“Shakedown on 9th St.”

So tired.  We got put back on red phase last night thanks to a few bad apples.  So the Drill Sergeants destroyed our bays searching for contraband (which, I must add, they found) until 12:00AM, then my platoon was up until 1:30 putting everything back to standard.  Then, we woke up at 5:30, and cleaned.

Here’s the issue:  Yesterday our Quitter, let’s call him Hotel, was shaken down after coming back from the crazy hospital, and got caught with candy bars, Pop Tarts and more.  That simply started the carnival.

One bay had an iPod, on had a cell phone and nudie pictures, but 3rd Platoon, MY platoon took the cake in the Running For Most Bullshit Contraband.  One of our guys sneaked a live round off the range.  Yup.  A bullet in a room full of assault rifles.  Made me feel safe.  That guy is getting an Article 15 (Non-Judicial Punishment) and getting Recycled to Day Zero with another Company.  The Drill Sergeants wanted to send him to jail.

The kid’s rationale was something along the lines of, “My sister likes military stuff so I was going to mail it to her.”  I talked to him later and got the feeling that he understood the magnitude of what he’d done.  But, by that point the axe had fallen.  The next week is going to be rough.

There is such an abysmal lack of integrity here.  Kids (most of them really can’t be called ‘men’) sneaking food into the bay after multiple platoons got scuffed up for doing just that.  People making playing cards out of cardboard, even though they are prohibited, then gambling with them.  People selling their guard shifts ... and the list goes on.

We had literally everything we owned thrown around the bay.  Our bunks were flipped, our lockers gutted, our rucksacks and duffle bags emptied on the floor...

To cap it off, Senior Drill Sergeant Cook was in a particularly foul mood, and took every opportunity to smoke us before chow.  Two minutes into my meal, he walked up to my table, looks around and yells, “You all look full, you’ve got two minutes.  One minute!  GETTHEMOTHERFUCKOUTOFHEREYOU! That means NOW!”

With a full tray of uneaten chow, I left the table and went to form up.

We’ve been cleaning since chow, and we’re headed back to chow here in a sec.  I hope I actually get a full meal this time, because tonight is another nightfire, so we’re going to be out late again.

They haven’t done mail in a while and I’d bet after this it’ll be even longer until they let us hear from home.  We are basically on lockdown until we earn back he Drill Sergeant’s trust.  Which could be weeks, if it ever happens.

I’ll try to write any time I have a free moment, but this next week is going to be hell.

I miss you all.

Love T