July 19, 1997 - Caught Scratching

970719 - Yesterday morning we were issued some gear including: an alice pack with frame, poncho liner, half-shelter tent, tent pegs, shovel, butt pack, sleeping mat, and waterproofing bag. We then had a Series Commander's Inspection in the afternoon accompanied by a J.O.B. inspection. J.O.B. stands for Junk On the Bunk which means that we had to arrange all of our gear neatly and uniformly on our racks. I easily passed both inspections. Today we messed around with drill, I got put in the pit for scratching my nose, we had a class on substance abuse, we kicked some more drill, and that's about it. I'm looking forward to Chapel tomorrow since it'll be the first time in 3 weeks I can go. 41 days left.
 This particular Saturday was a transitional day. We had just finished Swim Qualification (plus Mid-Cycle Testing, Initial Drill, some inspections, and Mess and Maintenance Week) and were heading out for Basic Warrior Training (BWT) in two days. With no tests, inspections, or drill competitions looming, there was no real urgency behind anything we were doing, aside from the typical urgency that is. I had even managed to stay out of the pit for a while. Until today.

Twenty years later, I actually think I remember getting caught scratching my nose on this particular occasion. We were doing drill, as we always did when there was nothing else to do. And I was bored, as I always was when we were doing drill. As we were standing there, sweating, I felt an itch on my nose. Most of me knew that scratching my nose was a terrible idea; I had seen recruits punished for that many, many times before. But a small part of me just wanted to move a little bit without being ordered to do so, consequences be damned. That little expression of my own individuality during these monotonous hours of enforced uniformity seemed worth it. I don't remember who put me in the pit, but I also don't think it really phased me. By this point, I was fit enough to make it through the pit or quarterdeck easily, if sweatily. The main lesson I learned from going to the pit was to be more careful next time I scratched my nose.

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