Mailing Address

Dear All,

I am writing this on Staff Duty at 2400 here in Red Phase at Fort Benning. When it hit midnight I finished my third day here; what generally is considered the hardest part is now behind me. I haven’t had a free moment to write until now. I really can’t explain what’s happened over the past 72 hours. Those of you who’ve done it know, and those of you who haven’t…can go rent Full Metal Jacket. But it isn’t a montage. Unlike the movies, the scenes here extend for full 18 hour days. The screaming practically never stops. You can do nothing right. The Drill Sergeants come at you in pairs and gather round you with their noses practically touching you as they shout obscenities and find excuses to smoke your platoon.

What is “smoking” like? Go to the Front-Leaning Rest Position, the “up” position of the push-up. Now stay there. You have to hold it for minutes at a time. No placing your knees on the floor. No placing your rear in the air. And you can’t just give up; no, they have more devious tortures if you don’t meet standard. And standard is very high.

Red Phase is “Total Control.” For the first 3 weeks you can’t do anything without being surrounded by Drill Sergeants, all eager to make you hurt. I really can’t explain what it’s like. Surreal, really. But that might just be aside effect of the 100+ degree fever I’ve had for the past few days. Miserable. Just miserable. Easily the worst days of my life. But after the first 72 hours, I’m told they start laying off a little. That would be nice.

They didn’t learn my name until today. This is outstanding. If they know who you are, that means your constant screw-ups have drawn their attention and you’ve receives a lot of “corrective training.” I was slow, red, and burning today, assembling and disassembling my weapon (we have M16A2’s) while I was shaking from the cold. I soldiered on for the day, completing a 1-1-1 APFT (look it up) with competitive scores and surviving the extensive smokings we had all day. So, even though I was sluggish and made a dozen little mistakes, I hope I got some credit for not giving up.

This place can only get better. It has to. Otherwise, people will start to lose their sanity. This is HORRIBLE. But at least I have a mailing address now. I’ll have to pay for my mail with push-ups and other tortures, but trust me. It would be worth it. I would deeply appreciate any mail.

Now for a few words on my platoon. There are 49 of us, and about half of us are OCS candidates. It’s the same with the other platoons. This is obviously an anomaly, as the Station Commander told us, and our cycle has more OCS that they’ve had OCS for practically their entire history. I think we’re an experiment of some kind. Additionally, the Drill Sergeants mock you and punish you excessively if you are OCS. Every little thing becomes huge. They’re prone to tirades about how you wasted your tuition, you’re obviously a complete idiot, and you’ll get soldiers killed with your incompetence.

Given the breakdown, we can’t have assigned Battle Buddies picked for their diversity. My BB is a 29-year-old OCS candidate with excellent physical conditioning and a sharp mind. This guy will be an awesome officer. He’s got his head together. The two of us share a bunk on the far end of the Bay, and we never get in trouble, so the Drill Sergeants generally don’t give us any one-on-one time. Thank God.

Now my Drill Sergeants: when we were first introduced to the Senior Instructors here, when they stood on the stage before coming down into our ranks to abuse us, I couldn’t help but notice one picture-perfect DS. The man looked like a GI Joe. Just perfect; I think he could be the Drill Sergeant they use on all the posters. It’s unreal. He also made it know by his actions that he would be the toughest. In a moment of insanity on Day One, I wished that he would be my platoon DS. Careful what you wish for. Yes, I’ll walk away from this proud of surviving, but man, is it a hassle right now.

My Staff Duty shift is just about up. I’ll write again as soon as I’m able. My return address is:
SPC Jeremy Lyon
Roster #327
B Co 3/47 IN REGT
Ft. Benning, GA 31905

Thanks to you all.

-Jeremy