Day 1: In Processing

By Nick McDuffie. Day 1 of BOLC has arrived.  Started with heading to Ft Sam Houston from my hotel just outside of San Antonio.  I first pulled into the lodging building.  Not many people were in their yet.   You just give them a copy of your orders.  They will give you a couple sheets of paper to give to the hotel to check-in.  I found out I will be staying at the Holiday Inn.

Next I had to go to the Willis building.  This was pretty close to the lodging building.  Be warned about parking.  There are a bunch of places you CANNOT park.  I ended up parking near the PT field about 400 yards from the building.  You can also park at the AMEDD Museum.

Once you walk into the building, you stood in line to fill out your PT Card.   When you completed that, you moved onto more stations.  They were the height/weight (no problems there), TA 50 helmet sizing and some small items (bug spray, foot powder, sun block) and the final station was a quick check over your information in their system.  Here they will assign you to a platoon. I am in platoon 4.

You will also be handed a booklet here.  It contains your meal card.  You get meals 5 days a week at the DFAC.  The DFAC is close to the Willis building.

After checking in, I went over to the hotel.  It was a straight shot there.  About 15 minutes from post.  The hotel is nice and includes free wi-fi.

When I arrived at the hotel I met my roommate Dale.  He is a 72D (environmental science).  He has been in the military for 18 years so he should be a good person to lean on.

Tomorrow starts early.  We have to report at 0430.  The first day everybody has to ride the bus, even if you have a POV.  So that means being down in the lobby at 0350.

The day after is the APFT test.  This one is a diagnostic only.

Until tomorrow.

Started My Drive to San Antonio

Said goodbye to the wife and kids early Monday morning and started my drive to San Antonio.

My drive went smoothly.  No problems, except for a backup in Memphis (no surprise there).  After 10 hours I have stopped in Dallas.  The last time I was in Dallas was over 14 years ago when I moved out of Texas.  I can tell you the water still taste gross in Texas. 

I went for a quick jog on the "treadmill" at the hotel.  If you want to call it that.  Then headed out for dinner.

The closest place in walking distance was a Mexican eatery called "Alejandros Grill".   It was good.  I enjoyed mixed fajitas.  After eating I went to the gas station and picked up a Dr Pepper for the evening and walked back to the hotel.

I have a few more things to do tonight before I can go to bed.   Hopefully tomorrow's drive to San Antonio will be as good as the first day's drive to Dallas.