Day 3: New Friends

My alarm goes off at 0415, but I decide to lay awhile in my rack. I figure if I get up at 0430, I will have time to get dressed, run down to the PT area in time for Formation. at 0429 CSM Olsen calls and lets us know that PT for OUR class is cancelled! I was ecstatic. I had a splitting headache and needed to rest for a while longer. My feet were swollen and my face puffy. My body was in revolt at this assault. I showered, dressed, walked to chow, then to class. We had a very long day. We broke for lunch at 1200 but afterwards worked through until 1845. We covered a lot of material but the room was filled with hot (no A/C) hungry, bitchin' soldiers. As they say "A Bitchin' soldier is a happy soldier". If we don't have something to gripe about then something is WRONG! :-)

I sit next to SFC Whitten. She is a very lively woman. She is 2 years younger than me and we have a lot in common. She has been very friendly and wouldn't give up on chatting me up. We went to chow together at lunch and found that we share a birth month, number of children, husband's birth month, and second oldest of 4 girls! She is hilarious and a lot of fun. We walked everywhere and were tired and spittin mad at having to RUN to the chow hall for supper before it closed. Four of us decided after chow we would head to Wal-Mart. I had a short list of a blanket, WIPES, lotion and toilet paper.

The chow here is not too bad. Think high school cafeteria. Some days are better than others. They always have a salad so us girls always have a choice. The cooks are local and so we have a lot of good ole home cooking like greens, pinto beans, corn fritters, fried liver and onions, etc. Yum, yum. I am not joking. I grew up moving all over the world but I LOVE good country cookin. Nothin like it to fatten your bones or fuel a weary soldier.

We four Army girls finished our chow and walked to the designated parking area on the other side of the Post, griping the whole time. Now that our bellies were full; the griping was more light hearted. We drove to Wal-Mart in uniform. We saw several of our classmates buying supplies as well. I pushed the buggy as we loaded up. I got to know the other two girls in our little group. Sgt Nichols is 23 years old. YOUNG! She is so young. She is very squared away but just a baby! :-) She is so funny. She has a dry sense of humor. She is a Tom Boy and an asset to her command.

I have to tell you about Sgt Dennis. She gets a whole paragraph to herself. This woman is a peice of work. She is tall, thin and looks like something out of a magazine. She has her hair cut very very close cropped and bleached blonde. Her eyebrows are bleached to match. Her skin is the color of bronze and her almond shaped eyes are a deep brown. She wears very minimal make-up and carries herself with a stately air. Sgt Dennis is so "fine" that I began to notice that when she walks with us we get a lot of "hellos" from the groups of male soldiers clustered all over the Post. I mean they can be 50 feet away and I hear a deep "hellooooo". She smiles and waves and ignores them. When we are in the chow hall the most senior of the enlisted try and chat her up.

More to come