182nd JAOBC: Day Two
July 5, 2010
Fall into formation at 0820. Accountability so they said, accompanied by a formal, ceremonial, military method of reporting the fact that you don't know where the hell your platoon members are. But line up we did, including our canteens, freshly taped with our names in red. No dress right dress though since that would have smashed the left half of 2nd Platoon into the side of the building. So we focused on lining up the canteens, canteens and names facing forward, except the poor LT. who put their name tape on the wrong way. Didn't seem a career-ending mistake at the time, but only time will tell. We did learn that lining up directly behind the person standing in the row in front of you meant precisely that, and not standing in the gaps between the two people in front of you. A bit of practice, a bit of drill and ceremony and we were finished to then file in for the morning's classes.
Drink water, water or gatorade. If using powdered electrolyte mix, add water. Choking on dry powder would impress few classmates or cadre. But don't drink too much water, no more than 12 quarts a day. Being waterlogged was no excuse for dropping out of the PT run. But we were told that passing out was a sufficient reason for ceasing physical activity. If you passed out at any point of training, call for help immediately and if the person running next to you passes out, take the time to assist them without taking their wallet in the process. However, being conscious was not established as an essential pre-condition for either hydration or the observance of military etiquette and I'm currently unsure whether I have to first salute a higher-ranking officer who passes out prior to assisting them.
The first briefing was about heat injuries, "environmental considerations" as it was listed. The lists of symptoms for heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and other heat injuries (irritability, fatigue, mental confusion) seem to mirror what many of us felt while taking the bar exam and will likely feel after falling into formation at 0545 tomorrow. We hydrated throughout the presentation and promptly raced for the bathrooms during the first break. The crowd in the men's room had me wondering whether Date of Rank precedence offered certain privileges while jockeying for position in the bathroom line. But most of us were clearly too desperate to have the mental agility to do the necessary math.
The uniform class occupied the rest of the morning. What uniforms we had to buy, how to wear them, how not to wear them. What the grooming standards were for men and women. No funky colors, no makeup for men, conservative glasses, no swastikas carved into the head or racy tattoos. Wear this patch, shape your beret, drink water, and don't fall asleep during presentations. The one LT who made this mistake spend an hour standing in the back of the room, hopefully he was hydrating throughout. After a plethora of questions about this combination of shirt and pants and jacket and t-shirt, I had to drink large amounts of water to squelch my urge to tell the others to shut the hell up so we could go to lunch. But I figured that was likely to earn me a place standing at the back of the room.
But lunch we did. And from lunch we returned to a 2-hour presentation on how the JAG Corps fit into the US Army, what assignments might new JAG officers receive, what kind of work would they do, what the career progression was. We did briefly practice the art of getting out of one's chair and standing at attention without knocking over the chair, falling over the table, or tumbling your colleagues on either side of you. After a short break, the Commanding General of the JAG School came to give us the Oath of Office, even though the Reservists and National Guardmembers had already sworn in. The Commanding General talked to us about the Army, the JAG Corps, JAG School, and accurately predicted that none of us would ask any questions.
The last briefing of the day consisted of a description of the chain of command at the JAG school, going over Army values, the importance of following the chain of command, and basic information about leaves and passes. Much to my chagrin, a 250 mile limit was placed on our travel while in Charlottesville, 250 miles each way. Since none of us had nodded off during this final presentation, we were released around 1700 and I fled the building in such a rush that the cloud of dust I created obscured from view my other squad members imploring me to stay a bit longer, as I later found out via text message.
Yesterday, we were told not to exercise on our own while at Ft. Lee since the cadre wanted to assess our level of physical fitness. This was modified a bit provided we realized that we would not get a break in the morning just because we worked out the night before. After considering this, I promptly went to Pizza Hut for dinner.
End of Day Two
Drink water, water or gatorade. If using powdered electrolyte mix, add water. Choking on dry powder would impress few classmates or cadre. But don't drink too much water, no more than 12 quarts a day. Being waterlogged was no excuse for dropping out of the PT run. But we were told that passing out was a sufficient reason for ceasing physical activity. If you passed out at any point of training, call for help immediately and if the person running next to you passes out, take the time to assist them without taking their wallet in the process. However, being conscious was not established as an essential pre-condition for either hydration or the observance of military etiquette and I'm currently unsure whether I have to first salute a higher-ranking officer who passes out prior to assisting them.
The first briefing was about heat injuries, "environmental considerations" as it was listed. The lists of symptoms for heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and other heat injuries (irritability, fatigue, mental confusion) seem to mirror what many of us felt while taking the bar exam and will likely feel after falling into formation at 0545 tomorrow. We hydrated throughout the presentation and promptly raced for the bathrooms during the first break. The crowd in the men's room had me wondering whether Date of Rank precedence offered certain privileges while jockeying for position in the bathroom line. But most of us were clearly too desperate to have the mental agility to do the necessary math.
The uniform class occupied the rest of the morning. What uniforms we had to buy, how to wear them, how not to wear them. What the grooming standards were for men and women. No funky colors, no makeup for men, conservative glasses, no swastikas carved into the head or racy tattoos. Wear this patch, shape your beret, drink water, and don't fall asleep during presentations. The one LT who made this mistake spend an hour standing in the back of the room, hopefully he was hydrating throughout. After a plethora of questions about this combination of shirt and pants and jacket and t-shirt, I had to drink large amounts of water to squelch my urge to tell the others to shut the hell up so we could go to lunch. But I figured that was likely to earn me a place standing at the back of the room.
But lunch we did. And from lunch we returned to a 2-hour presentation on how the JAG Corps fit into the US Army, what assignments might new JAG officers receive, what kind of work would they do, what the career progression was. We did briefly practice the art of getting out of one's chair and standing at attention without knocking over the chair, falling over the table, or tumbling your colleagues on either side of you. After a short break, the Commanding General of the JAG School came to give us the Oath of Office, even though the Reservists and National Guardmembers had already sworn in. The Commanding General talked to us about the Army, the JAG Corps, JAG School, and accurately predicted that none of us would ask any questions.
The last briefing of the day consisted of a description of the chain of command at the JAG school, going over Army values, the importance of following the chain of command, and basic information about leaves and passes. Much to my chagrin, a 250 mile limit was placed on our travel while in Charlottesville, 250 miles each way. Since none of us had nodded off during this final presentation, we were released around 1700 and I fled the building in such a rush that the cloud of dust I created obscured from view my other squad members imploring me to stay a bit longer, as I later found out via text message.
Yesterday, we were told not to exercise on our own while at Ft. Lee since the cadre wanted to assess our level of physical fitness. This was modified a bit provided we realized that we would not get a break in the morning just because we worked out the night before. After considering this, I promptly went to Pizza Hut for dinner.
End of Day Two
Erika
Jul 31, 2010 9:11 PM