.

When we got up and began our daily routine, DI Pugh was waiting for me as I came out of the head.

“Why aren’t you ready to go?”

“This recruit is as ready to go as any other recruit in the platoon.”

“That’s not what I asked you. Being insolent isn’t going to get you anywhere Badzinski. Now get on my Quarterdeck.”

Getting IT’d in your underwear was a new experience. I had a brief window to get dressed after I was able to get off the Quarterdeck. It was then our normal morning schedule, though my day was a little different. DI Pugh took every chance available to get me on my face and IT me.

Back to the barracks, where we changed and got our rifles, LBE, and gas masks. We then marched over to the Combat Assault course.

It pretty much went the exact same way as the day before, run the course once, don the gas mask and keep running it over and over. Shooting, whether with a blank adapter or live rounds was going to take a lot to get used to. I was one of the few who would always put ear plugs in. I wanted to keep as much hearing as I could.

Anytime I was waiting my turn, DI Pugh had me on the deck beating my face. Surprisingly, no one blew themselves up with the dummy grenades.

We had been physically beaten down so far this week. I figured that this trend would continue the whole time. I survived the last few hours of the day without getting IT’d. For the first time in a week or so I had to break out the Tiger Balm.

Thursday started out just like Wednesday, with DI Pugh finding a reason to IT me from the get-go. It seemed he was renewing whatever vendetta he had against me with a vengeance. All I had to do was outlast him for one more week.

The day went by about as normally as it could until after dinner. We were out honing our Land Nav skills when DI Pugh decided to be the flaming ass hat that he naturally was. As recruits were going off to find the spots that we had to navigate to, I was pulled off to the side. We had our rifles slung on our backs, so he decided to make me do the manual of arms. I guess he decided that since drill was over, I wouldn’t remember how to do it. The threat was if I screwed up, then it would be rifle IT.

About 10 minutes in I messed up with the rifle at Port Arms. This pissed him off so much that he ran in front of me and tried to slam the rifle into my chest. When it impacted me, the rifle slid up my chest. Then something neither of us expected happened.

As the rifle slid up my chest, the front sight post caught the corner of my right eye, slightly tearing the skin. I could feel the blood running down my face. Then I got yelled at because it seemed that this was all my fault. All DI Pugh’s yelling and screaming seemed to pique the interest of SDI Brooks. I was caught off guard by his voice behind me.

“What in the holy hell is going on over here?”

That’s when he finally made it around to in front of me. He caught sight of my face.

“Badzinski, what happened to your face?”

DI Pugh tried to step in between us and say something. SDI Brooks cut him off with a tone that sent shivers down my spine.

“I didn’t ask you Corporal. And if you want to interrupt me again, you won’t like the outcome. I’m waiting for an answer Badzinski.”

“It was an accident that cut the side of this recruits face.”

“So that’s how you’re going to play it. Go find DI Oyono and inform him that I’d like him to accompany you to the medical so that they can take a look at your face. Also tell him I’d like to know what the Corpsmen say as to what may have caused this.”