Terminal Lance #303 “Too Early for Fun”

It’s never easy to motivate people that have been binge drinking all night to perform mandatory PT at 05:45 in the morning.

Thusly, it is very hard to motivate most infantry Marines.

The absolute worst PT sessions are always the times when the Platoon Commander has some stupid game he learned at TBS that he thinks everyone will really enjoy. No, sir, no one wants to play your stupid boot game. Morning PT is always a tired ritual, but ends up being worthwhile without even realizing it. Simply getting out of bed and getting your blood going in the morning is good for anyone, and many Marines find themselves packing on the pounds after they EAS once this is taken away. Still, no one wants to stand around in the cold in little green shorts before the sun’s even up and do something potentially physically painful. I personally have never woken up at 05:30 and thought to myself, boy, I sure would love to kick my own ass with some intense PT right now.

Then again, I’m really not a morning person. The Marine Corps didn’t change that and I doubt anything ever will. For some reason, when left to my own devices, I tend to drift to a night owl schedule, sleeping and waking late. If I had a normal job, I would probably prefer the graveyard shift.

Sometimes I really wonder how much boot camp and the other oddities of the Marine Corps can actually change a person. I always see, on TV and such, people admitting that the military ‘squared them away’ in some regard. I expected to walk away from boot camp having a passion for making my bed every day, ironing my clothes, and waking up before the sun. Needless to say, that never happened. Almost as soon as I got home on my 10 days of mandatory boot leave did I revert back to old habits of sleeping in and eating like the morbidly obese. I think I made my “rack” once and after that decided I didn’t care.

Boot camp is supposed to erase your sense of individuality. I suppose in that regard, it failed me. I wasn’t okay with that idea, and I never let it get to me.

I am me, and I’m okay with that.