Summer Encampment Day 2
5:00 am “PT” led by the “DI.” Consisted of jogging around to warm up then an exhausting several station physical circuit.. Then to the barracks, get ready, and chow down at the canteen. The food & cafeteria are excellent & clean. The morning main activities involved touring and hearing about the “yellow footprints,” the location where all marines start their training by arriving on base during the early morning hours. Then went to the crucible, the key point leading up to conclusion of marine training. More on this momentarily.
Alas, a black flag interrupted our afternoon outdoor activities. A “black flag” is when it is deemed too hot for any outside even Marine activity. They fly black flags around the base to let everyone know. I think it has to be about 3,000 degrees for this to occur. Drill instructor Sgt Stanley Carey praised some of the youth this afternoon for their ability to start understanding the concepts and marching. About 1/3 of the youth were able to actually swim at the base public pool as a reward for their performances thus far. Other rewards will likely come for those other 2/3 as the week progresses though today they went back to the barracks and started cleaning the barracks and themselves up.
Back to the crucible. An area of intense training for real marines. Our 49 young men were broken into 6 groups to handle a challenging physical TEAM scenario. This is similar to other team concepts such as ropes courses or challenge activities. An example of one of the team scenarios – have the entire team such as crossing a simulated mine field using a few items provided such as a 48 gallon barrel, two exceedingly heavy iron pipes, and 2 ammo cases. Other scenarios and physical activities for us at the crucible site included firemen’s carry and casualty rescues.
The four younger elementary and middle school youth I overheard said about the crucible that they liked it and today was the first fun thing they had done!
As I write this in the early evening, the temperature remains a frosty core of the sun temperature of about 2000 degrees.
Tonight, early to bed because tomorrow early to rise.
