Today is Training Day 8 for me at Commissioned Officer's Training (COT). It's been a long two weeks, and I'm exhausted. We're into academic mode, and it's really hard to go to bed at 11 a.m., get up at 4'ish a.m., do PT for an hour, and then sit in class for several hours (many of which are video-based!).
Last week was all about learning drill. We arrived on Monday (15 Aug 2006), and the staff just kind of threw us in, so to speak. We spent the first week being yelled at, woken up by the MTI's (Military Training Instructor's) at 4:45 a.m., marched all over campus, filling out paperwork, etc. Great fun. This week, we've started heavy-duty classwork. We are learning stuff like how to write in a military style (most of which I am familiar with, but some of it is absolutely AGAINST the laws of English grammar!), leadership, group dynamics, Air Force history, preventing discrimination, managing diversity, dealing with sexual assault and sexual harassment, AF pay, leave, and other fun stuff. Some of it is really interesting; some of it is really boring.
This week we started Physical Training (PT) hard and heavy. Monday was lots of strength training (three sets of different kinds of pushups, three sets of situps, three sets of crunches, so and so forth). I hurt . . . . . still!!! Tuesday, we ran two miles, which I finished without stopping once! Of course, I'm still hurting from that. Yesterday, because we had done a blood drive Tuesday night, we only did endurance training (OUCH!), and today we had a physical competition called a "MiniMac" with the staff. I sprinted a 1/4 mile lap during the relay race! THAT WAS HARD!!!! I slowed down some, but I did manage to do it.
It's been interesting here, for a number of reasons. Seeing the group dynamics form, watching people learn to deal with the pressure (it's called "professional pressure"), and pushing myself to achieve have all been interesting. We keep reminding ourselves that we only have three more weeks and it's all over. During this time, however, the staff is attempting to make us all over into Air Force officers. I am no longer just an American citizen--I am an officer in the United States Air Force. It's a weird feeling. I feel like I'm being totally revamped.
Anyway, that's my update from COT. If you want to write me, my e-mail here is kraig.smith@maxwell.af.mil.
Kraig
2 comments:
I do actually believe you are in the AF. You mention getting up around 0430 then to bed by 1100. The Navy would keep you up until 2300, but I know how the AF is.
Just giving you a hard time. Hopefully, someone there can do the same on a regular basis.
We're proud of your commitment in serving both God and country. The training sounds really tough, but it should help in building more character, as well as some muscles along the way. Keep it up!
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