The Calm Before the Storm

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The bus ride up to Fort Bragg was uneventful and relaxing. I felt happy, mostly because I was able to spend around two hours on the phone with my fiancee before boarding the Grayhound. As the bus sped through the night, I could not help but wonder what AIT would be like. Many of the guys at Fort Jackson had friends who joined a bit earlier and had already moved on to AIT. We heard that it's pretty much a 9-6, Monday-Friday affair. We heard that they got their cell phones after the first week. We heard that "punishment" was doing 10 pushups, and then everyone could order pizza. We didn't hear wrong (as far as I know). BUT, none of these people were in AIT for Special Operations. That makes a world of difference, as I would discover.

I traveled with one other person, a female whose graduation date also got messed up. We arrived at Fort Bragg late at night. Upon checking in with the Drill Sergeant on duty, I found that I was assigned to a room with three other people. Gone were the 8 man bays of BCT. We each had our own bed, a nightstand, clock, dresser and chair. Something else was different, too - the people. If BCT was like an inner city high school, AIT was turning out to be much more like Freshman year at an ivy league school. I found I was not the only one to score a 99 on the ASVAB. In fact, there were several of us. I also was not the only one to receive a leadership award. The people around me were - sharp.

I fell asleep happy about my situation, and wondering what the next day would bring.