Final Report (maybe)

29 Jul 10,   5-5 Day
Mom and Dad,

By the time you get this letter, I’ll (hopefully) have seen you in person at Pass in Review (PIR) [Editor’s note: no chance; we got this on Tuesday, August 03].  We officially have one week to graduation, and only 5 days until battle stations.  It’s looking to be a stressful finish. 

Today we had Firefighting 1, aka learning about CBR (Chemical, Biological and Radiological) protection and culminating in the “confidence” chamber, aka the gas chamber.  This was the highlight of my day!  We learned how to operate our gas masks, and then it was into the chamber.  We formed up in rows, with about 12 people per row.  Since we were in with another division, it was about 120 people crammed in there. We donned our masks; then they set the tear gas burning.

The front row had to take off their masks, then one at a time state their rank, name and division.  Once this was completed, they could exit the chamber, the next row would step up and the process would repeat.  Lucky SOB that I am, I was in the very last row, and thus in the chamber the longest.  But, I did a good job sealing my gas mask, so I didn’t feel the effects until I removed it in the front row.  I did a great job resisting the effects until we were leaving, then it hit me.  Yeah, it sucked for a couple of minutes but really it wasn’t so bad.  A lot of my shipmates were dying from the get go.  Oh, and they make you catch all the snot running out of your nose in your hand, AND there is a big glass window where the RDCs literally point and laugh hysterically at you as you choke and die.  Overall, pretty fun.

Then we practiced for out PI/DMI (Personal Inspection/Department Material Inspection) which is tomorrow (Friday).  We’ve practiced it to death, but we sucked hardcore today, so we got beat twice during our practice run.  The floors ran with sweat.  We had PT (Physical Training) at Freedom Hall after that, so I’m exhausted now.  Gonna sleep like a baby.  I’m confident going into the inspection tomorrow but I’m worried our division will falter and suffer the consequences. 

I probably won’t write again, as it’s almost over and I’ll be seeing you soon (with some luck).  Here I go, wish me luck!

Love, Jackson