Day the 3rd at Fort McCoy

[aadler]

 

Not as cold in the barracks last night as the night before, but cool enough that I was glad I had brought along the lightweight sleeping bag I picked up at Guantamano as part of a hurricane pack. Also, enough rain during the night to leave sections of the PT field wet, so that I soaked my shoes returning to formation after our three-mile morning run.

(Okay, I run five miles a day at home. I do it at my own pace, though, and they keep wanting me to go at their pace. Three months from now I’ll be able to do a fast walk in the APFT instead of a run, and I intend to take advantage of the opportunity. I’ll continue to run on my own, because running is good for me, but I’ll be glad to no longer face it as a requirement.)

I located the base gym during our lunch break today, so I can begin checking my weight from day to day. I’m confident I can reach the goal in the time allotted — make that totally confident — but it will be encouraging to follow my progress. Meanwhile, I’ve been put in charge of setting and tracking the duty rosters for my barracks. Only a minor responsibility; still, I intend to treat it seriously.

I located the digital file for the certificate of my previous school, printed it out and turned it in. One more item checked off.

As usual, I’m the oldest member of whatever class I’m in. Since coming into the Army, I haven’t met a dozen people who weren’t younger than I am. And I just keep on going and going and going …

— Later —

After I finished running on the treadmill at the gym this evening, their electronic scale showed me already below my target weight. With seven days to go. I’ll keep up my current program until I have a significant safety margin, enough to cover random variations in water retention and/or disadvantageous disagreement between different scales, but I’m feeling marvelously heartened.