A new blog with a different path

I'd like to start off saying my feet and legs are SUPER sore.  This past weekend, I was running around the woods of Fort Bragg for an ROTC Field Training Exercise (FTX).  It was an experience for me that I surely won't forget.  I have to say though as an MS-3 that should have known what was going on, I noticed quickly that I wasn't as prepared as I thought.  There isn't much information out there that breaks down how these things work.

I've decided to create a separate blog just for those types of things.  I know it's in nearly every MS-3's dreams to score in overall E at LDAC.  It's definitely one of my dreams.  But I also want to share my knowledge so that other people don't make the same mistakes as I have.  Or maybe help some new MS-3's that didn't have the chance to learn some things as an MS-1 and/or MS-2.  I'm glad I was able to make mistakes and learn from them early on in my MS-2 year when it comes to Land Navigation.  I did  fairly well passing every event we did.  I will post some pics as soon as I get them from the public affairs people.

Anywho, if anyone is interested in checking out my new blog, here it is below.  I hope it helps some people out there!

An MS-III's Guide to Becoming a US Army Officer

P.S. - I will still keep this blog for my personal use.  I separated them since I want to keep the new one strictly for ROTC advice purposes.

Tips on Packing for the Field

Hello all!  Its been a very busy few days for me.  Normally I can get my food blogs in during the weekend when I have more time to dance around my kitchen.  But this weekend I had to drill with my Guard unit.  So counting being back to work at my civilian job today...it's been 8 days of non-stop work.  What fun!  We drilled out at Camp Butner for the weekend.  We got everyone qualified at the ranges and then some Rapid Reaction Force (RRF) training.  I got to meet the Captain I'll be working under and all I can say is I'm loving my job so far.  It's going to be a very busy job since they are training me to be the temporary S6, but the experience I'll be getting is priceless.

So I'd like to talk a little about packing...specifically packing for field training exercises.  Some people pack too much for these things...comfort I guess.  And then others pack too little...probably last minute packing.  Even though Guard field exercises are different from ROTC ones, I still pack the same way.  

Tip #1: Take what's on your packing list.  It's there for a reason!

Tip #2: Review your packing list at least a week before (or as soon as you get it if you get it less than a week from departure).  This way you can make sure you acquire the things on the list before you leave.

Tip #3: Hygiene kit includes the following: toothbrush, toothpaste, BABY WIPES (a definite must), deodorant (so you lessen the stinkiness of being out there).  Those are the basic necessities.  Anything else is for comfort.  I usually bring floss too and a bar of soap incase I have time for a canteen shower.  

Tip #4: Sleeping system - If you are sleeping outside, check the weather!  You might not have to bring the whole thing if it's going to be cool or hot out.  The less excess stuff you have to carry, the better.

Tip #5: Do a Pre-Combat Check (PCC) before you leave your house to again make sure you packed everything.  A few times I've forgotten to pack something even though I went over the list before hand to make sure I had it.

Anywho...I'm looking forward to this work week ending (Thursday will be my Friday!  whoohoo!)  I'll be making my way to the beach for some fun in the sun.  Can't wait!

As for my Avengers treats, I'm still working on ideas! I will most likely have my Hulk treat done this week.  I'll give you a hint...they are cupcakes...but don't make them angry!  They might grow to abnormal sizes! Haha...stay tuned!  =)

Sinful Summer School

I really don't know why I do this to myself lol.

So last week I finished my Spring semester ending my first year at UNCP.  I'm happy to say that I ended with straight As once again but the best thing was I got no A minuses.  Just 5 pretty little A's.  I was ecstatic.  =)

So you'd think I'd reward myself with a nice long summer by the pool sipping lemonade right?  NOPE!  This summer I'm taking three classes, one during each summer term.  Here at UNCP we have a Maymester term, which started this past Monday, where you can take one class in just 10 days.  Seems easy right?  Yeah except you have to be in a classroom for 4 hours a day and you take a test everyday that counts for 17% of your grade.  So fun.  I'm doing well though.  It's BIO 1000 which is the most basic science course offered (can you tell I'm not a fan? haha)  I should end with an A- or an A.  I just need to study really hard for these next 7 days and I'll be right where I want to be.
The other two classes I'm doing online so it won't be too bad.  It took me a few years to really figure out how to take an online class.  One of these days I'll have to post some tips for you all that are thinking about taking one.  They can be easy but your studying techniques are a whole lot different than an classroom course.

So its been very busy lately.  I know I've been MIA since the beginning of finals week.  We had our company's commissioning ceremony this past weekend.  It went well.  I'm happy to announce that 5 new highly trained officers have entered into the ranks of our military.  I couldn't be more proud of this group.  I worked very closely with most of them this past semester to keep our company running smooth and they will be surely missed.  I wish them the best of luck on their new endeavors.  And I'd just like that say a big congrats to all the 2012 Commissionees.  You did it!

Campbell Battalion Military Ball 2012

So I had my military ball was yesterday.  I had a good time.  The All American Chorus performed for us and they did an amazing job.  They performed a neat demonstration of an airborne jump.  They also performed some great patriotic songs by Toby Keith including "American Soldier" and "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" as well as "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood.  The only thing that was missing was my husband but it was for the better.  He had a ton of work to do with his team and some of the guests in attendance at the ball put a bad taste in his mouth so we decided it would be best if I go alone this time.  He did comment on how beautiful I looked though before I headed out to my ball.  Hopefully next year this time, he won't be deployed or anything so he can join me.  =)

Anywho, I got a scholarship award of $850 while I was there.  I felt pretty darn proud of myself.  I was one out of six people I think that got the award from our Battalion of 200+ cadets.  Another cadet from UNCP got the same award too.  It was nice to be able to represent UNCP at the ball like that.  Another funny thing about the ball was that purple was the color of the night when it came to the ladies dresses.  Now I wasn't particular on the color of my dress when I picked it out.  It was just the one I liked best on me.  I was also shopping last minute so I only went to one store.  I picked up my dress at Ross for $40 and my shoes at Shoe Show for $10.  Talk about a deal!  My hair cut and style was $40.  My neighbor did my makeup and I painted my own nails so my expenses came out to less than $100 and I did everything within three days of the ball.  I call that skill lol.

Here are some pics of the night.  Enjoy!

All American Chorus

Here are some videos of the All American Chorus.  I was able to find one that shows part of the airborne demonstration and also one of the chorus singing "God Bless the USA".  I know its not the same as seeing them in person but even the videos give me goosebumps.  I love seeing our soldiers singing songs like these.  Just shows how talented our Americas soldiers are...that they would make time out of their regular MOS jobs to be apart of a chorus like this.  God Bless the USA =)

Officially Sworn In

So many of you have read about my struggles with retrieving a contract with the Army ROTC.  It has been a long and hard fought journey.  I started off doing Air Force ROTC in 2006.  I spent two years with them trying to get a scholarship.  I was getting ready for Field Training (30 day evaluation of officership) and I still hadn't gotten the scholarship, so I got out of the program and kept going to school.

My dreams of becoming an officer were a far off memory for a couple years until last summer.  We had just moved to NC and I talked to a friend who really sparked my interest in the program again so I signed up for ROTC my first semester at UNCP (Fall 2011).  I hit the ground running.  My motivation was at 200% and I performed everything to best of my ability last semester.  I started the contracting process in early September.  Lots of bad news came...first was around October, the Army was cutting officer slots for commissionees for the years 2012 through 2015.  My year was 2014 and our contracts got drastically cut.  Our battalion is made up of four universities and there were only 13 possible contracts to be split among 66 potential cadets.  Talk about slim to none.  The next bad news came in December, my medical examination came back as disqualified because of my history of psoriasis.  I thought my chances were done, but my cadre pulled together in February to send out a request to waive my disqualification.

Then the waiting began....the months dragged by as I waiting for the ultimate outcome but I continued to give my all...not just in ROTC but my classes as well.  If the ROTC plan were to fall through, I wanted to make sure I continued to be efficient in my classes striving for As in all my classes.

This past Tuesday, my Captain came to me with the best news ever.  I was going to sign my contract and ASAP.  He wanted me to go up to Battalion right away to sign the paperwork and swear in.  I think my heart literally jumped out of my chest when he told me this lol.

So yesterday, I officially swore my life to the United States Army.  Next week, I get all my paperwork together to start the SMP and from there it's a rap!  Just keep trucking until May 2014.  I can't believe I've come this far.  It seemed like such a long road but in reality time has flown by me.  It was just around this time last year I was telling myself that I had three years until graduation.  I'm coming up to the end of this semester in less than 30 days, then I start my evaluation year for ROTC, next summer I'll be going to LDAC, and then the countdown begins to graduating and commissioning.  Wow how time flies!

Weekend Ranger Challenge

So Saturday, I did a 6 mile road march with my Ranger Challenge team.  It was a lot of fun but hard work.  Friday, we went to the gym and worked out on our legs hard....I mean hard!  I got challenge by one of the other cadets to push my hardest and I ended up leg pressing 300 pounds.  Talk about beast! haha  Well I was hating life early Saturday morning when I woke up to screaming muscles.  I double checked my ruck to make sure it was ONLY 35 pounds so I wouldn't be killing myself too much.  Once I had that checked, I got dressed and headed out to Fort Bragg to meet up with my teammates.

I was hoping the rain would lighten up but....it didn't.  Then I hoped our team leader would cancel the road march but....he didn't! lol  So by a little after 7 am, we were on the trail starting what seemed as never-ending in the beginning.  I remember how I was thinking when we took off on the first mile, I have 5.8 miles to go and my legs are so sore!  And with the rain tolling down on us, our rucks and our clothes got heavier as we climbed up and down hills.

I was so happy to get to the 3 mile mark.  It meant I was half way to getting back in my car and relaxing my legs lol.  But it also meant I was trucking along great.  We made great timing the whole way.  By the 4th mile, we were 53 minutes in.   That's the same timing we did for our last 4 miler except this time we had extra variables weighing down on us, so I have definitely gotten faster.

As we neared our finish line, we slowed down a bit to finish with the team we started with.  Like our team leader says, we are only as strong as our weakest link.  But it felt good to finish out with them...as a TEAM.  :)

Tomorrow I have a special surprise for all your readers.  It's something I've been anticipating for a while, but I want to write about in detail later.  Stay tuned!

EST, Armory training, and new guns

So this past week I had my first refresher with M16s, M4s, and SAWs.  It's been about 5 years since I've even shot an automatic rifle so I was pretty nervous.

On Tuesday we went to Fort Bragg for EST (Engagement Skills Training).  EST is a virtual weapons simulator.  They use real M16s but they have been rigged for electronic use.  So no rounds just an empty magazine in the rifle and you lay out in front of a huge screen.  It was a bit awkward for me.  You don't zero your weapon during this exercise so I was having a hard time centering my targets through my sights and also concentrating on a screen was making my eyes twitch.  Needless to say I didn't pass but I hope I will do better when we go live to do the actual qualifying next weekend.

On Thursday, we went to Lumberton's National Guard Armory.  We practiced zeroing weapons, clearing them, taking them apart, and doing a weapons check after it's been put back together.  Nothing too bad...we do all of this (except zeroing) when we use weapons with blanks during our FTXs.

I hope to get some more shooting time in this weekend.  My husband bought us a new shotgun this past week as well.  My neighbors and I are planning to go shooting sometime this week so I figure we'll trade off on our shotgun and their M4.  Sounds like a plan to me! :)

giving the specs about the SAW

working with the rifles

having some fun too!

make sure to look hardcore lol

the newest addition to our family :P

Good news!!! And a great message...

I'm mid-week through the first week of this semester and things are going great.  I'm enjoying all my classes and I had my first day back to PT yesterday.  I won't lie...I am a little sore lol.  We did a bunch of cross-fit type workouts.  No word yet on my contract.  We are sending up an appeal on DODMERB decision.  Some good news to look forward to is that I might have a chance to go to Airborne School next month.  If my contract goes through as planned than I will most definitely be going.  I'm so excited and scared at the same time.  My husband and all my friends are happy that I will be joining the "cool" club haha.  The great thing is that my professors have already approved of my absence in class (I didn't waste time lol) so if all works out in my favor I will be a paratrooper come the end of March.  =) My older sister asked my why in the world would I want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?!?  I asked her, how many people do you know that are crazy enough to jump out of one?  Haha...we'll now she'll know two!  (Me and my husband =P)

On another note, I saw this today and thought I would share.  It sparked my interest because in my Religion class, we have been posed with the question, "What is religion?".  Well it's too early in the semester to give my scholarly opinion on the  matter but if I were to put my "believer's hat" on, I would agree with this guy and how he thinks.  Enjoy and have a great rest of the week!

Lots to be thankful for...

Last Wednesday I had my very important APFT.  I'm happy to say I did surprisingly well.  I didn't get a 300 but I was very close.  I ended up doing 52 pushups (I only needed 46 to max), 82 situps (80 is maxing), and I ran a 16:35 on my two miles (I needed a 15:36 to max).  My overall score was 290 out of 300.  I'm still extremely proud of myself.  My last APFT score was 255 so I improved by 35 points!

This past weekend was our last FTX for the semester.  It was very well.  I had a great time even with it being extremely busy and exhausting.  It really makes a difference when you are working with people you enjoy being around.  We slept out in the woods so I had to build my own hooch.  I wish I would have taken a picture of it.  It came out awesome.  I came prepared with stakes, bungie cords, and 550 cord.  Below is an illustration I found that is pretty close to how my hooch came out.  We use our ponchos to make them.  Basically what I did is used the bungie cords to attach my poncho to two trees.  I used two more bungie cords to go completely across the inside of the poncho to build a makeshift type roof.  I also used 550 cord to tie the poncho hood and tied the other end to the tree so no water would come through my hooch.  Then I used the stakes to hold the sides of the poncho to the ground.  After all that, I was able to put my sleeping mat down and then my sleeping bag inside.  I actually slept very well.  It was like a tiny little room...only big enough to sleep in haha.

This week has been good too.  Today was my last day of school before Thanksgiving break.  I'll be heading down to Orlando tomorrow so see my family.  I can't wait to see them even though it's been only a month since I saw them last.  It's never a dull moment with them. 

Being that Thanksgiving is around the corner, I've been thinking about all the things I have to be thankful for.  So here is my list of the top 10 things I'm thankful for:

1. God - If it wasn't for Him, I would even be here today.
2. My Family - They are what keep me together
3. School - What keeps my mind active and my way of staying independent
4. My Friends - I'm thankful for the friends I've kept throughout the years and also the ones I've made along the way.  They all have made a difference in my life.
5. Love - Being able to feel love and give love.  It brings both joy and sadness but I'm thankful to be able to feel both all the same.
6. My dogs - They keep me active and always bring me happiness when I'm around them.
7. ROTC - Yes, believe it not I'm thankful that.  I'm thankful for the opportunity to surround myself around great people.  People that are helping to mold me into the leader I'm becoming.  It's also going to provide me with my future career.  =)
8. My house - I love being able to come into a place and call it home...MY home.
9. My car - It's reliable, economical, and get's me where I need to go.
10. My health - I'm a healthy woman who likes to keep fit and cares about my appearance.  Today I received a lot of compliments by my ROTC classmates today since I came to class without my uniform today.  It's a nice reminder that I'm a pretty lady who is valued inside and out.  =)

Well I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving!  Stay safe everyone!

Lazy yet Busy!

I have been quite lazy with my posts lately.  But only because life has been sooooo busy! So lets back track to almost two weeks ago...

November 4th was one of my best friend's birthday.  We have been friends since our first year of college.  We spent a year in Air Force ROTC together before she left me and then I eventually left the program too since I didn't have my favorite wing'woman' to motivate me anymore lol.  She lives in VA and was heading to Raleigh for her birthday to watch her favorite hockey team (Washington Capitals) please the Carolina Hurricanes so she invited me since I live in NC now.  It was awesome to get to see her.  We usually try and get together at least once or twice a year since neither of us live in Orlando anymore.  It was a good game.  She got a puck that was played in the game and even better, the Caps won!   Here's a view from the top of the arena:

The following day (Saturday) I had to participate in a detail for ROTC.  I had to be an usher for a football game at NC State in Raleigh.  It wasn't too bad though since NC State was playing their all time rivals UNC Chapel Hill.  It was an awesome game to be at being that these two schools are lifelong rivals.  And the fans here are serious!

This past weekend was Veteran's Day weekend so my husband has a nice four days off.  I had to do a color guard detail that lasted most of the day on Friday but I was able to attend a Veterans dinner that UNCP hosted.  It was awesome.  The food was great and so were the speakers.  I had no idea that we had a Student Veterans Association at UNCP until that night.  It's nice to know that my university has such a huge appreciation for our men and women in uniform.  I was happy to have had the honor to attend that dinner.

This past Saturday we hosted the Marquez vs Pacqiuao fight.  Thank goodness we actually had a good fight out of this one.  It lasted the whole 12 rounds and Pacqiuao won but it was a very close fight to the end.  I love having get togethers at my house.  I'm always having new people over and it's great to make new friends. 

Well, tomorrow is the BIG day.  The day I take an APFT that will determine my future for the next two and half years.  I'm excited and super nervous at the same time.  I've been training hard for this event.  There isn't much more that I can do at this point except hydrate and stretch well tonight.  Wish me luck everyone!  I will reveal the news as soon as I hear of it.  =)

Scholarship Nominee!

So this week started off bad but it is definitely coming to a great end!  On Monday morning during our formation after PT, one of the Senior Military Instructors from Campbell Battalion came to talk to us about the downsizing that the Army is doing.  Campbell Battalion has been producing more officers than actually needed in the Army so they wanted to let us know that the contracts were going to be limited.  On Tuesday, our Captain came to brief the MSII class about the same thing except he had even more bad news.  Campbell Battalion was only going to contract 43 MSII cadets (class of 2014).  Let me explain this a little further...Campbell Battalion is made of four companies at four universities in this area: Campbell University, Fayetteville State University, Methodist University, and lastly University of North Carolina at Pembroke.  Our Battalion has to be at least 300 hundred strong and just at UNCP we have 24 MSIIs and we are one of smaller companies in our battalion.  This had me pretty nervous because liked I've said many times before, this is my dream.  I've planned the next three years of my life around this and now I was being told my chances were going to be slim to none.  About 15 of those 43 will be green-to-gold cadets (active duty enlisted transferring to become officers).  We have no say in how many we will actually get and there really isn't a limit.  Maybe another 10-14 who are on scholarship.  So for us who aren't contracted it's like having 40-50 dogs fighting for the same bone!  I was pretty depressed for most of this week.......UNTIL TODAY.

Today I came into the ROTC house to work on some homework for another class and our Msgt came up to me about the APFT coming up.  He asked if it was possible to make it to the APFT they were holding at Fort Bragg for the contracted cadets.  He told me that he knows I'm not contracted yet but since I have my packet already submitted he wanted me to take it with them anyways.  That was a pick-me-up!  About an hour later, our Captian comes into the house and asks to see me.  I was pretty nervous since he's been having people come see him about contracting and letting people know whether they might be able to contract or not.  I was pretty nervous I'm not gonna lie.  As I'm standing at parade rest he tells me "Here's the deal Gilfranzo" (Yes that's how he says my name lol) "There's only one MSII scholarship they are giving out this year and you've been nominated for it. You're competing against one girl from FSU and she's high speed like you.  So you better be at the APFT at Fort Bragg and score a frikin 300 on that PT test you hear me!"  I felt my body go numb....a scholarship!  I was freaking out about not getting contracted and now I'm up for a scholarship!!!!  I want to hug the crap out of him LOL.  I've never felt so nervous and so proud at the same time!

So for the next week and half I will be training hardcore for this PT test.  I need to be in the best shape of my life and run the fastest I've ever ran in my life if I want this scholarship.  Which I do!  I want it more than anything else!  I really do hope I get this, it would seriously make my year official. So I'm asking ALL my friends and family to keep me in your prayers while I train hard for this and the pray REALLY hard for me at 0600 on the 16th of November LOL.  Tomorrow is Friday! Yay!  Have a great weekend ya'll. =)

High speed short girl in the middle?  Yeah that's me lol

Good news!!!

I don't know how I forgot this but Monday I took my APFT and I passed!!!!  Yeahhhh yuhhhh...I did 45 push-ups, 60 situps (counted) I got cheated out of like 15, and I ran a 17:18 on the 2-mile run.  Not too shabby eh? 

That's not all the good news though.  I just finished my packet to contract with the Army ROTC...so the $$$ should be in effect pretty soon.  I can't believe I'll be getting paid to train to be an officer....too cool lol.

And last but not least....my husband passed CA selection! Yay!!!  Good things to come for us.  I'm not gonna lie...it's been a tough week not being able to talk to him and motivate him but prayers work miracles....and so does having my parents that I can call who encourage me to stay strong and positive.  =)

I feel so blessed and I'm excited for what to come.  I wish we could spend tomorrow celebrating BUT I have my FTX this weekend so I guess we'll have to wait.  But for a small celebration, I have cooked one of my husband's favorite meals...rice, beans, and fried pork chops!

Where would we be without books?

So I've been spending a lot of time lately at the school library.  I've almost forgotten how much I love being around books!  Nowadays we spend so much time on the internet.  You can google just about any question you have and for the most part you will get a decent answer.  Now we have e-books that can be accessed through a computer or mobile device such as a cell phone, tablet, kindle, or nook.  I am a victim of this...I do have a kindle lol.  But it just isn't the same as a good old book in your hands.  Walking down the aisles in the library skimming through the titles and names of authors I felt them whispering to me "Read my story" "Hear my voice" "Welcome to my world of..."  Words are the physical proof that knowledge exists.  It's our way of leaving a footprint behind to others...so that this knowledge can be passed down from one generation to the next.  These books of yesterday are what have helped us become what we are today and what we will be tomorrow. 

This week my MSgt informed my class to start preparing a briefing which each of us will give to the class in two weeks.  I've decided to do mine on Airborne history and Airborne school.  Can you guess where my first stop was?  The library of course!  I decided to test my library's topic content to see if by any chance they had any books on military Airborne operations.  And to my surprise I found absolutely everything I needed for my briefing and more!  I'm excited to get started on this project.  I've always had an interest in Airborne operations so this is going to just as fun for me as my briefing will be for the class.  I will also be doing a demonstration of the jump commands with the help of some prior service cadets who are Airborne qualified.  A big thanks to a good friend who suggested it.  =)

If my book fascination wasn't enough already...I've also checked out some books for free time reading.  I think I love non-fiction books just as much as fiction.  Non-fiction books allow you to experience a real-life event that could have taken place hundreds of years ago...or maybe during your lifetime but it was in a place far away.  Fiction books are great because you get to jump into an author's imagination and experience a world only known to the author and the readers of that book.  Since I couldn't decide what type of book I wanted to read I picked one of each.  My fiction book is a fantasy called Alanna, the first book of a quartet.  It's juvenile reading so I should finish it pretty quickly.  I've actually read this book before in middle school.  It's part of a quartet (a series of 4 books) by the Tamora Pierce.  She actually wrote a series of quartets and the characters are all part of the same world...and it's always about a female warrior of some sort.  (Does it sound like someone here? lol)  I just like how I can go through one book after the next and still be in the same world of people getting to know everything about it.  I remember wondering how someone could just come up with something so fictional and immense in just their mind.  I guess that's why I want to re-read these books.  To be able to get lost in an amazing and magical world.

The non-fiction book that I picked is about a specific company from my husband's old unit.  The book is called WAR by Sebastian Junger.  Many of my 173rd family and friends have already bought and read the book when it released to the public last year.  I've heard that it's a must read but it takes a lot to get through the whole thing emotionally.  Well I started the book a few days ago and only got through the first few pages before I had to set it down and compile my thoughts and emotions.  Just knowing that these stories being told actually happened and there are people right now with an emptiness lingering in their houses and hearts because some of the soldiers in this book didn't come home....it gives me goosebumps.  I know that as a cadet training to be an officer, I will eventually have to face the loss of a soldier and the heartbreak of a family.  It could even be me in the brink of action and how will I react if I'm to encounter an attack like Bella Ambush?  Yes, I know you can never be prepared for death and reading this book is going to be hard but I know reading this book will give me a good picture of what war look likes and supply me with an awareness of what I could encounter in a few years.

T.G.I.F

Gosh am I glad it's Friday!  It's been a long weekend for me even with having Monday off because of Labor Day.  PT has been pretty tough for me this week.  We've been running every day.  Between Tuesday through today, I've ran around 9-10 miles.  I strained my hamstring on Tuesday from sprints and it didn't help as we continued sprints on Wednesday.  I was able to get through by stretching my legs many times throughout the days. Stretching is one of the most important parts of exercise.  If you don't stretch right it could really ruin your whole workout.  Here are a few stretches that I used to get myself back to speed.  There are several different ways to stretch the hamstring but these are what I found that fits me best.

Standing Hamstring Stretch #1

This is a good one to do before doing any exercises.  What you do is bend over until you touch your toes. (You can bend you knees if you need to.)  Once you are touching your toes, try to straighten your legs.  You will feel that back muscle tighten a little but remember it shouldn't feel painful.  Stretching is suppose to help not hurt.  =)

Standing Hamstring #2

This is a good stretch to do after you exercise.  It is stretching the same muscle but you are keeping your head up and elevated.  The worst thing you could do is bring your head down after a hard workout and have all that blood rush to your head.  It could lead to lots of dizziness and it could make you feel even more faint.  For this stretch just extend one leg outwards points your toes up.  Then slowly bend the opposite leg and you should feel that hamstring tighten some.  Remember to always stretch twice as long after your workout.

Hamstring Stretch sitting

If you find it difficult to stay standing after your exercising, this is a good stretch to do as well.  You still have your head elevated to stop from getting very dizzy or faint and still stretching that same muscle.  For this stretch just bring one leg inwards with the other leg extended all the way out toes pointed upwards.  Then extend your arms all the way out as you try to reach your toes on your extended leg.  

I hope you enjoyed my little stretching brief.  =)  It really helped me a lot especially for today on our 3 mile run which turned to 4.  I feel real good though. I never thought I could improve so much physically in such a short time.  I think I'll be more than ready for the PT test on the 27th if I keep up like this.  

I hope you all have a great weekend!  Stay blessed ya'll! 

Combat Water Survival Training

Let me just start off with saying that the physical aspect of Air Force is easy peasy compared to Army.  LOL

 So to end off my second week in ROTC, we had Combat Water Survival Training (CWST) this morning.  Now I knew we were going to be doing stuff in a pool with our ACUs on and I was actually looking forward to it.  Well let me tell you now that this is not one of the easier trainings we have to do this semester.  Land Navigation is a piece of cake compared to this stuff. Anywho let me explain what CWST is.  It is a requirement of all ROTC cadets.  The first part is to jump from 3 meters into water blindfolded.  Once you hit the water you can remove the blindfold and swim out.  The second part we have to demonstrate the removal of our gear while submerged.  If your head comes above the water before your gear is off you have to do it again.  The third part is to swim 25 meters (remember this is all with full ACUs).  The forth part is to swim 15 meters with your gear while holding your rifle above water.  And lastly (does it sound tough yet???) we had to tread in water for FIVE minutes.  Yeah treading in water doesn't seem to hard but after you've done the first four parts, your uniform feels pretty heavy in that water.

3 meter jump blindfolded

So the 3 meter jump was pretty easy.  I will admit I got kinda of nervous as I blindly walked off the diving board into "unknown" waters.  But that was the easiest part I'd say.  The second part, removing the gear was pretty okay.  As soon as they pushed me into the water I repositioned my arms to be inside the straps so all I had to do is extend my arms upward and the gear fell right off.  The third part I did was the 15 meter full gear swim.  This part I failed the first time.  I got half way and swallowed water and I panicked.  I immediately let go of my rifle and flailed over to the side of the pool gasping for breath.  It really isn't an easy task when your weight is almost doubling with soaked ACUs gear with full canteens AND a rifle.  Luckily we weren't allowed with our boots in the pool (school rules) and I was able to use my light tennis shoes but with any shoes period it's hard because it's adding weight to your body.  The main reason why I failed is because my swim technique was off.  When swimming with full gear you have to be as parallel to the water as possible to shift the weight around evenly.  You also have to take big breaths.  The more air in your body the better you'll float.  I practiced this technique with no gear during the 25 meter swim.  Once I finished the 25 meter swim I came back to do the 15 meter gear and rifle swim again.  My technique was great the first half of the swim and then  I couldn't hold my rifle up any longer.  BUT I didn't give up.  I still had my rifle in hand but just wasn't above the water.  I trucked it out and got across to the 15 meter line.  (I seriously used all I had and it was written all across my face lol).

jumping in for the 15 meter swim

Removing gear while submerged

 By this time my body was so exhausted and ready to hit the showers and take a nap!  But nope!  Still had to do the 5 minute tread.  I thought I was gonna pass out on this one.  Luckily though we were aloud to float as well.  I made through the whole 5 minutes because of the wonderful float technique!  Thank goodness!  We ended our PT session with 10 pushups and 10 situps.  (I think this was by far the easiest part of the morning even with being super exhausted with all the water exercises.)  Many people had to redo certain parts.  Some even failed the parts completely.  I think I did pretty good for my first time.  Anywho just thought I'd give you guys a taste of CWST.  We will be doing this once a month.  I don't think I will be as "excited" as I was this time but I am looking forward to getting better at these exercises so that I only do each just once lol.  The pictures provided are not from my company but I found them online so you can see some of the stuff we did this morning.  Enjoy and have a great weekend!

15 meter swim

treading water for 5 minutes

Wipe the sweat and keep truckin

So my PT test wasn't the greatest today.  I failed :(  I missed the situps by one but that was my own fault for not looking at what score I needed to pass.  I surely could have pushed out one more but I was thinking passing was 38 situps so I was good with 49...nope!  Passing is 50 situps.  Pushups was fine...35.  And oh boy...the run.  Well I was doing great the first 6 laps 2 minutes or less per lap and then as I was curving my 7th lap, I felt a sharp pain like a knife digging deep into my rib cage.  Yep...it was a cramp.  And boy was that thing fierce!  I could hardly breathe.  I tried to stick it out and keep running but nope, my body wasn't having it.  I walked that 7th lap having to stop about 3 times just to stop myself from curling into a fetal position (Trust me those cramps hurt bad!) It started to go away as I started my last lap so crazy me decided to sprint to catch up on lost time...NOPE!  As soon as I got 3/4 around the lap the evil cramp returned but I didn't stop running.  I pinched my right side and kept running even though I felt like I was dying lol.  Didn't do much for me because my two miles came out to 21:07 and you need a 19:36 just to get a 60.

I'm not sure why my body decided to cramp on the day I needed it to work.  I ran 2.5 miles this past Friday just fine.  As a matter of fact I was doing great on the run.  I would have finished with around 16 minutes for both miles if I didn't get that cramp.  It really took a toll on me.  I was really bummed afterwards and was so mad at myself.  Did I hydrate enough?  Did I stretch enough?  Was I breathing right?  My answer to all this was yes but what can you do when you get a cramp like that?  And the crazy thing is after I finished about 15 minutes later, the cramp was completely gone.  I felt like running the two miles all over again just to prove I can do it.

But in the end I just have to suck it up...realize I may have lost that battle but I'm not going to lose the war.  Tomorrow I'll be back on the track working on my sprinting to get my stamina up.  Maybe that way I won't cramp up again. 

Army vs. Air Force

My first full week of school is over and I have to be honest, it sure has taken a toll on me!  Between classes and my ROTC schedule I am crazy busy.  I get up at 4 every morning and have barely enough energy to do my wifely duties around the house before climbing into bed around 8:30-9 exhausting.  I had a headache three days in a row and I do believe it's because of how my daily routine has changed so drastically.  Nevertheless, I'm extremely happy about the change.  My life is back on the move again, doing bigger and better things than before.

My classes have gotten off on a great start.  I have some programming homework to finish today but other than that, I'm scotch free the rest of the weekend which means...time to catch up on cleaning this house!  (Which I've already started on early this morning lol)  ROTC has been going great too.  I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to keep up in PT but I've been doing better than I expected.  I love the fact that I'm back to being active mentally and physically.  I believe both of these are needed in order to maintain a balanced life.  PT is really a love/hate relationship.  I hate waking up so early and working out beyond exhaustion but after it's all said and done I feel awesome and proud of myself.  Yesterday we did a  company run around the school about 2.5 miles total.  Mind you, this is my first "long" run in over three years.  Believe or not I didn't fall out and I was actually ahead of the company since I was doing road guard duty.  Now I'm not gonna lie, my lungs were on the floor by the end of the run but the important thing is I didn't give up.  =)

This makes me feel pretty confident because Monday we have our APFD which pretty much means practice PT test.  I know I'm not at the point of maxing out on points but I'm at least confident that I will pass each section just fine.  I have plenty of time to work my way up to a 300 since our real APFT isn't until Sept 27.  I will admit the Army is more strenuous with PT than the Air Force.  In the Air Force ROTC we only have to complete one PFT a semester.  In the Army ROTC, we do one once a month.  Also, the Air Force is only 1.5 miles, 1 minute situps, 1 minute push-ups.  The Army is 2 miles, 2 minutes situps, and 2 minute pushups.  Oh and another thing...the Army situps are different than Air Force.  In the Air Force, we did our situps with our hands crossed in front of us.  The Army does them with your hands behind your head.  I don't really understand this concept because to me it just puts more stress on your neck but oh well...rules are rules right?

Well wish me luck everyone!  I will break the news of my APFD scores Monday.  Hopefully I do well.  =)

Something old...Something new!

So yesterday was a very filled schedule for me.  I had my student orientation in the morning for UNCP and it went very well aside from not being able to sign up for a few classes.  The first couple of hours they introduced all us transfer students to the services available to us and then we moved on to speaking with an adviser.  I only had to spend less than 5 minutes with my adviser though.  She was so shocked and awed at how prepared I was, I had already had my desired schedule written down and taken care of the few overrides I knew I needed for the classes I wanted.  After my little chat with the adviser I went and registered for my classes.  I was able to register for 4 of my classes except the two main classes I need this semester.  They are have a co-enrollment requirement which means I can't sign up for one without the other.  One of the classes is already filled so I can't sign up for the other class which still has seats available.  =/  I emailed my Department Chair though so I'm crossing my fingers that he can send an override to get me into the class that's closed.
Oh yes!  And an update from my meeting with the Department Chair last week...I was able to transfer two of the four classes I had asked for which is a miracle!  I'm glad because that's two less major requirement classes that I have to take.  I'm still missing too many classes to graduate in two years but at least I have 60 credits total that transferred over so I don't need to do any electives.  =)
After registration, I headed off to the cafeteria to eat lunch and then got stuck in that building because it was raining MRAPs and Humvees outside lol.  They had a bunch of tables set up from different organizations and Greeks trying to recruit.  One of the tables was the Army ROTC table.  As I walked by the guy at the table asked if I wanted to join the Army.  LOL  I looked at him and said "I'm already signed up and I'll be started this Wednesday."  We got to talking about the class and how I ended up in North Carolina.  I mentioned my husband moving from the 173rd in Bamberg and he immediately yelled out "No way!" and showed me his combat patch.  Well I'll be damned he was a Sky Soldier!  Our conversation lasted another 15 minutes or so lol.  God knows I can brag about my Sky Soldiers until the lights go out haha.  It was nice to meet someone though.  At least I won't be totally nervous my first day of class because I'll know someone.  =)
NEXT my husband and I were off with our lovely neighbors Bexaida and Destiny to welcome home Bexi's husband from Afghanistan.  It was a great homecoming and it gave me a chance to practice my photo shooting.  I can't say I'll ever be a professional photographer but it sure was fun.  Here are a couple pics from this emotional and exciting moment for all of us.  (My editing is pretty cheap but I don't have a professional photo editor....yet!)  =P  Enjoy!

College Jitters

So today has been a busy day running around getting things done before school starts.  I just got an email last week saying I got accepted to UNC Pembroke....FINALLY! lol So now I have TONS of things I need to do before school starts in hmmmm....only THREE weeks!

I had to go to the Army Education Center on post...took me like 20 minutes to find the place.  Then I had to drop off some papers to my husband.  In order to get in-state tuition, his Captain needs to sign a military affidavit or waiver so I can qualify.  Turns out I'm going to have to write up the memo...all his Captain does is sign it...so yay to more work for me to do lol.  Next I drove out to Pembroke.  I spoke with the ROTC secretary about signing up for classes.  Since I took two years of ROTC already I don't need to take the first year classes but I'll have to retake the second year classes because my second year at UCF was Air Force related and now I'll be transfering to Army.  Still awesome to know I don't have to retake both years.  Next, I went to the Student Health Services office and filled out my medical forms.

Now all I have left is to make a few follow up phone calls to Financial Aid and Student Health Services later this week to make sure all my information was received.  And last but not least, Transfer Student Orientation on August 13th.

I'm super excited to be starting school again but I'm nervous as well.  More nervous about ROTC really.  I haven't done ROTC for over two years now and I'm switching branches so it is going to be pretty different.  I hope I do well and maybe qualify for some free money too lol.