Charlottesville

I made it through Ft. Lee and am now in Charlottesville, VA to attend the Army's JAG school at the University of Virginia. I'll be here for ten weeks before I head off to Ft. Benning, GA for six weeks of Army training. I'm excited because Lorein and Carter will join me on Wednesday. Also, I think the internet in my hotel here is a little bit better, so hopefully I can update the promised videos and pictures. Finally, I wish I had pictures from Ft. Lee to post, but Lorein has the camera, so too bad. I know other people took pictures, so maybe I can get some and put them up.

CS Gas

I survived the gas chamber, but it really, really sucked. We started with our gas masks on and walked into a rectangular room about 20 x 15 with a tablet in the middle spewing out CS gas. Upon entering the room, we had to jog around a few laps and then jump and touch the ceiling 30 times. The purpose was to get us breathing hard so we couldn't hold our breath while being exposed to the gas. Once we'd finished jumping, we were told to lift up our masks. Let me tell you . . . it was terrible. It literally takes your breath away and you start trying to suck in air. Of course, this just means you inhale more gas. It also gets into your nose and eyes and burns like crazy. Even though you're prepared for it and know exactly what the effects are, it's really hard to not panic. After a few seconds, we were told to seal the masks again. Unfortunately, sealing the mask doesn't immediately help because you still have gas in your lungs. So, you're coughing in your masks and can't tell for sure whether you've re-sealed correctly or not. As for myself, I didn't hear the Chief tell us to re-seal until about the fifth time she said it, so I got a few more lungfuls of gas than others. I was coughing like crazy and trying to clear my mask when we were told to get down and do push-ups. I was coughing so bad I could only get out five or so. Once that was over, we lined up in front of the door with our masks on. When the Chief pointed at us, we had to take off our masks and give our name and hometown before we were allowed to leave. The whole time in line, I was just practicing in my head "Chris Crall -- Temecula, CA; Chris Crall -- Temecula, CA" over and over again. I probably started saying it before I got my mask all the way off, but I was allowed to leave.
You would think getting outside would be nice, but it was pretty bad. That's when you start to really be conscious of the effects since you're no longer bordering on panic. A lot of people get big strings of boogers hanging down from their noses. While gnarly, it's also pretty funny since they tell you to flap your arms around to get the air to flow around your body and take away the gas, so you see all these people running around flapping their arms with giant boogers flailing away. As for me, I didn't really have nose problems, but my eyes burned like nobody's business. I was trying to open them, but I couldn't. So there I was, flapping my arms with everybody yelling "Open your eyes! Open your eyes!" Finally, they realized I was trying and couldn't and a nice major from our class came over, grabbed me by the arm, and walked me around for a minute or so until I could see
Even once the immediate effects pass, though, your body still burns just like a sunburn. For me, it hit the back of my hands and my torso (it was a nice hot, humid day in Southern VA, so the gas just stuck to the sweat trapped inside our fatigues). It was a good twenty minutes before I was completely comfortable again. Of course, we were all still deathly afraid of touching our face or going to the bathroom :)
Anyway, it's over and I'm really glad I don't have to do it again. Well, hopefully. You never know with the Army.

In the Army now

You'll have to excuse us for not posting -- this past month has been pretty crazy. We packed up our stuff and put it in storage, went to Cabo San Lucas with my family for a week, moved in with my parents, and then I left to join the Army as a JAG officer. I'm currently writing this from a hotel outside Ft. Lee, VA. Even with all that, I tried to put up some video of Carter riding a horse (it's a really, really cute video), but the hotel internet couldn't handle it and after a half hour, blogspot told me there was an error with my upload. Alas. Hopefully I can upload it shortly.
As for the Army, so far it's been mainly sitting in an air conditioned classroom watching powerpoint presentations on everything from the role of JAGs in the larger Army structure to prohibitions on "fraternization" (i.e. officer - enlisted friendships/relationships). We have had a couple of physical training sessions, but they've been mainly of an introductory nature ("this is the proper form for a push-up"). The worst part is that we have to wear our PT ("physical training") uniform the entire time. This consists of our gray Army gym shirt, our black Army gym shorts -- which are nylon and have netting on the inside like swimming trunks -- and a bright neon orange reflective belt. It's pretty easy to spot us since everybody else on base is wearing fatigues (actually "ACUs" or "Army Combat Uniforms" -- that's one thing I've learned so far, the Army is big on acronyms).
The biggest adjustment has been the relative lack of free time. I generally wake up at 4:40 a.m. (more on that later), end class between 1700 and 1800 (5:00 - 6:00 p.m. for all you civilians :)), and go to bed around 9. In between, I have to eat dinner and there's always some little thing I have to do, like go to the clothing store to work on my uniform, etc. I haven't been able to watch PTI all week!!
As for the waking up at 4:40, that's another phenomenon I've noticed so far -- everybody is deathly afraid of being late (and for good reason). PT starts at 5:50 and since we're 5 minutes from the base, it seems like we could leave at 5:30 and be fine. Except the student leadership wants us there at 5:30 so we can work on formations, etc. Then, we start to worry about getting through security at the main gate, so we decide to leave the hotel at 5. Of course, this means every morning we get to the training field at 5:10, sit in the car for 10 minutes, walk to the track, chill there for 15 minutes until student leadership tells us to form up and we get in line at around 5:35 or 5:40. Fortunately, I convinced my group to not leave until 5:10 tomorrow -- that will be blissful!
Tomorrow, we wear our ACUs for the first time and we have a visit with the gas chamber. I'll be sure to tell you about it.