Hell Week

Oh manwhat a week! It has been extremely crazy, and its not even over yet. The week began Sunday afternoon at four when the tradition of Hell Week began. Hell Week is something that happens the week before March to the Brazos. At March to the Brazos the freshman get the rights to be sophomores in their respected outfit. In the Corps you dont just become something, and nothing is handed to you. Everything is earned. By everything I mean everything down to the underwear you wear to the haircuts you get. To make Hell Week be true to its name the upperclassmen put the freshman into extreme levels of stress. This week they took away a lot of our things and we learned to live with the bare minimum. We took 109 second showers, (as a class of 18 males), we had to do everything VERY quickly, like brush our teeth and get dressed into full uniform without brass on it. It doesnt sound too bad, but it got crazier as the week progressed and they took away more things. Friday afternoon we got smoked (smoked is a term meaning punitive physical punishment like a million pushups, sit-ups, etc). Well, we went to Spence Park and started out by doing buddy carries, (where you run with someone over your shoulders), and we did pushups, monkey bar exercises, running, and pull ups. Then the crappy part.we had to low crawl in a river of sewage. We low crawled, then we did back crawls, and then we did 109 sit ups while sitting in the sewage. In case you didnt know, sewage tastes nasty. (And the 109 thing..we are class of 09 so everything we do pertains to this number). Well, March to the Brazos was this morning. The entire Corps collects money for the March of Dimes, and the March to the Brazos River, I guess is just a way to show what we are doing. Well we marched for about ten miles. We got there, got smoked, they gave us our sophomore brass that we wear on our uniform to show what year we are, and then we marched back. It was crazy, but kind of cool at the same time. It was cool marching there, because we marched through highways, back roads, then brush, trees, mud, etc. Then we got what wed been working for all week. But then.we had to march back, and it had gotten really hot, and we were all really tired. Well, I am back in my room now, my legs hurt, and I have blisters on the bottoms of my feet from all the walking (and running), and I have little red spots all over my legs probably from the sewage. I also only got about 2.5 hours of sleep last night, so I am very exhausted, and ready to go to sleep! At least phase one is over. Now on to phase three and four. In phase three we will earn the right to call upperclassmen by their first names and we earn the right to be called our first names, and not fish. Then in phase four we earn the right to be an actual part of the outfit, and we get our outfit t-shirts. I know a lot of people are wondering why I put up with all of this. I am so glad I cam back. I have never felt a sense of accomplishment like I do here in the Corps. You learn not to take anything for granted, and you learn about responsibility, time management, and integrity. Nowhere else can you learn these things in one place, especially to the extreme that I am learning them. I am going to try and put some pictures up from today if I can. This blog probably rambles on and probably doesnt make sense at times, but keep in mind I am running on 2.5 hours of sleep. After Tuesday everything is over, and Ill be a sophomore in B Company!!! Wednesday and Thursday there are no classes, and Friday I have my first final. I am shooting for above a 3.3, so wish me luck. Gig em, and as always, take care.