Another Old Pic
Air Assault!
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Here's another picture. It was taken in July 94. This one is from right after Day Zero of Air Assualt School. For those of you that have never been, Day Zero sucks. That's all, plain and simple, sucks.
We started by being lined up and loaded onto trucks. They drove us out to East Range where it was raining, as always (we used to say that if you were in East Range and it wasn't raining, you weren't really in East Range). When we got of the trucks, we had to do push ups for being too slow. Then we were lined up outside the sand pit. It took about 15 minutes to get into the sand pit because everything we did was either wrong or too slow. By the time we started PT in the pit, we were already pretty smoked. Then they took turns leading us in exercises. Each guy got the chance to lead us in 100 of something. Then the next and the next and the next. Within 2 minutes I no longer had a piece of me that wasn't completely covered in sand.
Then they moved us on to the obstacle course. We had to run between obstacles and run in place before and after we did each obstacle. The last obstacle every group had to do was the low crawl under barbed wire. The rain filled up the pits with water, so it was more of a low swim under barbed wire. Halfway through the obstacle, the instructors made us flip over and crawl on the back for a few feet and flip over again. When I got out, I had so much mud packed into my left eye that I couldn't open it until I'd finished the two-mile run.
After the pit, we were moved to the start of the two mile run. We were told that we had twenty minutes to get to the finish line. We had to do the run in boots and full (soaked) uniform and we weren't allowed to walk at all. They told us that there would be instructors along the route making sure that we didn't walk. The run route was a dirt road that started with the first mile going down hill to the bottom of a gulch. The second mile was back up the other side of the gulch. The kicker was that many of the people trying to get into the class had already failed to get in, but the trucks that would take us home were at the finish line. That sucked for those guys. They were told that if they didn't run, not only would they not get into the course this time, but they'd never be allowed to come back and a negative report would be sent to their units.
The run sucked, especially since I had to do it with one eye closed. But I made it well within the time limit. I was in! We then loaded up into trucks and came back to the division parade field. The other guy from my company and I walked back to B Quad together. When we got there, I dug out my camera and we took pictures.
So, here's a picture of me all muddy at the end of Day Zero.
We started by being lined up and loaded onto trucks. They drove us out to East Range where it was raining, as always (we used to say that if you were in East Range and it wasn't raining, you weren't really in East Range). When we got of the trucks, we had to do push ups for being too slow. Then we were lined up outside the sand pit. It took about 15 minutes to get into the sand pit because everything we did was either wrong or too slow. By the time we started PT in the pit, we were already pretty smoked. Then they took turns leading us in exercises. Each guy got the chance to lead us in 100 of something. Then the next and the next and the next. Within 2 minutes I no longer had a piece of me that wasn't completely covered in sand.
Then they moved us on to the obstacle course. We had to run between obstacles and run in place before and after we did each obstacle. The last obstacle every group had to do was the low crawl under barbed wire. The rain filled up the pits with water, so it was more of a low swim under barbed wire. Halfway through the obstacle, the instructors made us flip over and crawl on the back for a few feet and flip over again. When I got out, I had so much mud packed into my left eye that I couldn't open it until I'd finished the two-mile run.
After the pit, we were moved to the start of the two mile run. We were told that we had twenty minutes to get to the finish line. We had to do the run in boots and full (soaked) uniform and we weren't allowed to walk at all. They told us that there would be instructors along the route making sure that we didn't walk. The run route was a dirt road that started with the first mile going down hill to the bottom of a gulch. The second mile was back up the other side of the gulch. The kicker was that many of the people trying to get into the class had already failed to get in, but the trucks that would take us home were at the finish line. That sucked for those guys. They were told that if they didn't run, not only would they not get into the course this time, but they'd never be allowed to come back and a negative report would be sent to their units.
The run sucked, especially since I had to do it with one eye closed. But I made it well within the time limit. I was in! We then loaded up into trucks and came back to the division parade field. The other guy from my company and I walked back to B Quad together. When we got there, I dug out my camera and we took pictures.
So, here's a picture of me all muddy at the end of Day Zero.
