Its hard to believe that tomorrow will be the 100th day of my Army career. Its an ironic statement, because I'm sure I'll look back on this short period and wonder how I could have thought it took so long to traverse, however, after this first week at DCC, I can't imagine time slowing down any further.

In the good Army style, DCC began, like most Army experiences thus far, with the good old "hurry up and wait" routine. After an excellent four days "pass," to get from C'Ville to Ft. Benning, in which Lady Lucht, BBB (and her husband) and I carpooled the cumulative 10 hours drive, we arrived for in-processing. For those who have never done it, in-processing anywhere generally takes forever, and there is no confusion why the saying "hurry up and wait" is so prevalent. But, when we arrived at the Barracks Sunday morning, in-processing went very smoothly, the Cadre which is about three times larger then the OBC Cadre had an efficient line set up, that you simply went from one step to the next, and it was over.

So, once that process was finished, you got to check out your barracks room. Now, many of us thought we might be in "open-bay" barracks, the kind you see in the movies (100 bunks in a long hallway), but instead, we have tiny cramped rooms with three bunks, and a "wall-locker" for each inhabitant. With the bed we are given a pillow, two sheets, and a harsh wool blanket. For those who were unable to either mail most of their clothes and other goods home, or do not have a car, I don't know what they are doing with their stuff, because there just isn't the room in these tiny rooms. So for those in subsequent classes, be prepared and organized, and only bring the minimum with you to DCC, unless you're lucky enough to have an uncle that lives right off post and he allows you to store your bags at his place.

As far as organization is concerned, all of the men are on the third floor where there are two latrines, each with three showers for the 90+ men. Unfortunately, there are also a couple women rooms on this floor, and I say unfortunately, because they have to go down to the first floor where the other women are staying to use the latrines and showers. Initially, we tried to set up a system where one of the third floor latrines would be reversible (i.e. the women and men could both use it, exclusively) but that system broke down quickly. The whole place is crowded and nothing like the pampered life at C'Ville, but you have to remember, we're in the Army, and we now at the Home of the Infantry, so deal with it.

Monday morning began earlier then C'Ville as well, as we formed up at 0500 for an orientation run. It was a 3-mile run around the base in one giant formation.  The class has stayed the same size, but the composition has changed. The JAOBC class lost many of its prior members to either waiver or bifurcation, and we've been joined by other Direct Commissionees in other Branches, and other JAs who bifurcated from other classes. So, what should have been a very easy run (3-miles at a 10 minute pace) still saw a few people dropping out of formation, so we have some work to do.

After the run we had our first taste of the DFAC (Dining Facility), which for breakfast is pretty awesome, before forming up just to be released again to deal with anything we needed to handle for in-processing. Word to the wise, if you show up with adequate copies of the necessary paperwork, in-processing will ALWAYS be quicker and easier, and you'll get to use this time off to get stuff done.

At 1330 when we formed back up, the entire class was marched for to the CIF (Central Issuing Facility) and we were issued all the gear we could ever need as a soldier, and that we will likely never use in the next 5 weeks of training. I think it came to three full duffel bags of stuff, and it took the entire afternoon to get the entire class through the lines, which actually was far more efficient then I had expected. Once we returned, we had another accountability of all of the stuff we were issued (because once you sign for it, you are financially liable for it), we were released for dinner (DFAC style) and then released to our rooms for the evening.

Tuesday morning was the dreaded PT test, that we all knew was coming, and after 5-6 days off (in which few, if any of us actually worked out for) we were dreading. I think most everyone did pretty well, interestingly enough, I posted my best score to date 278, and improved my run by 30 seconds (13:04). After returning to the barracks we were weighed, clearly I still haven't lost the 25lbs I need to be within the BMI index, but when taped I did just fine.

After breakfast, Tuesday was Briefing Day; Finance, Command, Leadership, etc... It was a long day, with not a whole lot happening. That evening, my squad was detailed to clean the barracks, yep, we're soldiers finally, and that includes cleaning up after ourselves. With a squad of 20, it doesn't take long to divide and conquer the entire building, and it was over before you knew it, and off to bed.

Wednesday morning was another Urinalysis test. The morning began at 0430 and for most people it took an entire 3 hours to complete. This experience tested the patience of everyone, as the process was under-manned. So the morning started out poorly, then there was some miscommunication about timing, as we were all reporting to the mock-Forward Operating Base (FOB) for the day, and many everyone was throwing out different times for when to form up to catch the bus. So, after breakfast, as people began to trickle is, tempers flared because some people were perceived as being late and holding up the class, when in all honesty we simply had a break down in communication and control THRU the chain of command. It eventually settled down, and the entire class was successful at getting to the FOB for First Responder Training and Combat Lifesaver Training. We spent the entire day at the FOB watching power points (reminded me of C'Ville), before heading back to the barracks. In our last formation the class and I was informed that starting Thursday evening, I would be the new Class Leader. I was surprised and flattered to be honest, but nervous. After the mornings breakdown, I wasn't sure if I knew what I was supposed to do. When we were released, I went and did a second workout at the awesome Cross-Fit gym two blocks from the barracks before hitting the sack.

Thursday morning was our first day of anything that actually resembled PT. The class was broken down into our Platoons and we did "card" PT. It was decent, but I'm still waiting to get smoked at some point. I should mention that our Cadre is pretty awesome, and they've been very patient with us, but I can sense that they are going to start breaking us off something good very soon, and I'm looking forward to it.

After PT, we had breakfast and were bussed out (this time much more smoothly) to the FOB to finish our CLS course and become official card-carrying Combat Life Savers. The course took all day, but the entire class was in good spirits because we knew once we were released that afternoon we had a four-day weekend to look forward to. I had my first opportunity to address the class, I tried to keep it short with three basic rules; (1) respect the chain of command (hopefully remedying the communication issues we had the day before); (2) when we're given a time to form up, everyone will be in formation 5-minutes before that (we've had A TON of late people, and I personally hate that); (3) if you are late to that formation, i.e. not there 5-minutes ahead of time, you will be detailed to clean the barracks regardless of whether it is your squad's turn that evening. Simple, lets see if it works. As expected I got heckled by the class for my "Hoooahhhs," which I think I'll make the new class motto, and we were bussed home, given a safety briefing, and released for the weekend.

I spent the time in Atlanta with one of my best friends from childhood, in the lap of luxury, and now I'm ready to get back to being a soldier.

There was one question regarding boots, specifically, what brands can be worn. The Army regulations don't discriminate based on Brand name, rather, the regulations only specify a kind of look that the boots must meet. Namely, there can be NO zippers or velcro on the boots, and the boots cannot look too much like sneakers. If you're really questioning your boots, I would suggest one of three tracks; (1) bring them to Ft. Lee and see what Cadre says; (2) Read AR 670-1 regarding boots and see if they comply; (3) get rid of them if you think you're clearly in violation. I would abstain from option (3) unless your boots violate your reading of AR 670-1, and I would suggest going with option (1) because most boots that I've seen that you can by from AAEFES more-or-less comply with the AR, and thus you'll be just fine. But if in doubt, and you still haven't purchased your boots, ask someone for help, and get the "ISSUE" boots regardless of brand name, you can't go wrong. They may not look as comfortable as other pairs, but they do just fine, that's what I have, and I haven't had any problems yet...

Keep reading, keep asking questions, and I'll be back next weekend...