First Day of School--and a Bonus Class!!!

 Today was the first day of school in our basic journalism course.   As promised we began with the 100-question grammar test.  We took the test online, so we thought that we would get the results immediately.  Wrong.   It turns out that the Army has to have paper for nearly everything so this online test is graded on paper at a different location.   Even the parts of the Army that are automated often really have a "sneaker net" behind the automation.

 Before and after the tests we were told that we must score at least 70 or we would be required to take a remedial grammar class.   It turns out this requirement is not ironclad, at least not for guard and reserve soldiers. But after the test most of us were waiting rather nervously for the results to see if we would continue in the course or start over again later after two or three weeks of grammar class.

 Since this is a military school we listened to introductory lectures  for the rest of the day. Several of them were welcome lectures by senior staff members who reminded us in various ways that we must attend class and obey all the rules. In the middle of the fourth or fifth of these lectures one of the instructors came in the class, read several names, and told those people to go to the hallway and bring their gear.  They were headed for the remedial class.  We won't see them again.

At the end of the day, we signed out and met in front of the building to get a short writing assignment from our class leader, due at 10pm tonight.  We started to walk toward chow when one of the sergeants from the cadre said we had to sign back into the building.  In 10 minutes the First Sergeant is going to teach a class in treating and identifying cold-weather injuries!

Really!

To be fair, we also heard about heat injuries, but that was only the last 10 minutes of the next hour.  For forty minutes we learned how to identify frostbite, trench foot, chill blains and administer first aid for these and other injuries.  The high temperature today was 87 degrees in case you were wondering.

After eight hours of tests and lectures in school, it was quite a challenge to sit in a windowless room for an Army Powerpoint presentation on cold weather injuries.

Hooah!!