re: Female Captain struggles to finish 12 Mile Foot March

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At Ft. Knox we had Agony, Misery, & Heartbreak. Man I hated those hills.

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I had forgotten the name of Heartbreak. That's the one that is a steady incline that lasts forever right?

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imagine they had a good laugh after I left.

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did you ask where the condos were at when you got there?

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I've heard about it - first battalion XO was a PL there and always talked about it.

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It's a bitch. Literally a staircase up the side of a mountain.

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I had forgotten the name of Heartbreak. That's the one that is a steady incline that lasts forever right?

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And ever, and ever.

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Yep. Brutal.

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I remember one of the most brutal aspects of my time at Ft. Knox was the almost total isolation from the "real" world. Almost until the last week of my 13 weeks there, the closest we got to normal life was the little PX down the block. There was a bowling alley at the bottom of the hill not far from us that we'd get little glimpses of off in the distance every now and then but that was it. No radio, no TV. Our only connection to the outside was mail call and Sunday afternoon phone calls at the pay phones down at the corner of the block.

One thing about this isolation was you were totally cut off from all females other than the little old Korean ladies working in the mess hall. These women had to be in their 50s & 60 but dammit by about week 6 or so they started looking good. I remember getting to come home on leave before heading to Germany and seeing my then GF* and it seeming to be so weird being around a female again.

*BTW. that GF who swore she loved me and would wait for me to get home from Germany, "met someone" right after I got there. I think I might have been there like three weeks when I got the "Dear John" letter from her. fricking whore.

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We had old black ladies at our defac at Benning, and they sure did start looking good.

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I remember KP being the dream detail to get on. You had to bust your arse during morning, noon, and evening chow. But during the hours in between, the ladies in the mess hall didn't give a shite what you did. They'd let you drink cokes, eat ice cream, pudding (all forbidden fruit to us at the time). Some would even give you cigarettes. That's the one detail I always was volunteering for.

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KP was the shite. I drank so much Coke that I woke up with violent stomach cramps.

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Yeah but it was worth it!

I do remember one time actually getting to watch TV. It was in the middle of the night and the drill had assigned three of us to clean his office. He had a TV in there. We turned it on and turned it to MTV. I remember the video "Centerfold" came on. We just stood there slack jawed watching it and drooling on ourselves.

Here's why

Well yeah the ruck is supposed to be the last thing to pass. I suppose it's a right of passage you could say

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I heard tales, from those lucky few, that got to "guard" the DS office.

Best part of basic was the last night. My drill had been on the trail for a few years and we were his last cycle. He pulled out a shoebox, and showed us all of the nekkid wife/girlfriend Polaroids that he'd confiscated from the mail.

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Damn. Lucky man. The only surprise our drill ever pulled on us was during a inspection of the barracks he found an old can of Copenhagen that had been hidden in the drop ceiling for a couple of years. He still accused us of stashing it and of course we paid the price.