Fit to Win

This afternoon, we face the most dreaded part of basic training - the gas chamber. But first, we got to have a little fun. We ran a team-based obstacle course, with each of the four platoons of Alpha Company competing against eachother. Each platoon was divided into four squads, with each squad starting a few minutes apart. The course is divided into four parts. The first squad had to complete the first part before the next squad could start. Within each squad, there's a strong emphasis on teamwork - several of the obstacles require spotters, and no one from the squad can move on until the last member completed the current obstacle. The atmosphere was competitive but fun. It actually felt more like a company picnic than Basic Combat Training.

The first obstacle was a chest-high wall to climb over. Along the path, we had to balance on narrow beams (with squad members spotting eachother in case we fall off), swing the monkey bars, crawl on our backs under barbed wire (the last part went up hill, and our team members pulled us out from under the wire and back on our feet), crawl through pipes, jump into and out of trenches, and run the obstacle made popular by football camp where a number of tires are setup in two rows, and you have to step into each one as quickly as you can. The final obstacle was a 15' high wall made of netted rope. We had to climb up one side, down the other, assemble the entire squad on a retaining wall on the far side, jump down the wall onto sawdust-covered ground, do 10 pushups, and high crawl 30' to the finish line. The platoon was finished when the last member of the last squad crossed the finish line. We didn't win, but we gave the winners a run for their money - and we had a great time!