Air Marion Inc.
KMZZ - Marion Municipal Airport - KMZZ
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| Sent February 17, 2008 Hi Andy, Great to hear everyone is doing well. I have been very busy here. The morning I was supposed to report here I went to my truck at the hotel and found someone broke into it. They tried to take my radio but could not get it off so they locked the door and left. After getting that fixed I had to report. Not the warm welcome I was accustomed too, but I pulled through. Lights are out at 2300 and on at 0455. In actuality, we probably go to bed at 2330 and wake up 0415. Not really getting the 10 hours of sleep I was used to. So the first morning they wake us up by pounding on the doors. We had 15 seconds to wake up and post on the outside wall. Then, with the drill instructor screaming at us, we had 1 minute to shave and brush our teeth. I didn't have the time to wait for the water to get warm, build up a nice lather of cream, and shave. So I had to dry shave for the first time in my life. Ouch! Then I had time to basically put toothpaste on my toothbrush and brush with one swipe. Not fun. Then with another 2 minutes to put our uniform on, we were up and out of bed and marching in around 5 minutes or less. This was the morning wake up call for a couple of days. Now we get up and just post at 0455 on our own. After waking up we usually do some PT and then have breakfast. Meals at OTS have procedures like anything else. We march into the dining hall as a flight. Two of us grab trays at the same time and put our knife and spoon on the right, blade facing inward, and fork on left. Then we sidestep across the food line. We then walk to a table where there are four different positions. We are told where to sit and then walk up and stand at attention. After we sit, with our back forward of the back of the chair (we haven't earned that privilege of resting our backs on the back of the chair), we eat our meal in about 5 minutes. No talking and no looking around. The upper class is screaming at you to hurry. You have to drink 3 glasses of water and when you set a utensil down it has to be positioned at the 12 and 3 o'clock positions on the plate. Also, the plate has to be grounded to the bottom edge of the tray along with the glasses of water grounded at the top of the tray. Not a good meal. I have gone many times still being hungry. Besides classes and the such, we all have jobs and memos to write. Our Captain is pretty strict with format and grammar. The Air Force wants you to use contractions and I learned not to. So that is a hard habit to break. This coming week we get to shoot the M16, have some more field exercises (pretend war), and more class. Days are long but I keep pressing. I just wanted to give you a quick update. When I get pics I will send some. Hope you are doing well. Tell everyone I said hello. -Mitch |
| Sent February 27, 2008 Hey Andy, I heard how bad the weather has been up there. It's usually nice here but I don't get to enjoy it. Anytime we're outside we are usually marching, low crawling, or playing war. They keep us real busy here. There is no time to relax. I am up at 0415 and in bed no earlier than 2300. But I am adjusting better now. I am making some good friends and my flight is really cool. I got to have breakfast with the Colonel last week. Two people were selected from each flight. It was nice. Made things seem normal when people weren't yelling to eat faster. Here are some pictures. One is me qualifying for the M-9 (which I did) and the other is me and my flight receiving our pennant. A pennant is like a driver's license on campus. We now can march ourselves around. We were the first flight that passed the test. (6 flights total) Next week is our upper classes last week. We are all very excited to see them leave. Then we have a week to prepare for our lower class. That will be fun. This Friday will be the 1/3 way mark. Can't wait to be done with this. Well you take care and when I get some more pictures I'll send them. Tell everyone I said hi. -Mitchell |
