Oct. 29, 2011 Day 43

The topic of the day was APFT. At 0400 we were outside, again in freezing weather, waiting to start our PT test. I was a bit colder than the rest because I lost my (labeled) fleece cap during ASU fitting. I say labeled because it could only have been dropped on the open floor, meaning someone picked it up, knew it wasn't theirs, and kept it anyway. Like DS says, in the Army, 10% are thieves, while the other 90% are always looking for their stuff. The cool thing was, DS noticed I didn't have my fleece and gave me the one off her head! Talk about a great leader.

Turns out, it was so cold outside, they moved us inside for our push-ups and sit-ups. We then ran our 2-mile outside. I did a little better on push-ups, but nearly doubled my sit-ups. I also cut 40 seconds off my 2-mile run. Let me say though that the 2-mile run was definitely with God's help. I woke up Saturday morning with what felt like a severe shin splint on my right leg, right at the point where my boot ends. I could barely lift my toes. Still, I sucked it up and went to run instead of going to sick call. As soon as I took my first steps, I forgot all about it. It didn't just not hurt, it wasn't ever on my mind. But as soon as I finished, I could barely keep up with the formation when we started marching. It feels a little better now though, so don't worry.

The rest of our day was spent finishing cleanup from FTX and preparing for ARM (Advanced Rifle Markmanship) training. ARM is basically shooting while in odd stances or moving.