Day 19

This morning was the PFA (Physical Fitness Assessment) – this is the one that counts. I woke up at 0415 to give myself extra time to stretch. We got out on the track, did a few more warm-ups, and partnered up with the same guy from Quebec Flight that I was with the first week. He did his push ups first and then it was my turn. My left arm has been hurting me for a while, but I am not reporting it because I DO NOT want to be put on a medical profile again. I was worried how I would do; last test, I did 35 push ups and 35 sit ups. I had come to COT doing about 50 sit ups and 40 push ups, and during my “down” week, when I couldn’t go out with the flight for PT, I was back up to 45 sit ups and about 40 push ups. Well, it was my turn and pushed out 42 push ups… better than last test, and given my arm pain, I was satisfied. Then I had to hold his legs for his situps, which took some energy. I mention that because when it was my turn to do my sit ups, I couldn’t push out more than 32! What was wrong with me?? It had to be the strain of the push ups and the effort to hold him down… My hope was doing better on the run (which counts the most, anyway). I started off at a comfortable pace, with everyone pretty much passing me. I was working harder than the last test, but confident I could pull it off. By the mid point (3/4 mile), I realized I was on pace to do much better than ever before. I began passing people, thinking of them as cars on the highway. As I turned the corner for the last stretch, I pushed out with all I had and crossed the line at 12:28, a full minute faster than the PFB I did the first week, and a minute and a half better than the test I took in March. I was thrilled! While I wasn’t close to guys like my roommate, who did it in between 9 and 9.5 minutes, I’m almost 47 and never ran a day in my life before last June – it felt awesome. I better keep up the rush, because on Monday we have a mandatory 5K…! 

The rest of the day was great. Today was our first day in our Blues. YEAH! Big Boy clothes! A real shirt and pants and shoes – okay, so the hat makes me look like an ice cream truck guy… but it was SO much better than the ABUs or the AWFUL PT shorts! We looked sharp!

We had a role-playing class on counseling, in which we joined with our arch-nemesis Quebec Flight and acted out scenarios and critiqued the performances. After lunch we had another joint class, this time on mentoring. We then had a few hours of study time (our last graded written test is on Monday), followed by Flight Hall Call (Flight-level pep rally) in which our flight was awarded Best Athletics for the second week in a row and I was awarded Best Contributor to the Flight (voted on by the flight). That was followed by Class Hall Call (the whole class has a pep rally) in which our sqaudron was awarded Acdemic Squadron of the week and then Honor Flight (the highest award for the week a sqaudron can receive).

I got back after dinner to my room to prepare for Shabbos and then picked up the Jewish ROTC kid and headed to the RAC. I received a package of Meal Mart Gefillte Fish in one of my MREs (it was Pesach), so I saved it for Shabbos. When I was on chow line for dinner, I grabbed a few packets of cocktail sauce and picante sauce to help out with the fish – it was actually very good! We had a beautiful Kabbalas Shabbos with the two of us singing and clapping – as nice as it was for me, I know that for him – he is in a brutal, dehumanizing program – it was a spiritual oasis. I really felt like I was doing my job.